The Fifteenth One - Jones Beach Amphitheater - July 31, 2005

my ticket stub

In 2005 I had already seen Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden, so when I mentioned to Don (my husband) that Eileen (my best friend) had suggested we go see them at Jones Beach I was met with the inevitable:

'Didn't you JUST see them?'

No matter how long the span between Duran Duran concerts, this is something he always wants to know.
Sometimes I have to answer:

'No, that was six YEARS ago'

THIS however was NOT one of those times.
But I told him how the show was going to be at Jones Beach and that it was on a Sunday night and that Eileen really wanted to go, and that tickets were only 40 bucks, and that even though I had just seen them in April, I was going anyway.
THIS was met with the inevitable:

'Do you have to see them every time they come to New York?'
to which I responded with the inevitable:


'Yes...yes I do'

Jones Beach Amphitheater is about a forty minute drive from my house, as opposed to the two hour train ride (in both directions) to and from New York City. Jones Beach is my preferred venue of choice in New York. Jones Beach Amphitheater is located on the Great South Bay side of the Fire Island which is a narrow stretch of beach that runs parallel to Long Island protecting it from the Atlantic Ocean. When the  breeze comes off the Ocean it carries with it the faint salty smell of the water. In mid-summer the sun doesn't completely set til at least 9:00 pm and the first two songs of the headliner's set are usually played with pink and orange puffy clouds dotting the sky as the orange sun falls into the water. 


it's beautiful.


Eileen came out from Queens to attend a party at my house on the Saturday before the concert. The next day, we hung out at my friend Melissa's house and played in the pool with the Don and the kids. After a quick, easy dinner of party left-overs, Eileen and I left for the show.

Jones Beach Amphiteater

Amazingly there was no traffic as Eileen and I made our way to Jones Beach.
We got a great parking spot, and we walked ALL the way up to the new section of Jones Beach, and we took our seats.
This set was slightly different than the one they had played at Madison Square Garden back in April. When they played 'Sound of Thunder', I freaked.


I remember that 'What Happens Tomorrow' was a particularly great. Simon seemed so happy to have John Taylor back on stage with him and it came through in his performance. Another hi-light was 'Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile)' nobody plays the guitar solo on that like Andy Taylor.


NOBODY.


They played so many great songs that night. So many songs from all over their career and that's what made it so memorable. Especially for a pair of best friends who one day in 1983 simultaneously discovered Duran Duran.
I have been to a LOT of Duran Duran concerts, and I have been to a lot of them with all different people. But there is something about seeing them with Eileen that is the best experience of all. As I was thinking about that, and enjoying the perfect summer evening, they played 'Nice'
Part of the chorus goes like this:

'There is nothing better
Than being with you
And I'm feeling so nice
There is nowhere better
Than here with you
And it's feeling so nice'

I realized at that moment that no one else understands how much Duran Duran means to me than Eileen does. No one knows how the songs have made me cry and changed my life more than she does. So I reached over and gave her a great, big hug.


'What was THAT for?' she laughed.
'That was to thank you for being the only one who gets it, and to say thanks for wanting to come here tonight because there really is nothing better than being here with you'


She hugged me back and said 'You're the only one who gets it, for me too'  


We danced and hugged and cried and jumped with joy for the rest of the evening. 


Eileen has always been like a sister to me and as long as we still have Duran Duran in common, I imagine us going to see them for as long as they want to keep going out there.
And it will always be so 'Nice'
http://duranduran.wikia.com/wiki/Jones_Beach_2005

The Fourth One - Madison Square Garden June 24, 1987

• 
  
  The return of Duran Duran to New York City had sold out in 2 hours and a second show was added. It was such a great feeling because so many people had predicted that Duran Duran were finished, and that they would never regain the ground they had lost. 
  I was living at F.I.T. The Fashion Institute of Technology) at the time, so I walked up to Madison Square Garden (MSG) to buy the tickets. There was no one else on line and I was worried at first that I was too late.
  ”How many do you need?” the cashier asked
  ”I could use 6, that would be great”
  ”Well, I don’t have that many together, but I see I can get you four seats on the floor”
  I didn’t think twice.
  ”I’ll take them!”
  Back then the sections of MSG were about 10 rows each. The seats I got were in section J, row 9 which put us on the floor, but at the back. The cashier told me that the seats should be pretty good because our chairs would be on a riser and that we should be able to see over the heads of the people in front of us.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  As the concerts approached Eileen realized that she wouldn't be able to go the second show. She was going to Queens College at the time and she had class the same night as the second concert.
  
