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DURAN DURAN Y'ALL
Occasionally, living in the richest city in the world is awesome, because party planners usually make it worth the while of whatever American musical act is currently touring to come play on their lawn for an evening.
Do I need to warn for caps and photos? Am drunk on open bar and high on 80s rock, so consider that your fair warning.
Today was the launch of twofour54, the "media zone" of Abu Dhabi that is to spawn a whole generation of Arab journalists through partnerships with the BBC, Thomson Reuters, Random House and others, including my paper's parent firm, Abu Dhabi Media Co. I was editing the page with all the coverage on it, blahblahblahworkcakes, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon that someone mentioned that DURAN DURAN WAS PLAYING THE AFTERPARTY.
But my shift doesn't end until 11:30pm, so I sort of gave up the idea but still gushed about the band with a co-worker and asked around for information - no one knew when they were going on, so I was hoping it's a proper party and the main act doesn't go on until after midnight. But then the executive editor, Hassan, made a break for the back door around 10:15, and I slumped a little until my boss, Steve, turned to me and said, "Aren't you going to see them?"
I managed to keep my reaction to a civilized squeak before running out.
The party was on a small island off the coast of another small island on which a mall sits, with colored strobe lights over a white spherical tent. And just as we pulled up to the entrance, the first strings of Ordinary World floated out of the party.
I may have shoved my bag at the security screener and run in three-inch heels across the reception area. And then, there they were:
RIGHT THERE. God, my ears are throbbing and ringing and my feet don't care for dancing in heels for any length of time, but it was a little magical. There was a crowd around the stage, but only about 20 feet deep, and after that there were just clusters of people mingling and trading business cards (this was a trade event). Simon played the tambourine, got cozy with the guitarist (really, who can keep track of who's playing lead guitar for them these days) and looked bewildered at which sheikh liked their music, like we had speculated in the car on the ride over. I squeezed and nudged and sheepishly smiled my way up to about 10 feet from the stage for Sunrise, which was on every single mix I made for the 4.5-hour drives home from college. They played a lot of stuff I loved before we arrived, but Ordinary World was all I wanted.
I hunted down a glass of wine - there were, no lie, at least four bars scattered throughout the bubble, and it really wasn't that big - during a song off their newest I didn't recognize. Although the first bar I went to didn't serve alcohol, which momentarily had me panicking, the biggest one in the center of the room had anything you wanted, totally free. Turned out that was the last song of the official set, but after a due amount of screaming Simon came back out and was all, "You know what's coming, right?" To which the crowd satisfactorily screamed Rio, and so it was. Simon fanned his fingers behind his head for the birds of paradise line, the gigantic dork.
Also, there were waiters with bottles of wine circulating, not shy about giving refills. Living in a (technically) dry country, I had about three glasses yet am a cheap, long-winded date who shrieked every couple minutes while writing this post, and sang Rio under my breath for the rest. OMG I SAW DURAN DURAN IN CONCERT THANK YOU VERY MUCH GOOD NIGHT \m/
Do I need to warn for caps and photos? Am drunk on open bar and high on 80s rock, so consider that your fair warning.
Today was the launch of twofour54, the "media zone" of Abu Dhabi that is to spawn a whole generation of Arab journalists through partnerships with the BBC, Thomson Reuters, Random House and others, including my paper's parent firm, Abu Dhabi Media Co. I was editing the page with all the coverage on it, blahblahblahworkcakes, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon that someone mentioned that DURAN DURAN WAS PLAYING THE AFTERPARTY.
But my shift doesn't end until 11:30pm, so I sort of gave up the idea but still gushed about the band with a co-worker and asked around for information - no one knew when they were going on, so I was hoping it's a proper party and the main act doesn't go on until after midnight. But then the executive editor, Hassan, made a break for the back door around 10:15, and I slumped a little until my boss, Steve, turned to me and said, "Aren't you going to see them?"
I managed to keep my reaction to a civilized squeak before running out.
The party was on a small island off the coast of another small island on which a mall sits, with colored strobe lights over a white spherical tent. And just as we pulled up to the entrance, the first strings of Ordinary World floated out of the party.
I may have shoved my bag at the security screener and run in three-inch heels across the reception area. And then, there they were:
RIGHT THERE. God, my ears are throbbing and ringing and my feet don't care for dancing in heels for any length of time, but it was a little magical. There was a crowd around the stage, but only about 20 feet deep, and after that there were just clusters of people mingling and trading business cards (this was a trade event). Simon played the tambourine, got cozy with the guitarist (really, who can keep track of who's playing lead guitar for them these days) and looked bewildered at which sheikh liked their music, like we had speculated in the car on the ride over. I squeezed and nudged and sheepishly smiled my way up to about 10 feet from the stage for Sunrise, which was on every single mix I made for the 4.5-hour drives home from college. They played a lot of stuff I loved before we arrived, but Ordinary World was all I wanted.
I hunted down a glass of wine - there were, no lie, at least four bars scattered throughout the bubble, and it really wasn't that big - during a song off their newest I didn't recognize. Although the first bar I went to didn't serve alcohol, which momentarily had me panicking, the biggest one in the center of the room had anything you wanted, totally free. Turned out that was the last song of the official set, but after a due amount of screaming Simon came back out and was all, "You know what's coming, right?" To which the crowd satisfactorily screamed Rio, and so it was. Simon fanned his fingers behind his head for the birds of paradise line, the gigantic dork.
Also, there were waiters with bottles of wine circulating, not shy about giving refills. Living in a (technically) dry country, I had about three glasses yet am a cheap, long-winded date who shrieked every couple minutes while writing this post, and sang Rio under my breath for the rest. OMG I SAW DURAN DURAN IN CONCERT THANK YOU VERY MUCH GOOD NIGHT \m/