The year 2022 will go down as a true landmark for the '80s-minted British band Duran Duran, with Hollywood High as a suitable topper.
The year 2022 will go down as a true landmark for the ’80s-minted British band named after Dr. Durand Durand, a character in the trippy 1967 Jane Fonda sci-fi film Barbarella. Duran Duran started the year on a lingering high note from the well-received October 2021 release of Future Past, the band’s 15th studio album.
The first half of 2022 was largely focused on preparing for and promoting the band’s late-summer North American tour with stops at legendary arenas and amphitheaters including Merriweather Post Pavilion, Madison Square Garden, and the Hollywood Bowl.
As remarkable as the Future Past Tour concerts may have been, there were three non-tour performances in 2022 that were every bit as notable. And two of those came as part of high-profile events signifying the band’s cultural impact and legacy. On that score, it’s hard to imagine anything could top last month’s televised performance and ceremony from the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles marking Duran Duran’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
This year did also see the band perform by invitation of Queen Elizabeth II. Duran Duran was part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, an event marking her unprecedented 70th anniversary on the throne, which took place in early June, just three months before she was succeeded in death by her son, Charles III.
But before any of that, Duran Duran performed a small, private concert in March for 250 very special guests to celebrate the band’s lasting legacy and the place where it all took root, internationally speaking at least, back when they were an upstart British “New Romantic” band signed to EMI and that British conglomerate’s American subsidiary Capitol Records.
From a hotel rooftop in the heart of Hollywood, the band performed an hour-long set with the iconic Capitol Records Tower serving as a symbolic backdrop and the even more iconic Hollywood sign in the distance. The setlist included hits from throughout the band’s career as well as a few picks from Future Past.
Footage from the hour-long concert factors into A Hollywood High, a feature-length docu-concert sharing the singular performance while relating the band’s remarkable journey, embellished with previously unseen archival footage and bonus interviews.
Directed by industry veterans Gavin Elder, Vincent Adam Paul, and George Scott, the film stars the four veteran band members still performing: singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, guitarist/bassist John Taylor, and drummer Roger Taylor. (Andy Taylor, the fifth member of the band sometimes called the Fab Five, has been unable to tour or perform after years of struggling with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer, he recently revealed.
A Hollywood High is currently playing on Veeps as the streamer’s first show enabled with 4K/UHD, Dolby Digital & Atmos — the highest-quality, cinema-grade sound and audio currently available.
Streams through Monday, Jan. 2. Tickets are $17.99, with rewatch privileges for seven days after a ticketholder hits play the first time. Visit www.veeps.com or look for the Veeps app on your preferred platform.
Originally posted at: Metro Weekly