Duran Duran w/ Nile Rodgers and CHIC and a shout out to DJ Mad Marj
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| The Wild Boys themselves. |
Written by Mr. Rich
Before the show, I meet Nancy, Jean & Kathy at The Motto on 24th St. We've known each other since middle school. We head to Tacombi, just across the avenue.
Tacombi is a great mark your own menu Mexican restaurant. I probably saw Nancy 3-weeks ago, Jean, about 2/3-years? Covid timing. And Kathy 10 or more years ago.
Si!, there were margaritas. We're a joyful troupe and share stuff and laugh and shake off whatever's in the shadows. Kathy offers "You can do it! and this is how," Jean offers wonderful enthusiasm and Nancy and I listen eagerly, having recently launched a business where Kathy has been successfully running one, or more, for a bit. The waitress takes our reunion photo, yes, we're that table for a moment and start walking to the Garden, MSG.
The Garden is Under Destruction so it's a sorry sight to enter. I mean DDuran shot on to the scene with Planet Earth and Girls on Film but their fame really started with glamorous videos from Antigua and Sri Lanka, and now we're walking through a construction site of blue plywood and scaffolding.
If you don't know scaffolding on a city level, it's a jungle gym with construction above you and it feels like a weight overhead, where anything could come folding down. Hence, the word fold should not be in the word scaffolding.
But we made it, cell phone ticketing, security pass-thru and on to the escalators and the 226 section, which is a lot more escalators that you might expect. But I've been there before, many, many times.
We take our seats and hang. Our personal reunion of school friends is complete but I let on that a friend of mine, Cindy, is going to be in 227, the section next to us. I just learned that the day before. We're entirely early, but DJ Mad Marj is great and we even wind up standing up and dancing to some of her selections. She knew her audience. Blondie, ...
It's during the DJ dancing that the row behind us is engaged. People do want to have fun. They share that they are from England. How cool! They're here at MSG and seeing their hometown boys. They're ecstatic that we're already dancing when they know they will be later. They are behind us though, so dance away.
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| Nile Rodgers and Chic. These are the good times. |
The lights dim and Nile Rodgers/Chic command the stage.
You know what you know of Chic and then you learn that Nile wrote/produced all these other songs that are part of the world music-scape. 'I'm Stepping Out', 'We Are Family', 'Let's Dance', 'Original Sin', 'Modern Love', 'Material Girl', 'Like A Virgin', 'Notorious', 'Get Lucky' and many, many more.
They opened with the Chic Cheer to rouse the crowd and then kicked it off with 'Dance, Dance, Dance' (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) and if that didn't get you on your feet, 'Everybody Dance' followed to make sure everybody was dancing. 'I Want Your Love' kept the disco-flashback enthusiasm going. The majority in attendance appeared old enough to know these songs and what, "Come on down to fifty-four" means.
"Are you here?" I text Cindy, "I'm dancing, in the red shirt."
"I'm at the merch table."
I was surprised she was missing Chic but I think they feed the music throughout the arena.
CHIC Rodgers then launched into songs Nile had written/produced, starting with 'I'm Coming Out', made famous by Diana Ross.
And the singing ladies! I'm going with Kimberly Davies and Audrey Martells (wiki search) I don't remember from the announcement and in the 226 section, not everything was crystal clear. But they took you there. By Took you there I mean that I leaned into Kathy to say, "Some people are born to sing and that's what an artist is, they just can't help it. They're great."
It was a joyous ride on Route '80s and then we took exit 2013 for 'Get Lucky' by Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
They circled back to Chic central after Bowie's 'Let's Dance' with 'Le Freak'. 'Good Times' closed out the NileChic set, leaving the crowd properly warmed up. Many in the band were from Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and made plenty of noise regarding playing their home town in the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden.
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| Section 226 |
The lights came up, the usual commotion of heading to the bathroom or concession stand to drop $18 for a tall beer came into play while others were just finding their seats for the first time.
The lights dim and the stage lights rise. 'Wild Boys' opens the show, backed with live screen projections mixed with tracking graphics. 'Hungry Like The Wolf' follows and so they've set everyone on their feet. Duran Duran was born of the video era.
They are energetic, they move around and they let each other shine. Simon LeBon talks to the crowd, "When we were just kids in England, we dreamed of playing here, in New York City at Madison Square Garden and here we are. It's great to be back."
Now, I'm not familiar with 'Invisible and Anniversary', but that did seem to settle things down until Nile Rodgers reunited with Duran Duran on stage for 'Notorious', which he produced.
'A View To A Kill', had the telescopic iris from the Bond opening on the screens with a live high-contrast feed; Instead of Bond, you had Rhodes, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor and LeBon rocking their parts.
They continued to walk, strut and show their stuff, spanning their catalog with a surprise entry of 'White Lines' (Don't Do It) by Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five. The light show was ecstatic until it all went dark at the end only to bounce back with flashbulbs going off until, of course, 'Girls On Film', which closed out the set.
Obligatory waiting time for encore.
'Save A Prayer', had all of the cell phone lights waving in the air, as encouraged, and the arena was happy to sing along.
'Rio' closed out the show and everyone was happy until they got to the stairs to leave. It's a drag coming down from 226 but because of it, "Cindy," I call, seeing her enter the fray, going the other way.
"Oh, hey."
"Good to see you," but we had to keep walking.
Which we do, Nancy, Kathy, Jean and myself walk 7th Avenue to 24th and bid adieu.
Certainly a fun time, what with the reunion of friends and the Union of the Snake but I thought they could have cut a third out and have another band in there, maybe Howard Jones perhaps.
The Next Day-
I texted my opinion to Cindy, "How'd you like the show? I thought a third of it..."
"It was fkng amazing. One of the best in the last 12 months."
And there you have it, a casual observer and a fkng fan!
