Duran Duran
2011 North American Tour
The band split from Epic Records in 2009, after releasing just 2 albums. In early 2010, it was revealed that the band would be contributing a cover of “Boys Keep Swinging” to a tribute/charity record for David Bowie called We Were So Turned On from which all profits go to War Child with Carla Bruni, Devendra Banhart, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Warpaint and several others also contributing. The album was released on 14 September 2010 on Manimal Vinyl Records. A limited edition split 7″ single with Duran Duran and Carla Bruni was also released on Manimal Vinyl in December 2010.
In November 2010, Duran Duran announced the worldwide release of their 13th studio album, entitled All You Need Is Now,[48] that would be released on indie label S-Curve Records. The album was produced by the Grammy Award-winning Mark Ronson and mixed by Spike Stent, and was released exclusively on iTunes on 21 December 2010 and hit the #1 spot on download charts in 15 countries (including the UK).[49] The first single from the record, title track “All You Need Is Now”, was free to download worldwide on 8 December 2010 exclusively in iTunes. Guitarist and songwriter Dom Brown has co-written all but 2 songs on the “All You Need Is Now” album. In March 2011 the band embarked on a concert tour in support of the album – called All You Need Is Now Tour. There was a warm up show in London and the tour officially started on 16 March 2011 in Austin, Texas.[50]
The expanded physical album and various format special packages was released in March 2011, the 30th anniversary of the band’s first release “Planet Earth”. The CD features 14 tracks – or 5 additional tracks: “Mediterranea,” “Other People’s Lives,” “Too Bad, You’re Too Beautiful,” “Diamond In The Mind,” and “Return To Now.” In a video posted 14 Feb 2011, on the band’s website, Rhodes mentioned the mixing of another 4 tracks: “Too Close To the Sun,” “Early Summer Nerves,” “This Lost Weekend,” and “Networker Nation.” The album entered the UK chart at #11 and the Billboard chart at #29.
On 25 February 2011, while in Milan, Duran Duran Received Style Award. Letizia Moratti, the city’s mayor, presented the Band with a key to the city, honoured to be presented with an award recognizing them as Style Icons of the 20th century.[51][52]
On 23 March 2011, the band performed live at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles as the kickoff to the second season of “Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express.” The concert was live-streamed on YouTube and directed by David Lynch. The band was joined onstage by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Beth Ditto of Gossip, and Kelis.[53]
In May 2011, Le Bon contracted laryngitis leading to either cancellation or rescheduling of most of the European dates for the ‘All You Need Is Now’ World Tour.
