Previously Unreleased

Last night in Central Park, Simon LeBon and friends attempted to transport the gathered masses back to their glory days of the 1980’s. Unfortunately, a rather enjoyable and spirited performance by the surprisingly on-point frontman would end up struggling to overcome an ill conceived mid-concert electronica showcase and a set list seemingly designed to kill momentum rather than build on it.

In a move seldom seen these days, the band actually took the stage at the time printed on the ticket (rather than the prima donna practice of making the fans wait in an attempt to generate manufactured crowd buzz) and proceeded to showcase their newest release, the Justin Timberlake and Timbaland produced “Red Carpet Massacre” by opening with three straight cuts from the album. While the new songs, especially “The Valley” were well received, it was obvious the crowd was ready for selections from DD’s extensive catalogue of hits. The boys finally gave the crowd what they wanted once the opening notes of early MTV standard “Hungry Like The Wolf” cut through the night’s twilight sky. The sing-a-long continued on “Planet Earth” and the crowd clamored for more when the band decided to take an unfortunate detour with “Falling Down” off the new record. While “Falling Down” is probably the strongest track on the new CD, the band missed an opportunity to take the show to another level and it would become a recurring theme throughout the show. The crowd surged again as DD bounded through “The Reflex”, “Save A Prayer” and in my opinion the best song of the night “View To A Kill” on which LeBon sounded just like he had 20 years earlier, but once again they would pull the plug on the night’s growing electricity by turning the stage dark to set up for a strangely disconnected electronica set which included what seemed like extended mixes of “All She Wants”, “Warm Leatherette” and “Skin Trade”. Once LeBon mercifully ended that debacle and introduced the band, DD were finally ready to attempt a climb out of the hole they had dug for themselves and send the crowd home happy (or at least feeling like they got their money’s worth). DD reached it’s highest level of the night on the body shaking “Notorious” and “Girls on Film”, the crowd favorite “Ordinary World” and the show stopping anthem “Wild Boys” bringing the loudest cheers of the evening from a still appreciative throng which seemed to excuse the band’s many missteps. The night ended when DD performed it’s biggest hit “Rio” as an encore and thanked the fans for their support.

The overall concert experience was quite enjoyable and DD proved that even a badly planned stage show and uneven set list can sink somewhat into the background amongst a night of truly strong musicianship, a throwback performance from one of the 1980’s biggest sex symbols and a crowd that wanted nothing more than to enjoy the memories of a time when songs were less about messages and meanings and more about fun.