➤ Ten killer videos made as tributes
to Duran’s return to creativity
Posted on September 20, 1011
❏ The real thing — Duran Duran themselves play Girl Panic! live at the Coachella music & arts festival, April 17, 2011… Easily the runaway best track among the 14 released in March on the All You Need Is Now CD, Girl Panic! has redefined the supergroup’s 80s sound and attitude for the 20-tweens
❚ AS DURAN DURAN RESUME their North American concert tour, which had been halted in May by Simon Le Bon’s vocal problems, Shapersofthe80s selects ten videos below which are other people’s imaginative interpretations of Duran’s music. Above, the band themselves play the gem track on the AYNIN album live in-concert. The US tour kicks off again in Everett, WA, on Sept 23 weaving its way to Atlantic City on Oct 29.
Update Nov 30: DD hit Brighton in the UK — click picture for video report
Then it’s on to fulfil the rescheduled dates across the UK starting in Brighton on Nov 30, and on again into Europe in 2012. By the end the All You Need Is Now tour will have been an exceedingly long haul, but, wow, how the Brummie lads have regained their status as one of the world’s magnificent pop groups.
➢ Catch up on the Duran world comeback tour when it stalled in May — with links to the Unstaged online concert March 23 at the Mayan theatre, Los Angeles, and video interviews.
OTHER PEOPLE’S VISUAL TRIBUTES
❏ Before the Rain — Winning video for Genaro.tv directed by Andrew Pearce and starring Samantha and Ben Pearce. Nick Rhodes said: “Sublime and heartbreaking. It’s rare to find someone who has such a beautiful vision and the ability to bring that to life. In this case it was crystal clear. Storyline, casting, colours, cinematography, editing and passion are all in sync. Without doubt one of the most inspiring videos I’ve seen for not only one of our songs but any song for some time.”
❏ Girl Panic! directed for Genaro.tv by Alan Hughes, a professional graphic designer in the UK. DD say: “The clear winner” for this number.
❏ Duran Duran’s live version of The Man Who Stole A Leopard ft. Kelis, “artfully” directed by David Lynch for Unstaged, Mar 23, 2011
❏ Elegant French production of The Man Who… directed by Jethro Massey, with Faith Anne Gosselin, Sorrel & Massimiliano, Mocchia Di Coggiola. DD say: “Very well executed in terms of styling on every level.”
❏ Animation of The Man Who… by a production group in Second Life dedicated to use machinima as a medium for telling stories. Producer, Rafale Kamachi
❏ The Man Who… recast as PG-rated kitchen-sink psycho-drama from Russia: scripted, directed, edited by Nina Urmanova. (Some gratuitious bloodshed)
❏ Mediterranea uploaded by garibaldino2 in Italy
❏ Blame The Machines set to an immaculate print of the 1968 sci-fi movie Barbarella (with glimpses from 2:30 of the crazed scientist Dr Durand-Durand who prompted the band’s name at the keyboard of his orgasmatron in which Jane Fonda is being pleasured). Uploaded by MrChuckChapman in the USA
❏ Winning version of Blame The Machines for Genaro.tv directed by Sebastian Mihailescu, currently studying at the Caragiale National Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in Bucharest, Romania. DD say: “Extremely well thought out, and filmed. Its cool, gritty approach manages to bring an unusual perspective to the song.”
❏ Winning Russian animation of Being Followed for Genaro.tv directed by Aleksey Khruslov of Kakadu Collapse. DD say: “Entirely unique concept which magnetically drew our attention, combined with the fact that every frame had been so lovingly created.”
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 
Half of them give me the message “This video contains content from Duran Duran and UMG, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” I’m sure they are all wonderful, but I’m in the US and can’t see for myself.
Shapersofthe80s writes: Hi Dawn — Yes, this is the eternal irritation of having YouTube as the middle-man. We experience the same sort of vetoes here in the UK, when American and Asian record companies impose their international restrictions on what we can view. For this tribute to Duran, it would have been straightforward enough to choose 10 competent performances with their US rights approved, but then we in Europe may not have been able to view some of them. What I set out to do was choose 10 videos on the basis of their cinematic excellence, and since Duran are a British band I hope you can forgive this perspective on a British website. Four of the 10 were winners in an Australian competition, so if these are among those prohibited in America, perhaps we should put pressure on the organiser Genaro TV to let them be seen around the world.