New Years Eve Party Review
by Gina Glenn
It all seems like a dream. After ten years of being known as the Queen of Bad Seats, I finally held a floor ticket for Duran's New Years Even party with Adam Ant and the Village People. The evening of December 31, I left my apartment at 5:30 and arrived at the Forum an h our later. I parked and proceeded to look around when I had found a line of floor ticket holders had accumulated at what was to be one of tow entrances into the venue, so I settled into one of them. This is where I learned of the festivities to come.
One of the Staff Pro guys explained to us that we would be receiving special wristbands distinguishing us as general admission ticket holders. He warned us to keep the wristbands on or miss the remainder of the concert. This was fine with me because I don't really possess a neurotic tendency to rip plastic strips off my wrist. Mr. Staff Pro added that we would be going in a half-hour before the rest of the herd was and that we would be receiving party favors. Hooray!
At this point, though, I was starting to get a little edgy. This was going to be my first general admission experience and I was alone. Looking back, though, I think it turned out better that way. I never feel alone at a Duran concert. 7:45 approached and suddenly, to the left of me, the line from the other side of the Forum appeared, following another Staff Pro guy, and marched right into the Forum. Apparently somewhere between 6:30 and 7:45 they decided to use only one entrance in. Oh, thanks. It was about fifteen minutes later that our line finally started to move forward. We got our wristbands, party hat, and a little cardboard noise horn.
Upon finally reaching the dance floor, I was greeted by about 100 other Duran fans already trying on their party hats and bobbing to the techno music and dance remixes pumping over the speakers. I made my way over to John's side, where I was determined to remain, about four or five people back from the stage. As time passed, people continually filled in and finally, at about 9:00 p.m., Mr. Ant began his set. This is where I was initiated into general admission life. To call it pushing would be to make the understatement of 1994. Anyway, I was able to stand my ground and watch Adam, who is amazing. He finished and out came the Village People. Even though I was too squished to do the "Y" in "YMCA", I managed to have a great time.
About 20 minutes after the Villagers, the time had arrived. There were deafening screams. And then there was Duran. Simon still had his hair in a shade a la blonde, and in a silver suit. Warren was in all black with a ruffled shirt and velvet jacket. Nick was in red satin, and John was in a gray suit, which, of course, had a matching vest underneath. It was at this point that I took notice to the advantage I held. Normally 5'9, I stood almost 6' in the boots I was wearing (to those directly behind me, I apologize). Everyone in front of me was at least a whole head shorter than I was, plus the fact that I was just beyond an arm's length away from John. This was definitely a good thing.
Just as I had begun to take notice of the gorgeousness of it all, Warren started strumming the guitar and "Too Much Information" began. It was an amazing opener. Tons of energy. Most of the songs were done slightly less acoustical than that of the first leg, but I had no problem with that. The string section was replaced with an auxiliary keyboard and playing it was one of the violinists from the first leg. Personally, I preferred the strings, but that is probably because I am a violinist myself.
The songs they did included most from the first leg) with the exception of "The Chauffeur", "UMF", or "Hungry Like The Wolf"). The song list was mostly mixed up, so that made it even less predictable. New to the stage was "Love Voodoo", in which Lamya had sang on the album, so it retained a lot of its original qualities. Another new one was "First Impression" (oh, praise Duran for finally having a Liberty song in there!). This one was incredible. Definitely one of my favorites. My others are "White Lines" (I love the power and the bass line) and "Girls On Film" (it may not be as danceable as the original, but the orchestration is indeed indescribable). Directly after "Love Voodoo", the night was given one of its many twists when John got up and sand a "Good-bye to 1993, Hello to 1994" - type song (consisting of him repeating the latter statement about 20 times! &emdash;ed. note). He actually got the crowd chanting back to him pretty well.
Right after that was "Girls On Film", in which Simon stopped in the middle so that we could count down to '94 together. (They had the countdown on the Forum scoreboard, hanging from the ceiling). At that point, there were about 16 seconds until the big moment. Everyone counted the seconds down. Then people screamed, kissed, blew their cardboard horns, and one girl even fell over due to drunkenness. Oh, what a moment. After we all had pretty much calmed down and/or regained consciousness, Duran finished up "Girls On Film" as if they hadn't missed a beat. They did quite a few more songs and ended with "Save A Prayer". Then, just as if their mission in life was complete, Duran simply walked off the stage.
Well, they made us wait quite a while (as usual) before they pranced back out and ended it all with "Wild Boys". After screams for more, Duran waved to their adoring audience and left for the final time. Then, the lights came back on and people made futile attempts to both exit the building and peel streamers off their sweaty bodies. I left the concert with confetti in my hair, deafness in my left ear, and happier than I have been in a long time. There is no one I would rather spend the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994 with. Thanks, guys.
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