Duran Duran play triumphant homecoming show in Birmingham

Duran Duran returned to the city where they began for a joyous homecoming show at the Utilita Arena this week, as part of their first full UK arena tour in three years.

"The great city of Birmingham!" the frontman Simon Le Bon called out at one point. Later he told the packed arena: "Duran Duran is Birmingham!"

Hits from four decades

The crowd were on their feet and singing along from the very start, as the band opened with Is There Something I Should Know? From there, the hits kept coming over two hours, including Girls on Film, A View to a Kill and Hungry Like the Wolf, before which Le Bon encouraged the crowd to howl.

There were surprises too, including the deep cut Winter Marches On, a version of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer and a cover of Electric Light Orchestra's Evil Woman, a nod to another of the region's great bands, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the night.

The ballad Ordinary World was another standout, showing that Le Bon can still hold an arena of thousands in the palm of his hand. The show ended with Rio, to huge cheers.

An "honorary Brummie"

Le Bon, who was born in Hertfordshire, joined the band after they had formed in Birmingham, and his story of being made an "honorary Brummie" by the UB40 singer Ali Campbell got a big laugh from the crowd. His delight at being back in the city ran through the whole performance, as he strutted across the stage and sang face to face with his bandmates and two backing singers.

Birmingham Live's reviewer described the night as "a joyous and impressive celebration", though some of the background visuals looked as if they had been quickly generated by artificial intelligence, a disappointment for a band known for their cinematic videos in the 1980s.

Born in Birmingham

Duran Duran were formed in Birmingham in 1978 by John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, and made their name playing at the city's Rum Runner nightclub on Broad Street, where several members also worked. They went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world in the 1980s, with hits including Rio, The Reflex and Wild Boys, and are still one of the city's greatest pop success stories.

The band have kept close ties with Birmingham over the decades, and their returns to the city's big venues are always among the most anticipated concerts of the year. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, and still tour around the world more than four decades after their first hit.

Details of the band's remaining tour dates are on their website.

The Utilita Arena on King Edward's Road, beside the canal near Brindleyplace, is one of the city's two big concert arenas, alongside the bp pulse LIVE arena at the NEC.