For the first time in 18 years, the classic Duran Duran lineup of Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Andy Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor have taken the UK by storm by rolling out a 16-date UK tour. The Wild Boys may all be in their fifth decade, but they still know how to make an audience scream. The frequency levels, however, are a clear indication of the crowd demographic.

"We're not talking boy band levels, where the analyser can hit 2.5kHz; it peaks between 1 and 1.5kHz when the band goes on stage," said FOH Engineer Snake Newton. "There's not that many young 'uns out there."

The largely female audience ranges in age from mid 20s to late 30s and older. Some of them were definite Duranies back in their youth, while others have clearly discovered the band in retrospect. Whatever their age, they dance and sing along to the hits which just keep on coming.

"It's quite a challenge to reproduce the songs as the fans remember," said Newton. "I'd say we've done a fairly good job of that. The audience seem extremely happy - in fact it's the best vibe I've seen on a tour in a long time."

Of course, Newton has the benefits of modern technology on his side including a Yamaha PM1D digital console, the likes of which certainly wasn't available in the mid-'80s. "I haven't used any other console since the MTV Europe Awards in 2001," he commented. "I've been touring with it since version 1, and it offers lots of ways of getting you out of holes. It's very versatile and I'm still discovering things about it this far down the line. On this tour we can use it for both the support band [Goldfrapp and the Scissor Sisters for half the tour respectively] and for Duran, so there's more room at FOH for our sofa!"

Newton finds the desk invaluable for replicating the sound that Duran created in the studio all those years ago. "If you listen to the recordings, there's a complete contrast between one song and another," he said. "One might be very dry with not much reverb, then songs like 'Ordinary World' or 'View To A Kill' have the most overblown, gated reverb that you could imagine. The only elements that I've got running 'live' are the vocals - lead vocals particularly. The automation doesn't touch them. Everything else is going through change; I would guess that there isn't a single channel that doesn't change 10 times through the whole show.

"When you get used to it you don't think about continuity at all, you just notice when something doesn't work on a particular song, so you hack into it to make it sound better. If, for example, you want to crush the whole drum group and then add reverb to everything and gate the reverb, you can do that on the desk."

Another benefit of the desk is that it allows Newton to perform a virtual sound check at every show. "One of strengths of the PM1D is that I can make a 48 track recording of the show on to a Mac G5 running Cubase, using two 2408 interfaces and optical cable, and play it back the next day, listening to the individual channels and tweaking the songs without the band being there," he explained. "By running it back you're physically going through the same channels that you will be with the microphone that evening, so you can test all your effects loops and inserts. The band don't soundcheck, so this is what I do instead. I'm constantly tweaking to make the show better every day. So if the kick drums aren't weighty enough, for example, I can go back the next day and fix it and store it, then the next night it's there."

Britannia Row provided the tour with an Electro-Voice X-Line line array speaker system. The Wembley configuration - an array per side of eight EV X-VLS and two X-VLTs, with one X-Fill, pointing downwards at the bottom of the hang, and a column of eight X-Subs either side of the main arrays and two on the floor - has been pretty typical for the entire tour. There are also side hangs of four X-VLSs and two X-VLTs, with some small EV1152 cabinets being used for front fill.

The speaker system is being run by EV's IRIS software for the Precision Series DSP controlled amplifiers, which are positioned backstage and connected to front of house by a cable run strapped to the multicore.

"Each of the EV P3000 amps takes the Crown PIP card idea to its ultimate conclusion, where all the processing is done within the amplifier, so you have 64 amps all receiving full range, then each amp decides what it's going to output," said Newton. "Each amplifier has a different address and DSP so you can tell it what it is on each day. Through the network you can see when things are running over temperature, monitoring on a full rack-mount computer front of house. It's useful to see how close to the limit you are on each band of each amplifier and how it's performing. We've had a few situations where someone has put drapes over the back of the amps and they've started to cook themselves. At FOH, a temperature alarm goes off and you know exactly which one's overheating."

CRUSHINGLY LOUD
Monitor world brings with it a few challenges of its own, not least because the monitor desk - a DiGiCo D5 Live digital console - is confined to a small bunker measuring eight square feet by five and a half feet high. This is part of Duran's specially constructed stage which incorporates VIP areas and two 'ego ramps'.