  There was a LOT of drama of trying to find someone to take her ticket. I had a friends who was going and she was currently in a 'fight' with the one other person I knew who would be interested. They BOTH said they wouldn't go if the other one was going and.....Oh forget it.
  You know how teenage girls are, I don’t really feel like explaining it.
  I was staying at Eileen's house in Queens that week, and it was awkward when it was time for me to leave for the show. I felt so guilty because I was going and she wasn't. I took the subway and met the rest of my friends at Penn Station.
  
  

  Our seats were very good (though not nearly as good as they had been the night before) and we could see everything very well.
  Up until 'Election Day' that is. THIS time I knew what to expect, and it drove me crazy that I couldn't see Simon on the ground with his microphone stand.
  The show was amazing. From what I remember the set list was the same:
  

  A View To A Kill
  Notorious
  American Science
  Union of the Snake
  Vertigo - My personal favorite from the album, and KILLER when performed live
  New Religion
  Meet El Presidente
  Election Day - I was so annoyed that I couldn't see Simon on the floor
  Some Like It Hot
  A Matter Of Feeling
  The Chauffeur
  Save A Prayer - This was done acoustically, and it was beautiful
  Skin Trade - Simon was the most smoking hot and sexy for this song. Holy crap, it was LeHotness.
  Hold Me
  Is There Something I Should Know?
  Hungry Like The Wolf - This was a 'funked' up version of the old classic. It was awesome!
  encore
  The Wild Boys - John came out by himself and started to play, then Nick came out, and finally Simon started singing, as he was projected on the the 20 sets of televisions overhead.
  The Reflex - I have NO memory of this song being performed what-so-ever.
  

  
  

  

  My 'Strange Behaviour Tour' program

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  For SOME reason, I did not have a camera for the second show, so I didn't have any pictures from that night....until 1990.
  I have a friend named Jill who had been a Duranie (before she went 'Goth') and her mom was cleaning out her room. Jill's mom called and asked me if I wanted any of Jill's Duran Duran stuff. I told her I would take it and I drove over to her house to pick it up.
  I ended up getting another Sing Blue Silver tour program, another copy of 'The Book of Words' and a pack of pictures from Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden in 1987. It turned out that a friend of Jill's had gone to see Duran Duran that night. She was in the second row (probably in my exact seat from the night before) and she took some excellent pictures.
  Here they are:
  
  

  
  

  

  'Election Day'
  You know it's a good thing I WASN'T in the second this time,
   I don't think I would have survived.

  

  'Election Day'

  
  
  

  

  'Election Day' Simon LeBon......in the zone. 

  
  
  

  

  'Election Day' YES....he actually did that.

  
  

  

  Introducing 'Election Day'

  

  Nick Rhodes

  
  
  

  

  John, Simon Warren

  
  

  

  JoSi from far away.....

  

  zooming in on the JoSi. 

  
  

  

  'The Chauffeur'

  
  

  

  Look at those arms. The long arms of LeBon.

  
  

  

  John Taylor making the 'Bass Face'

  
  

  

  His arms were way too skinny, but LOOK at that smile.
  NICE!

  
  

  

  Warren!!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  It was another fabulous night. The only thing that would have made it better would have been sharing it with Eileen.
  
  Duran Duran came back to New York city one more time that summer, and Eileen and I were BOTH there.
  
  
  That will be 'The Fifth One'
  
  
  
  
  

The Third One - (My Simon LeBon Moment) Madison Square Garden - June 23, 1987

If you're a Duranie you know what happened to Duran Duran between 1984 and 1987. If you don't know, I will tell you that they reached their peak of popularity, and they all but broke apart. Andy and Roger left and the future of Duran Duran was in question. Or at least that's what the press kept telling us, but Duranies knew that the return of Duran Duran was going to happen. In 1986, they released 'Notorious' and they embarked on a world tour. Eileen(my best friend, and fellow Duranie) heard that they were coming to New York to play Madison Square Garden and we knew that we HAD to be there.

*TIME OUT FOR A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON*       

Back in ‘The Day’ (ie: before Tickemaster ruled the world) it was possible to wait on line at a box office and purchase your tickets with actual money. At Madison Square Garden you were actually allowed to sleep out over-night and wait for the box office to open in the morning. There would be barriers, and the NYPD would keep an eye on the area all night. I did it several times, and I never felt that I was in any danger. In the morning (approx. 2-3 hours before the box office opened) they would have a lottery. This meant that the people at the front of the line would get the tickets with the lowest numbers, BUT they were given out randomly (as in not in sequential order)

*BACK TO THE STORY*

Eileen and I decided that we would wait outside Madison Square Garden (MSG) and try to get really good seats. For about a week before the day the tickets went on sale, I kept having this bad dream that I had been standing on a line all night only to find out in the morning that I had actually been waiting in the wrong place, and that the show was now sold-out. It still gives me shudders to think about it.

