Tropic Sprockets / Duran Duran: A Hollywood High

By Ian Brockway

Duran Duran, named for a reference in “ Barbarella,” is an 80s pop band made famous for the songs “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf.” [For showtimes and trailer, check Tropiccinema.com.]

Ariving in America, they headed for Los Angeles and The Roxy. Vocalist Simon Le Bon said that Los Angeles reminds him of film noir and a woman with a gun.

The sound of Duran Duran is neon. The art star Andy Warhol discovered the band and became hooked. Like The Velvet Underground before them, it’s reasonable to assume that pop imagery could be projected on the musicians to change their tone, color or shape. Their chords were bright and synthetic. The band is the musical equivalent of a Swatch Watch, electric and clear, light and fast. After 40 years they have flawless precision and project light oranges, reds, yellows and bright greens.

Head directed by Gavin Elder “A Hollywood High” is a concert film of the iconic band on a studio roof in L.A.  Simon Le Bon is here, a seasoned crooner, running through his favorites with Nic Rhoades on keyboards. As the band riffs through their repertoire, the L.A. traffic races by. Bright cars and bright roads merge into dark cars and black roads: a scene from an Atari videogame playing in real life in 2022 after a pandemic. Le Bon has the aura of a neon Sinatra.

The music is more serene and less electric, less confrontational than the former “Duran Duran: Unstaged” by David Lynch. While this new Hollywood concert is conventional, one takes heart seeing Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and John Taylor still here through the pandemic and beyond. 

In their song “Ordinary World” they seem to miss the presence of Warhol and Grace Jones at the Area club or on MTV, and I do too. The bright colors of the 80s have merged into melancholy. 

The concert is a Warhol interpretation of “Let it Be” on the rooftop : The Beatles’ music of sunflowers pressed into Andy’s silkscreen.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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