"This is the only place the monitor position could be to ensure good sightlines, but you have to be careful not to bump your head," advised Monitor Engineer Simon Higgs. "Everything has to fit into this small space, so the DiGiCo comes in handy. I'm not using any outboard at all, just using the desk - it really does the job."

Another challenge is the sheer amount of monitoring on stage: 27 Turbosound TFM-450 wedges which produce high SPLs that spill back as far as Newton at FOH. "It's crushingly loud on stage, and it governs my volume levels; I can't go below 100dB," said Higgs. "If I do, I start to lose definition as the stage wash takes over. So the concert's got to be pretty loud. They are a rock band and they like to feel it. Andy Taylor does a lot of distorted feedback and he runs around a lot. In fact I have to turn him down when he runs because otherwise there's so much gain you can hear his guitar bouncing up and down."

The wedges are mainly being used by John Taylor on bass and Andy Taylor on guitar. Simon Le Bon and keyboard player Nick Rhodes both have Shure PSM 600 in-ear monitors, as do the backing vocalists and saxophonist, while drummer Roger Taylor has a Turbosound 425 self powered sub, one of the TFM-450s, hardwired PSM 600 in-ears and two seat shakers. All in-ear systems and radio mics - mainly Shure 57As and 58As - are supplied by Hand Held Audio.

"John wants a lot of area covered so it will all sound as if he was standing in front of a pair of wedges, so rather than going back to a fixed position he can run around a lot," commented Higgs. Eight of the TFM-450 wedges are positioned on the edges of the two thrusts which go out into the audience; these are being controlled via a Midas XL88 matrix mixer.

UPPING THE LIGHTING ANTE
Lighting Designer Alex Reardon is using two recently introduced items of technology on the Duran tour: a Wholehog III lighting console and Kinesis motor management system.

"In the life of every lighting product, there's a difficult balance between when the inventors want to release it, which is never, and when the people who paid for it want to release it which is far too soon, and usually the money wins," he mused.

"In the case of Wholehog III this is what happened and early on it got some stick for not doing what it said on the tin. But I love the software version I'm running now - it's rock solid, it doesn't crash, and anything that means I have to think less about pushing buttons is wonderful. It goes so far beyond what the Hog II does that it's almost a revolution, not just an evolution."

Reardon's intensive course on the Wholehog III involved spending several days at High End's Los Angeles office being tutored on the new console before moving on to Flying Pig in London, and then a week of production rehearsals. "It's behaved impeccably throughout," he says. "There's a fundamental difference in syntax, but once you've used it for an hour, if you know the Hog II you'll love the Hog III."

The lighting company for the tour is Neg Earth, which has supplied mainly High End equipment (x.spot Xtremes and Studio Beams) as well as Martin Atomic strobes, numerous Par cans, lots of 4-Lites and 8-Lites and some scrollers. "I can't rate Neg highly enough," said Reardon. "The quality of the equipment, prep and crew has been exemplary."

Reardon first worked with Le Bon and Rhodes seven years ago and has developed a lighting style for them that he's adapted to the full-blown Duran tour. "There are elements of art to it, but mostly they like it to go off like a big party," he explained. "The show's about everyone in the arena knowing every word to every song, dancing and having a really good time. There needs to be a sense of 'wow', and a big rig doing some funky things. I try to identify each song with a very simple colour palette, say two colours, then add shapes, movement and texture to it. The show is very choreographed, it never sits still."

The key visual elements are three circular trusses rigged above the stage. "Everyone's seen circular trussing before, but it's how we choreograph the trussing that makes it impressive," continued Reardon.

The movement aspect is controlled by the groundbreaking Kinesis motor management system, which is enabling Reardon to experiment with fluidity of movement and timing that previously wouldn't have been possible. "It allows you to ramp to a speed in a cue and then a ramp down, so you can be more elegant and create different shapes that move subtly or very fast," he explained.

"The middle and the small circles can go up to 22 metres a minute with an accuracy of +/- 1mm. We do some very slow moves for the ballads, then in songs like 'Rio' we beat the crap out of the system. We didn't really know what it could do until production rehearsals. You can become a kind of puppeteer, and create vastly different looks by moving your rig around."

SET VISUALS
Also designed by Reardon, in consultation with Charlie Kail, the set consisted of a 40 foot diameter stage (edge-lit with non-neon) and two 20' x 8' side thrusts just forward of the across stage centre line. This was all constructed by Total Fabrications, based on the company's Arena Deck system.

