‘We look like soft, made-up blokes, but we’re really tough’: Duran Duran on 80s excess, tabloid scrutiny and their Halloween glow-up
They spent their heyday on yachts, then rolled up their sleeves in the wilderness years. Ahead of a Halloween show at the O2, pop’s great survivors explain their staying power In 2022, Duran Duran were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It felt like a big deal, a sweet moment of acknowledgment for the band’s five-decades-long career, the 100m records sold, the string of bulletproof hits: Save a Prayer, Rio…
Key points
- Duran Duran's Halloween shows began as warm-up gigs before their 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
- The band has released a Halloween-themed album, 2023's Danse Macabre, and will play London's O2 on 31 October.
- Members say 1980s fame brought intense scrutiny, but they survived lean years and now feel respected.
Duran Duran have turned their Halloween concerts into an annual tradition, with this year's show set for London's O2 on 31 October as part of their 2026 UK and Europe tour. The band first staged a Halloween-themed performance in Las Vegas in 2022 as a warm-up before their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The shows have grown more elaborate, featuring costumes, pyrotechnics and covers such as Billie Eilish's Bury a Friend and Talking Heads' Psycho Killer. They also led to the 2023 album Danse Macabre, on which guitarist Andy Taylor returned to play after leaving the band in 2007.
Coping with 1980s fame
Drummer Roger Taylor said the band's rapid rise was a 'mindfuck', noting he was 21 when they played Madison Square Garden. He left in 1986 and moved to Gloucestershire, relieved when fans stopped camping outside his house.
Frontman Simon Le Bon, now 67, said he does not care what people think of him. He recalled the lean years after the hits dried up, saying the band survived and proved they are tough despite looking like 'soft, made-up middle-class blokes'.
We might look like a bunch of soft, made-up middle-class blokes, but actually, we’re really tough.
— Simon Le Bon
Halloween costumes and later success
Le Bon, who admits he is not a Halloween fan, has dressed as a werewolf, a sea captain, a mummy and a jellyfish. He said this year he wants to appear as Shiva the Destroyer.
Bassist John Taylor said the audience changed after the original lineup reunited in 2001, dropping an octave from the earlier teenage female crowd. The band has since been featured on Royal Mail stamps and collaborated with younger artists including Mark Ronson and Sabrina Carpenter.
