I remember the first time I heard Duran Duran. Rio had just been released and they were opening for Blondie. They blew Blondie off the stage (of course, Blondie did have some serious technical issues that night that might have contributed to that). I bought both of their albums the next day, though. Sure, these guys seemed to get caught up in an image and style over music thing later, but really they have always been a great band that produced excellent music. And, in fairness, a lot of that style versus music thing was more perception than reality. They always created good music. This BluRay captures them in a killer performance. Mind you, I didn’t like some of their later material as well as I did earlier stuff, and they seemed to lose a bit of their raw, hungry (like the wolf?) edge later, but the whole show is worth watching. They don’t seem to have lost anything in terms of ability to perform. The only real issue I have is that whoever did the video seemed to try to recreate a lot of that MTV era effect with some cheesy video effects. That just seems silly and dated, but it’s not frequent enough to really interfere with the enjoyment of this release. All in all, this is highly recommended for anyone who has ever liked Duran Duran.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.