corilannam | Duran Duran at Merriweather Post Pavilion

(x-posted from my soon-to-be-defunct DD journal, sorry those who have to see it twice)

So this past Tuesday was my second and last (*sob*) Duran Duran concert for this leg of the tour. It was at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, which is, in the local parlance, a suck-butt venue out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. It's actually closer to Baltimore than to DC, but as Simon kept talking about DC, I suppose this was as close as they could get. Shame that Wolf Trap probably had their summer schedule long finalized before the boys got around to booking venues.

Anyway. So

chelseafrew,

georgiednyc and I got to Merriweather a little before 8, figuring we had plenty of time to avoid Your Vegas (they're good, just *loud*). But while in line for merchandise,

georgiednyc heard someone say that Your Vegas had already been and gone, and in fact Duran was due to start any time! A peek at the stage showed that this was almost certainly true. Needless to say, we skedaddled to our seats, which were down on the floor, waaaaaaaaaay over to the right. Technically, it was Row B, but set at such an angle that we were actually at the very back of the floor section and so far to the side that we were past the corner of Dom's end of the stage.

We had time to say hello to the nomadic

stellarmeadow and

syldath, who were informally upgrading their own crappy seats. Then

georgiednyc helped me with the settings for my camera, which was enjoying its first serious concert outing (not counting Philly, where it ran out of batteries after a handful of pictures.)

Sadly, between the dark lighting, the angle, and my own fumbling skills (and inability not to dance), my pictures didn't come out particularly well. But I share them below, along with comments about the concert, because a few were cute, a few were blurry (but serviceable), and a few I just had smart-ass remarks about.

It was a hot and muggy night, as it usually is when DD comes to town. Welcome to the swamp, boys. Try the autumn, you'll like it better. When the music started, the bass was literally shaking the seats and physically vibrating the air. I felt little gusts of warm air on my face with every note. Poor Chelsea got nauseated and had to sit down almost immediately, but I admit I loved it. Simon remarked that we were already preheated for them! Unfortunately, my camera did not at all like the lighting in that first part of the show, so these were the best I got of Simon and John (who hid over behind his synth bass for most of it). My motto: blurry but pretty!

All the people around me were up and dancing, screaming and singing, though I understand that wasn't the case for much of the crowd further back. But since I couldn't see them from where I was, it didn't bother me much. Simon did seem to have to work harder to get people into it, as opposed to the playful giddiness they all had in Philly. The RCM songs seemed to go over well, though of course, never as well as the old stuff. Once Simon's coat came off, it was down to business.

Simon would like you to sing louder.

No, louder than that, please.

I like this one for the way the cuff of his shirt looks blood-stained and how Simon looks a bit weary, like he just had to go beat the crap out of some punks backstage and then came back to finish the song.

This was probably around the time I should have quit taking pictures of Simon, but I couldn't help myself.

"Yeah, that guy over there. Stage right. Totally doing him."

"Oh, God, is THAT what I've been licking off my fingers all these years???"

Simon is holding back a remark about your outfit.

No, seriously, what were you thinking?

Simon had an idea -- and then Nick came over with a taser to put an end to that.

Tasered him where???

Oh, harsh, man.

This was way blurry, but I liked it, so you must suffer.

For the slower people in the crowd, Simon demonstrates what "going South Dakota" actually means. Who says his lyrics don't make sense!

As usual, they asked the audience to sing the chorus of SAP, and for once, our audience was very loudly obliging. At one point, Simon had his head tilted back, eyes closed, smiling blissfully as he listened. And even blurry JoSi makes me happy....

I got very few good pictures of John, sadly.

During Notorious, he came out in one of the red RCM baseball caps they were selling. I was a little worried that Georgie, who has a bit of a thing about John in baseball caps, was going to topple over.

I couldn't blame her.

The Reflex is still one of my favorite songs to hear in concert, mostly for the opportunity to scream "TA NA NA NA!" at the top of my lungs, and also to strain my ears to see what Nick is going to say. Note the angelic lighting.

This time, according to Georgie who could hear better than me, he said something like, "Last I checked, Obama had it!"

Nick by his lonesome after Simon abandoned him during the electro set to go sing Tempted with John.

This is, coincidentally, both the only good picture I got of Roger and almost the only good picture I got of the electro set.

Though I'm also a little fond of this one. Love the flamboyant purple drums, even if one might reasonably feel that they ought to be red.

Of course, Simon had to introduce everybody.

Simon kept going, "Hey fellas! Hey fellas!" before he introduced Anna. He got no response, until finally he was like, "Boy, the fellas are a little thick around here, aren't they?" Oh, Simon. You have no idea.

Seriously, do you know how freakin' hard it is to get a decent picture of Anna? It's like she has some kind of deflector shield.

The other Simon! He looks like a pelican, but he sounds damn good.

And of course, Sir Dom the Unfortunately Unphotogenic (I'm declining to post the picture where he looks like Nick's new Frankenguitarist). My favorite Dom moments from the show -- when he screwed up the start of Falling Down, and Simon said, "Dom Brown, everybody! Sometimes he plays with us. And sometimes he plays with someone else." Later, when Simon was building up the steam for John's intro, Dom was grinning up at John and chanting "Play the fucking bass, John!" like it was the funniest thing he ever heard.

And then I ran out of batteries for my camera right before Rio. Thank God, I hear you cry!

All in all, it wasn't nearly as much fun as Philly, but it was still my boys and they sound more wonderful with every tour (even when it doesn't seem possible to improve any further).

Have fun, everyone in NYC tonight!