The set up included various access stairs, giving good entrances for the band and optimum access for the crew. There were also two circular risers above the deck that housed Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes.

Charlie Kail commented: "The clever bit from my point of view was that a large [75 feet wide] shaped stage front was presented to the audience, measuring 1576 square feet compared to 2400 sq. ft. for a conventional 60' x 40' stage). With buried monitors and outrigged floor lights, and a mid-grey top surface with black vertical masking, the whole effect was clean and sharp!"

Duran Duran's live video was directed by the highly talented Ruary MacPhie, with equipment supplied by XL Video. Consisting of five columns (60 panels) of Unitek V9 screen, the video look was based on a design conceived by Alex Reardon and the band.

MacPhie mixed using a GVG4000 mixer/switcher. The show featured six cameras - a mix of Sony D35s and 'lipstick' surveillance cams - positioned at FOH, hand held in the pit, hand held on-stage with the balance dotted imaginatively around the stage.

Playback footage was stored on Doremi V1D hard drives. Much of the content was specially commissioned and produced by John Warwicker of Tomato under Gary Oldknow's direction. XL's 'video scientists' Richard Turner and Richard Burford built a customised computer, featuring a hot-rodded graphics card and bespoke software, that allowed any images to be sent simultaneously to all of the five LED columns.

The tour proved much more popular than anyone had anticipated, which explains its somewhat chaotic scheduling. Early April dates in Belfast and Dublin were followed by two at Wembley, one in Glasgow, one in Manchester, two in Birmingham, back to Manchester, on to Newcastle, back to Wembley and Birmingham again and then to Sheffield and Cardiff before returning yet again to Wembley for two final shows.

"It's been a bit of a logistical nightmare; it would have been great to do several dates at one venue without leaving and coming back again, but the whole thing escalated from when the first concerts went on sale, and more dates had to be slotted in wherever they could," said Production Manager Tony Gittins.

However, the success of this tour may just mean that Duranies everywhere stand a decent chance of seeing their heroes reunited at a venue near them soon.

Video Stills by Gavin Elder Photography by Steve Moles & Joel Perry

Duran Duran 2004 Tour - Key Personnel & Suppliers:

• Promoter: SJM Concerts
• Production Manager: Tony Gittins
• Stage Manager: Garry Currier
• SJM Reps: Angus Jenner, Graham Lambert
• PA: Britannia Row Productions
• FOH Engineer: Snake Newton
• Monitor Engineer: Simon Higgs
• Sound Technicians: Richard Trow, Jonathan Lewis
• Monitor Technicians: Leon Dalton, Andrew Thornton
• Backline Technicians: Alex Keyser, Paul Beckett, Adey Wilson
• Lighting: Neg Earth Lights
• Lighting Designer: Alex Reardon
• Lighting Crew Chief: Ian Twell
• Lighting Technicians: Paul Tibbles, Ben Howell, Davide Palumbi, Jim Mills
• Motion Control: Kinesis/Darragh McAuliffe
• Set & Staging: Charlie Kail/Total Fabrications
• Video: XL Video
• Video Director: Ruary MacPhie
• Content Director: Gary Oldknow
• Video Crew Chief: Stuart Heaney
• Video Technicians: Alastair MacDiarmid, Dan Ormerod, Josh Bagnal
• LED Technician: Icarus Wilson Wright
• Head Rigger: Dave Rowe
• Rigger: Dave Brierley
• Head Carpenter: Rick Worsfold
• Carpenter: Dean Gannon
• Wardrobe: Jeffrey Bryant
• Head Caterer: Tai Rivera
• Catering: Eat Your Hearts Out
• Caterers: Scott, Adrian Moreson, Gracita Mando, Jody Fitzsimons
• Dressing Rooms: GLD/James Jacques
• Security: Dave Casillas, Carl Stroud
• Merchandising: Paul Taylor
• Trucking: Stage Truck
• Lead Truck Driver: Ian Silver
• Truck Drivers: Nigel Webber, Andrew Mellor, Jerry Boyes-Korkis, Mark Poole, Andy Ruaux, Peter Gower, Dan Whales
• Buses: Phoenix
• Bus Drivers: Paul Shea, Graeme Ellis, Graham Hewitt
• Radios: London Communications
• Cars: Jaguar