Only came outside to watch the nightfall in the rain….

One of my biggest passions (obsessions) in life is music, always has been, and since the early 80’s this has been further fuelled by going to see bands play live. From my first gig (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark at the Hammersmith Palais) onwards I have been hooked, and witnessed hundreds of performances since. These have included some truly memorable occasions such as U2 at Wembley Stadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers (supported by Moby) at the Brixton Academy, Foo Fighters at Wolverhampton Civic Hall and a number of years at Glastonbury in the mud and occasional sunshine.

Since moving to Hong Kong live performances tend to be few and far between (although this has got better in recent years) and I have tended to get tickets to whatever shows are on whenever I could. Well, just recently, I have to confess I bought tickets to see Duran Duran live – something in the past I would never have considered doing. I booked two tickets the day before the show, which turned out to be front row seats (oh dear, how embarrassing). Surprisingly the venue was outdoors which is not normally allowed here due to noise complaints from nearby residents, and, noise aside, considering Hong Kong’s unpredictable weather especially from April onwards, outdoor gigs are very few and far between. (Before I arrived in here there was one famous incident where ironically Wet Wet Wet had to cancel an outdoor show due to heavy rain!).

As the lights went down the crowd all rushed forward and we found ourselves a nice little spot up against the barrier. Duran Duran opened with a new song before going on to play some old favourites. After the second song, Simon le Bon quipped that the crowd had a better backdrop than the band, before launching into Planet Earth, when, just after he sang the opening line “Only came outside to watch the nightfall in the rain…” the sky’s opened and it started to pour down - right on cue. Darling, doing her best to hide under her cardigan, gave me the forlorn ‘shall we go?’ look, to which I responded with my ‘I’ve paid so were staying’ glance.

After 45 minutes or so, the rain stopped, and, by the end of the 2 hour show, I had more or less dried out. To be fair, Duran Duran were very good live, playing most of their hits mixed in with some new songs. The 4 out of 5 original band members gave it a good go (only Andy Taylor was missing), and I do admit that I enjoyed the show.