The Music Between Us

Well, it’s only Thursday but I have already had a really fun start to this week. I took the first part of this week off to go down to Phoenix and visit Baby. We had tickets to see Duran Duran on Tuesday night! It was such a great time! We have now determined that this is our 5th concert together which clearly puts her squarely in the “concert buddy” role.

I decided to drive down to Phoenix. It’s funny to me to think that now that gas prices are skyrocketing that I have suddenly decided to drive more rather than fly. What’s up with that? Between Reno last week and Phoenix this week, surely I am out of my head. The drive to Phoenix was considerably shorter and much more pleasant than the drive to Reno, thank God. I think the most interesting thing I saw on the way was passing through the Joshua Forest. I came around a mountain and suddenly there was this weird stretch of what I would describe as shaggy cactus. Luckily, there were signs that helped identify what I was seeing. It was such a different terrain driving south. It was greener and much more varied than the small scrub brush that I passed while driving north. I set the iPod to play all of my DD and a short 67 songs later I found myself in Phoenix.

The other reason I decided to come down to Phoenix is because Baby is getting ready to have another baby. Since she is so far along, she wasn’t going to able to come up to Vegas to see them perform here, so I came down to her. We saw Barry Manilow here a few months back when she first told me she was pregnant, so this is my second concert with the baby too. Plus, the concert hall where they were performing had seats which is definitely a plus when you are 8 months along. They are playing here in Vegas this weekend at the Joint which is standing only. Not so great on the body under normal circumstances let alone when you are carrying a basketball in front of you.

We had dinner and then headed over to the concert hall. The opening band was a group called Your Vegas. They were pretty good. The singer had what appeared to be a broken leg and yet he was still standing for a good part of their performance. There was a stool in front of him where he would rest his leg from time to time. It was weird because he kept hopping around on one foot anyway. I don’t know how he managed to keep his balance.

During the first part of their set Baby and I were standing in line to get our concert t-shirts. Neither one of us are fans of the new album, although we really did listen to it to give it a fair shot. It’s just not one of their better albums, regardless of who they collaborated with (the duo of Timberlake and Timbaland). So we were in agreement that the t-shirt we wanted didn’t mention the current album. We found a great shirt that said Planet Earth on it with a date (1978) and a message (The Music Between Us). Baby was sure it was a song lyric but we couldn’t place it at first. Thank goodness for the Internet, right? We got to work on our phones to figure out the reference and sure enough it was a lyric from the song Sunrise. (I’m sure you are all glad to know). The date of course referred to when the band formed. How weird is it to think they have been around for 30 years?

With that done, we settled in to our seats and waited for the boys to show up. The crowd was an interesting mix, as you might imagine. Mostly older people, some of whom brought their kids with them. We saw a number of older DD t shirts, including a young girl wearing her mother’s t shirt from 1984 Seven and the Ragged Tiger album. It was really cool. So many people stopped her to look at it.

Baby and I had already looked up the fan sites to see the set list so we knew what songs they were going to play. Of course there were a number of songs from the new album (which we took the opportunity to sit down and rest) and then the rest of the fan favorites we couldn’t wait to hear. The songs you will most likely know include:

Hungry Like the Wolf
Planet Earth
Come Undone
The Reflex
Save a Prayer
A View to a Kill
Notorious
Girls on Film
Ordinary World
Sunrise
Wild Boys
Rio

They also had this interesting part in the middle which was referred to as the Electric Set. They took a brief break while the stage was set up with all this equipment lined up in a row across the front of the stage. When they came back out, they were all lined up and they did this medley of a bunch of different songs that had been stripped down. It was really cool. The electric set included:

Last Chance on the Stairway/ All She Wants/ Warm Leatherette
I Don’t Want Your Love/ Skin Trade/ Tempted

What was an added surprise to me was the song Warm Leatherette. It isn’t one of theirs. I know the song from Grace Jones. As is true with all of her stuff, it is a really bizarre yet catchy sort of tune about sex and cars. I love that they included it. I know they have a bit of a history with her but I guess I didn’t realize the extent. (There is the obvious View to a Kill connection and she also sings background on a couple of songs from the Arcadia album- Election Day and The Flame).

I was sad to see the night come to an end and I have been tempted to perhaps try and get tickets to one of the two shows here this weekend, but I probably won’t. I have yet another trip coming up in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more ramblings from the road.