I have seen Duran Duran four times now. Twice this year alone. And Saturday night at The O2? That was, without question, the best I have ever seen them.
It’s Halloween. I’m with my friend Laura. We’re dressed up (obviously). And we’re about to spend the evening singing and dancing to the soundtrack of our lives with a few thousand other people who have also made a proper effort. Does it get any better?
The Halloween vibe: An ironic masquerade
Here’s what I love about Halloween in London. On any other night of the year, you walk down the street and everyone is minding their own business, heads down, going about their day. On Halloween? The streets are full of monsters. Friendly ones. Funny ones. Strangers complimenting each other’s costumes, posing for photos, having a laugh.
Halloween, to me, is the ultimate ironic masquerade. It’s the one night when nobody takes themselves too seriously. You don’t have to look good or pretty or put-together. You can be a skeleton, a witch, a vampire, a zombie sea captain. The pressures of everyday life, the way we look, the way we’re perceived, all of that gets parked for the evening. You just get to be silly and have fun.
And that feeling was everywhere at The O2 on Saturday night. Everybody made an effort. Skeletons, witches, vampires, ghoulish creatures of all descriptions. It felt like the whole arena had collectively decided to let their hair down and the band were absolutely here for it.
The spectacle: Tim Burton meets Synth-Pop
Walking into The O2, I knew we were in for fun special gig. Two towering skeletons with glowing red eyes loomed over the stage. Cobwebs hung from every available surface. Flickering candles and clouds of dry ice created an atmosphere worthy of a Tim Burton film. This was a fully realised theatrical experience.
The show opened with Masque of the Pink Death, a nightmarish red carpet procession of disfigured creatures filling the screens before the band launched into a tour debut of Friends of Mine. From that moment, I was a bit scared and positively stunned.
As spectacular as the production was and it was spooktacular, the music never got lost. The acoustics at The O2 were genuinely stunning. During the summer, we saw them at BST Hyde Park, which was brilliant in its own way, but the sound and the show at The O2? That was on another level entirely.
The costumes: Simon Le Bon as a ghostly Sea Captain
The band’s outfits were so much fun, the musicians absolutely threw themselves into the spirit of the occasion.
Simon Le Bon, with his face painted entirely gold and Egyptian-style make-up completing the look, took on the role of a ghostly sea captain. Later in the concert, he added Medusa arms to his costume, because why not? He was in fine form all night, with dramatic New Romantic eyeliner and military-inspired attire.
John Taylor looked very hot in his full black rock leather. And Nick Rhodes? Nick Rhodes dressed as a devilish Pope. Simon introduced him to the audience as “the completely satanic, demonic Nick Rhodes” and told the crowd that Halloween was Nick’s most favourite day of the year. You could tell.
The musicians looked great, genuinely fab outfits that added to the whole experience rather than feeling like an afterthought
The setlist: Deep cuts, covers and classics
This wasn’t a standard greatest-hits show. The setlist leaned heavily into the 2023 album Danse Macabre, with a deliciously dark selection of covers and deep cuts thrown in.
Highlights for me? A View to a Kill got a sinister reworking of the James Bond theme as its intro, accompanied by a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek video in which 007 battled seductive vampires. Spellbound (the Siouxsie and the Banshees cover) was spectacular, with animated witches hovering above bubbling cauldrons and flames erupting across the backdrop while a performer stirred a giant cauldron on stage. And Heads Will Roll, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover, performed live by the band for the first time was an absolute thrill, fitting their synth-driven sound perfectly.
Union of the Snake was particularly memorable, with serpents slithering through the eye sockets of skeletons on the giant screens. Hungry Like the Wolf opened with howls from Simon, a lovely Halloween touch. And Girls on Film had the whole crowd dancing before unexpectedly giving way to Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer.
The backing vocalists, Rachael O’Connor and Anna Ross, had their moment in the spotlight too, taking lead vocals on The Ramones’ Pet Sematary while the band disappeared for a costume change. They were brilliant.
Were there songs I missed? Of course. Save a Prayer and Ordinary World were all absent from the setlist. But I didn’t mind. This was a show designed to be something different, a celebration of the band’s flair for spectacle, theatricality and reinvention. And it worked.
The finale: Fire, London Calling and Rio
The encore was suitably outrageous. It began with a fire-eating display as the opening strains of The Clash’s London Calling filled the arena. The song then gave way to the explosive The Wild Boys, before Rio brought the celebrations to a joyous conclusion with the famous album artwork transformed into a fanged Halloween creation on the screens, and orange and black balloons cascading from the ceiling onto the crowd.
Laura and I were on our feet, singing along with everyone else. It was one of those perfect moments where the whole arena feels like it’s moving together, caught up in the same wave of music and joy.
The verdict
For lifelong Duran Duran fans like me, this was a show like no other. It was a chance to see the Wild Boys embrace the eerie and the extravagant, turning their concert into a truly theatrical spectacle. Witches descended from the ceiling. Giant skeletons stood at either end of the stage. Pyrotechnics lit up a scene framed by haunting, ghoulish video backdrops. And the band well and truly played their part.
As Simon himself said, looking out at the crowd: “I’m looking at some pretty spectacular people, we love that you’ve made the effort. That’s what makes tonight special – you guys!“
That’s exactly it. That’s what made the night special. It wasn’t just the band, the production, the incredible setlist. It was the shared experience. The dressing up. The dancing. The friendly monsters on the tube home. The feeling that, for one night, we all collectively decided to let go and have fun.
I’ve been to a lot of gigs in my time. This one will stay with me for a very long time.
Did you go? I’d love to hear your highlights in the comments!
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Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
