After a series of gigs with Lionel Richie in Australia and New Zealand over the next week, Nile Rodgers & CHIC will be playing a number of dates all over the world through the end of August, including many festival appearances. [Read more…]
Duran Duran Making Two Stops in Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area in July
Following up on their tour dates earlier this year in March and April, Duran Duran will be kicking off a new leg of their 2017 tour with two stops in the Bay Area in California, first at Fox Theater in Oakland on July 7th and then at the Masonic in San Francisco the next night. The band continues to support their 14th studio album (and first with Warner Bros. Records), the excellent Paper Gods, which was produced by the legendary Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Josh Blair, and Mr Hudson. [Read more…]
The Rock Subculture Journal 2016 Year In Review (Top 10 Live Music Concerts, Top 5 Albums, Top 50 Songs, and more…)
As with my 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Year in Review features, this article looks back on a year of music with a summary of the highlights. This year, I attended about 35 shows, with hundreds of different sets of incredible talent and music to make sense of, not to mention trying to keep up with all of the studio releases from artists, new and old. This is my attempt to (subjectively) share my favorites of the year, from live shows to new songs and albums. You can also check out my Top 100 Concert Photos of 2016 in that separate article.
Chic featuring Nile Rodgers at Fox Theater | Oakland, California | 2/20/2016 (Concert Review + Photos)
“I’ve got to say, you’re the funkiest crowd we’ve ever had…” Music legend Nile Rodgers with Chic at Fox Theater in Oakland on Saturday night, playing not only through hits by Chic but number one hits Rodgers has produced over the past several decades with top, iocnic artists. Watching Nile Rodgers and the amazing Chic on stage really underscored how he is all about collaboration; he seems to have found his purpose in life early on in bringing the best out of other artists who were truly gifted in their own right… helping them make art that transcended what either could do on their own. Not just a beautiful way to create, but also an inspired way to go through life, bettering other people as well as yourself in the process. And then there is that music… all of it markedly up beat and happy and optimistic. But Nile Rodgers also appears to be a humble man on stage, and that reflects his life’s work as well, working in the background to help other artists and their songs and talent shine. So it was quite special to see Nile Rodgers and Chic do a full concert live on stage (they will also be performing with Duran Duran in their upcoming tour). What music, what talent, and what a way to bring it all to life in a way that makes the crowd feel that they are part of it. Though it is early into 2016, this will certainly be one of my own favorite and most memorable shows of the year.
Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers 2016 Headlining & Co-Headlining Tour Schedule with Duran Duran
Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers will be getting on the road out ahead of the Duran Duran tour starting in April by headlining their own set of shows in California next month. The legendary producer and artist, Nile Rodgers, has worked with some of the best artists of the past half a century. Chic’s new album, It’s About Time, is expected sometime in the Summer. [Read more…]
Duran Duran (Paper Gods On Tour) at The Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort | Reno, Nevada | 9/25/2015 (Concert Review + Photos)
“So we’re really at the very beginning of a tour that will probably go on for a year and a half… and we’re just starting to kind of realize the kind of appetite and love that is out in the world for Duran Duran… It hasn’t always been like this; you know we’ve been around for 35 years… We have a great job that we love doing…” Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran at The Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada on Friday night… taking a moment to express some gratitude to the sold out crowd before performing one of their most popular songs (not from the 80s), “Ordinary World”. Supporting their 14th studio album, Paper Gods, which Warner Bros. Music released this month, the setlist for this tour is a good representation of the phenomenal music Duran Duran have released over the past four decades. But with less than two hours to perform, the show only scratches the surface of their brilliant catalog of music. With founding members Nick Rhodes on keyboards and John Taylor on bass, along with Roger Taylor on drums and Simon on vocals, the group have ties working with one another that goes back to the start, and they still make up the core of the band, with each contributing greatly to their signature sound. A lot of bands who have been around for a long time and have a strong association with a certain period or era become resentful of that, and some view their most popular songs with disdain – as if those hits are anchors holding them down rather than stepping stones that helped to propel them forward into world. Some other bands even refuse to perform their most popular hits live for their fans (see: Radiohead). Duran Duran are the opposite. Not only are they mindful of their own history and cognizant of what fans love to celebrate, but they appear happy to celebrate it right along with those of us in the audience. Duran Duran has always been about the past, the now, and the future, somehow all at the same time. I guess it goes back to that “great job” that they “love doing”, which is quite a modest take on creating some of the songs that are included in the soundtracks to the lives of people of my generation. As far as their concert tours go, they always bring some of that “new” with them with each tour, and this one is no different. From a healthy sampling of the new songs as well as new takes on older ones, they remind us all that they are accomplished artists with the ability to not only recreate that sublime studio sound, but also breathe vibrancy into it for how it all comes together on stage, in both sound and visuals. And somehow the guys appear timeless themselves, as they seem to defy the gods (paper or otherwise) and never appear to age year to year… the principals all look 10 to 20 years younger than they should, which contributes to the feeling of being part of an event that could be happening in the past, present, or future. At certain points during their live set, you could squint a little and travel back in time to the 00s, 90s, and 80s.
Celebrate Duran Duran Appreciation By Preparing for the Upcoming Concert Tour & New Album “Paper Gods” #DDAD15
Today happens to be Duran Duran Appreciation Day (#DDAD15), so it seems like an opportune time to make note of their upcoming set of North American concert dates as well as the new album, Paper Gods, due September 10th. Their 14th studio album and the first in almost five years, it is being produced by the legendary Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, Josh Blair, and Mr Hudson. It will fuel a new set of shows, including their first appearance at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. [Read more…]