"Whoooooooo's Hunnnngry!?"

Orange, red and violet lights flashed in sequence over the stage as Simon Le Bon thrust his chest forward and screamed into the microphone. The stage came alive with strobe lights and mist as Duran Duran kicked it into high gear and played the song everyone paid to see. Playing "Hungry like the wolf" at the Saddledome on Monday to throngs of voracious fans, Duran Duran proved even after 27 years of drugs, ridiculous music videos and more member changes than the original Power Rangers, they can still bring the rock.

Most of Duran Duran's audience had their share of 40 somethings crammed into their children's tightest clothes, but like any self-respecting '80s rock group, the audience included a sprinkle of people not even alive in the band's heyday. The universal and timeless appeal of their music shined through in the diversity of the crowd, with adoration from fans faltering very little--if at all--in nearly three decades.

No one remained seated as the old boys from Britain cranked out tunes with enough octane to fuel a jet and everyone held up lighters when they cut out the afterburners. With tracks still getting radio play twenty years later, a new song about having sex with Martians and more cougars than you would dare shake a stick at, it's damn near next to impossible to give a band like Duran Duran a bad review. It's freakin' Duran Duran for chrissake!

If a small mar existed in the experience, it was the ever-so-slightly clumsy pacing of the show. They cranked out most of the classic and more rocking tunes right at the beginning, but slowed it down to a chugging pace about 3/4 of the way through. They picked the fumbled ball up and ran with it towards the end of the show, but three slow songs in a row is definitely enough to lose the attention of any casual fans or children with ADD in the audience. Luckily, the sort of crowd Duran Duran attracts includes very few of these, so the majority of the audience just shook their asses a little slower during the down time.

The new CD and tour were undoubtedly inspired by the band members running out of money and hoping to rake in a little more to retire on, but that doesn't stop them from putting on one helluva show. Duran Duran can still fill the Saddledome--and for bunch of old British guys who undoubtedly snorted one too many lines of coke off of one too many hookers, that's definitely something.