Gig review: Duran Duran, SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Duran Duran have never had any need, or presumably desire to truck with the nostalgia package tours which have kept their 80s peers in beers over the past decade.

Duran Duran. Picture: Yuk Moi/PA

Duran Duran | Rating: *** | SSE Hydro, Glasgow

A global teen phenomenon back in the day, they remain serious about producing a pop presentation of scale and substance, and are understandably keen to keep pushing the idea that they are still a relevant concern by giving due prominence to their latest material.

And there’s the rub. While this admirable work ethic is most likely what keeps the band leanish and meanish, the new songs are no match for the 80s catalogue, not even the strained likes of Wild Boys and View to a Kill which followed lengthy opening number Paper Gods, the title track of their current underwhelming album.

So while the show looked handsome, there were long periods of middle age spread, only aggravated by perverse setlist choices such as their inadvisable cover of Grandmaster Flash’s White Lines, which has made no more sense with the passing of time, a clunky medley of (Reach Up For The) Sunrise and New Moon on Monday and a namecheck for Nicola Strurgeon which was not received with quite the goodwill intended by frontman Simon Le Bon.

He was on much safer territory dedicating a poignant and quite trippy Save a Prayer to the Eagles of Death Metal (who have covered the song) before going out finally on an unassailable high with the classic, euphoric Rio.