*shudders*

(see)

Anyway, the night before, Eileen my friend Laura and her friend Theresa went out to a nightclub. We left there around 2:00 in the morning, and we all waked over to MSG. As we approached the regular box office doors, we could see that there was no one else around. We all thought that was weird, so we started walking around. A police officer came up to us and told us that the the people were lining up along 8^th ave.

I was so relieved. If that cop hadn’t told us, I might have actually stood in the wrong place all night, and that nightmare I had been having might have come true!

Sure enough, when we walked down 33^rd st. and approached 8^th Ave. we could see all the fans lined up. There were probably about 200 people waiting there already. We took our place on line, and we waited.

It was actually a lot of fun. We talked all night with the other fans, and we took turns holding each other’s places in line so we could go pee, and break for refreshments. 

Around 6:00 am they started handing out numbered tickets. Eileen and I were standing right behind each other. She got number 331 and I gut number 365

(see what I mean? Even though we were together, we got very different numbers)

Once all the tickets were handed out, Security told us to disperse and come back at 8:45 and then they would bunch us together by our ticket numbers.

We left MSG and headed over to McDonald's (the SAME one we had gone to in 1984, see ‘The First One – 19 March, 1984)

We all had some food, and we relaxed. Eileen even fell asleep at the table and when she woke up, she had a red mark on  her forehead.

When we got back to MSG, they started calling out the ticket numbers. 

”If your number is between 301 and 331, line up here. You will be going in FIRST”

I started screaming.

”Oh my God, that’s you, that’s you” 

and I pushed Eileen on her on the back all the way over to the spot that Security was pointing to. 

She was the last person of the first bunch of people that got to go the box office. After she left, I realized that I hadn't given her the rest of the money(we were supposed to buy 6 tickets) and I hoped that she had enough.

I will never forget the look on her face when she came out of the box office

”Second row!! We have seats in the second FUCKING row!”

She started screaming, and I started screaming.

”I forgot to give you the money, I was so excited when they called your number first, that I forgot”

”I know! I only had enough money to get 2 tickets”

”Oh well, we’ll take those, and when they call my number I’ll get 4 more for everybody else. Tough luck on them, I mean we ARE the ones who stood out here all night”

”Exactly, we earned those seats. Second fucking row!”

”I know!!”

We must have looked like maniacs, screaming there on the street like that.

When they called my number(about an hour later) I ended up getting the rest of the tickets for our friends who had said they wanted to go. They ended up in about the 10^th row, so they couldn’t have complained TOO much.

We were so excited, and finally the day of the concert arrived.

Once again, MSG was crazy. At the time, all the Press had been saying that Duran Duran were over and that their fans who had once been so devoted were confused by the new material and that we were leaving in droves. The Press (as is still the case) was wrong. Anyone who was there can tell you that it was so exciting. They had sold out MSG (in record time,no less) and even added another show. For some reason the Press didn’t report THAT story.

It was so exciting handing our tickets to the usher and getting closer, and closer to the stage. The thing that amazed me the most was that there was no barrier between the stage and the first row. Between my chair, and the stage it was a distance of about 8 feet, max. Eileen and I looked at each other, and we jumped for joy, really. I’m not adding that for flourish, we really did that, and the Usher just shook his head at us.

The opening act was Erasure. I had seen them once before so I knew that they were gong to be great and they were. Andy Bell (the singer) was wearing this rubber leotard, and his ‘package’ kept popping out the side of it. Every time it happened, he would turn around, and tuck it back in only to have it happen again about five minutes later. I’ll never forget that!

In between the sets there was music coming across the PA system. Right in the middle of Eric Clapton’s ‘It’s in the Way That You Use It” the song stopped and the lights went out. 

The whole place started screaming.

'Duran Duran were done, done’ ?

I don’t think so ______ (insert profanity here)

A band of Caribbean dancers and steel drummers came out and marched across the stage, Eileen and I looked at each other like ”What the hell?”

