Review by Val Tapia
Photos by Barry Gossage
Promoter: Live Nation (https://www.livenation.com/
Venue: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, AZ ( https://mortgagematchupcenter.com/ )
Date: January 5th, 2026
It’s not very often we see a band kick off a new year with only seven shows planned, let alone exclusively during the first week of January.
I also imagine it threw fans of veteran 80s pop-rockers Duran Duran for a loop to learn that Phoenix would be one of those stops as the first major arena concert of 2026 this past Monday January 5th at Mortgage Matchup Center.
When the lights went down at 8:10 p.m. the long-running lineup of lead vocalist Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor made a simple-yet-effective grand entrance to the delight of the 9000 fans in attendance, the official total according to MMC’s box office staff.
Opening the 20-song, 115-minute set with, surprisingly, an obscure song (at least to me) called “Night Boat” (from the band’s 1981 self-titled debut album), they were off to the races. The stage set was pretty minimal, although there were video images that I thought gave the show a dark bent that, frankly, I didn’t expect.
For a minute, I thought Iron Maiden’s famous mascot Eddie made a cameo appearance during the second song “The Wild Boys”. I’ll concede that some songs like “A View To A Kill” and “Union Of The Snake” I completely forgot about. But I digress.
However, the audience clearly hadn’t, as many around me were singing non-stop throughout the show. In the bigger picture, it’s important to say that time has probably been kinder to Duran Duran‘s music (and dare I say, new wave music in general) than I’ve given it credit for over the years.
Likewise, I would add that the members of Duran Duran are also better musicians than their songs dictate. Which, for the record, is a compliment. There was a minor sound issue early in the set, but they resolved it quickly, which Le Bon had addressed with a little dry, humorous banter.
Songs like “Hungry Like The Wolf” (from 1982’s landmark album, Rio) and the title track from 1986’s Notorious really showed in retrospect how much musical growth there was during the band’s first five years.
Onstage on Monday night, “Notorious” in particular really showed how much disco and funk played a significant role in the band’s development throughout the 80s. Or put another way, the members of Duran Duran proudly wear those crucial influences on their collective sleeves…. to this very day.
One thing I found impressive was the camaraderie among the band, as well as the additional musicians that accompanied them. Longtime touring guitarist Dominic Brown recreates original guitarist’s Andy Taylor’s parts faithfully to the original recordings by and large.
Backing vocalists Rachael O’ Connor and Anna Ross also had great chemistry alongside Le Bon. Finally, saxophonist Simon Willescroft was certainly no slouch either.
There were some interesting covers in the set… some in hybrid form. “Super Lonely Freak” (from 2023’s Danse Macabre) combined the band’s own “Lonely In Your Nightmare” in a “mashup” with the Rick James 1981 classic “Super Freak”. It was arguably one of the most well-received tunes of the night. Of course, they kept the pseudo-Halloween theme going a bit more with their take on ELO’s “Evil Woman”.
The only other new, or recent, song played was “INVISIBLE” from 2021’s Future Past. After that, the hits just kept coming, again, to the very happy (and multi-generational) crowd. “Ordinary World, Planet Earth, The Reflex” and eventually “Girls On Film” (mashed-up with the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”) concluded the main set to roaring approval.
For an encore, it was inevitable that the two closing songs would be from Rio. With that, “Save A Prayer” had everyone’s phone lit throughout the arena. Finally, they can’t leave without playing “Rio”. It was a satisfying conclusion for most fans, I’m sure.
Speaking candidly, the music of Duran Duran is something I never gravitated to. However, in an indirect way I “grew up” with their music simply because my brother is, to put it mildly, a superfan. He was also at the show with his family, which I know was awesome for him— and myself as well.
With that, given the fact that I’ve never seen Duran Duran live, it was a solid show on its own merits. In short order, over 45 years they’ve outlived many of their contemporaries, continue to release new music, and most importantly, they’ve done all of it on their own terms. For that, I applaud them. Sincerely.
The final verdict? Four out of five stars.
Duran Duran set list:
Night Boat
The Wild Boys
A View To A Kill
Hungry Like The Wolf
Union Of The Snake
Notorious
Evil Woman (ELO cover)
Super Lonely Freak (a mashup of Lonely In Your Nightmare and Rick James’ Super Freak)
Friends Of Mine
Careless Memories
Ordinary World
Come Undone
INVISIBLE
(Reach Up For The) Sunrise
White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)
Planet Earth
The Reflex
Girls On Film/ Psycho Killer
Encore:
Save A Prayer
Rio