Once they left the stage, the stage lights went back out, and when the lights came back on John Taylor and Simon LeBon were eight feet in front of us. We increased our screaming by about a hundred decibels (again) and then they burst into ‘A View to a Kill’

'A View To a Kill' and yes, it WAS.

Up until that moment, I had never heard that song live. Back then all we ever saw on TV was ‘playback’ The only other time I had heard it live was on MTV at Live Aid, and we all remember what THAT was like.

It sounded so amazing live I couldn’t believe it.

'Save a Prayer'

THAT'S how close we were.

'Some Like it Hot'

The set list was heavy with songs from ‘Notorious’ and that was fine with me. It is STILL my favorite Duran Duran album. 

JoSi...Before I ever even knew what joSi was.

'The Chauffeur'

Simon LeBon gets comfortable

They even performed ‘Some Like it Hot’ which was great, but the highlight of the songs for me, was ‘Election Day’












Oh boy. When the song started Simon had a vest on, and a white t-shirt.

first, the vest came off.....

Then, he grabbed the stand...

Right at the beginning of the song he went to the back of the stage, and pulled it off. After that, I don’t remember the whole routine exactly, but he launched into this ‘thing’ with his microphone stand, that I SWEAR I thought it was gonna kill me. He was right in front of us. He gyrated against the mic stand. He licked the mic stand (or at least it LOOKED like he did) and then he lay down on the stage and…

holy crap just thinking about it now makes me giddy.

then, he hit the floor....

next he came up again
(my FAVORITE shot)

then he went down again....

and then he went up AND down
(and I was speechless)

     








  The concert was going great, and so far it had been everything I had hoped that it would be.

Then it got even better.

That’s when I had my ‘Simon LeBon Moment’I don’t remember what song it was (Grrrr) but at one point Simon looked me right in the eye.

I screamed, he laughed, and I started to feel weak in the knees. Simon pulled on his shirt and pointed at me.

I looked down at my own shirt and realized that he was trying to tell me that he liked it.

the shirt in question.
If you're wondering if I still have it,
the answer is YES.
This photograph was taken in April, 2012

(I was wearing a shirt with his Scavullo  portrait on it)
I pulled on my shirt and gave him a look like,

’Oh, you like this?…thanks’

(I’m sure I was blushing)

Then, Simon actually smiled back at me.

I thought I was gonna die.

 At this point, Eileen noticed what was happening, and she grabbed my arm.

I smiled back at him and screamed,

”I LOVE YOU!” 

he smiled back at me and mouthed the words:

”Thank YOU!”

After Simon said that, Eileen shook my arm, and I laughed. Simon laughed back at us and then I started to slip off my chair.

I felt like such a dope. There I was in the middle of my Simon LeBon Moment, and I was being a klutz. It was so humiliating.

Eileen quickly grabbed me and pulled me back up, but not before my miniskirt had slipped halfway up my ass, flashing Simon LeBon in the process.

He gave me one last smile, and then he looked somewhere else.

It lasted all of 45 seconds, but it was still the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me (up until that point, anyway) and I couldn’t believe it.
 I needed to sit down, and I grabbed the cigarette out of Eileen’s hand

”But you don’t even smoke!” she shouted

”Well, I think I need to start, especially after that!”
Once I had my cigarette in hand, I looked downstage, and I saw Simon's wife. She was staring at me, so I smiled at her. She gave me the dirtiest look. I wiped the smile from my face, and she looked away from me. She turned her face back to the stage and she began watching her husband VERY intently. I was still in a daze from 'talking' to Simon LeBon so I couldn't really process what her stare was all about. Nowadays when I talk about the experience I call it the 'Persian Evil Eye'

Even WITH the 'Persian Evil Eye' it was a thrill and even after all these years, I can remember it like it was yesterday.

The end of the show was amazing, and John’s entrance for the beginning of ‘Wild Boys’ was another stand out moment.

Wild Boys never lose it

Wild Boys always shine

whoa, JT....

The harmonica in question

 At the end of the concert, Simon tossed his harmonica into the crowd (in MY direction, no less) but the woman behind us pushed me out of the way, clunking my head in the process and she grabbed it for herself. I was so pissed, and Eileen and I gave her the dirtiest looks.As I was rubbing my head, I again looked downstage and once again, I was the recipient of the 'Persian Evil Eye'.
'It's a GOOD thing I didn't catch that harmonica. What kind of look would THAT have gotten me?' I thought to myself.

'Thank You, New York, and good night!'

When the show was over we were so bummed. The only thing that made it bearable was knowing that the next night we would be back. That was the Fourth One.