Coachella 2011: Duran Duran turns the cool kids into a bunch of giggling grade schoolers

Duran Duran didn't need to save its hits for last at Coachella on Sunday night. They were all hits, and the crowd couldn't get enough. After all, the New Wave superstars practically wrote the book on mainstream '80s nostalgia.

Not only did Duran Duran break new ground when it came to video technology for its sold-out stadium shows, but the band was  among the pioneers of MTV, with professionally directed videos shot on 35 mm film. Anybody who grew up in the '80s -- when MTV was a new phenomenon as powerful as Facebook would be a generation later -- remembers the Sri Lankan odyssey in pre-ironic rock 'n' roll Cheez Whiz that was the 1982 video "Hungry Like a Wolf."

Coachella 2011 in photos: The acts and scene | 360° Panoramas | The faces

 And those who remember harbor deep affection for the British Romantics. For them, Duran Duran occupies the same cozy corner of pre-9/11 pop culture as John Hughes films, "The Price Is Right" and "Family Ties."

During the band's Sunday night mainstage set, singer Simon Le Bon was full of large gestures: strutting, preening, opening arms wide to the massive field as if soaking up the love that wafted toward him from the crowd.

The set was like a party that snowballed into a spirited group celebration of simpler times.

Album review: Duran Duran's 'All You Need Is Now'

Duran Duran has made no secret lately of its desire to keep up with the kids: For 2004’s “Astronaut” this long-running English synth-rock act hired producers including Dallas Austin and Don Gilmore to help freshen its sound, and “Red Carpet Massacre,” from 2007, contained collaborations with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

The band’s choice of Mark Ronson to helm “All You Need Is Now,” Duran Duran’s 13th studio album, seems consistent with that pattern; Ronson has crafted hits over the last few years with such youngsters as Adele and Amy Winehouse. Yet the producer’s specialty is providing his clients with a kind of meticulous throwback vibe, and here he aims not to update Duran Duran’s style but to restore it to its early-’80s splendor. Never mind the disingenuous title: “All You Need Is Now” blasts unashamedly back to the chart-topping days of “Rio” and “The Reflex.”

Not everything is worth making the journey; indeed, it’s hard to know why the band bothered adding five new songs to the superior nine-track version of “All You Need Is Now” that Duran Duran released through iTunes late last year. But with their sleek keyboard lines, trebly guitar chatter and frontman Simon Le Bon’s swooping vocal melodies, taut neo-New Wave gems like “Being Followed” and “Girl Panic!” make a strong argument for the lasting utility of these hitmakers’ original formula. Maybe the kids should come to them.

—Mikael Wood

Duran Duran
“All You Need Is Now”
(S-Curve)
Two and a half stars

Duran Duran with Mark Ronson: A return to 'Rio'?

If you grew up in the '80s, these guys soundtracked your slumber parties, the ones where you tried to paint your nails black only to get nail polish remover all over your mom's comforter. Now they've returned with the album "All You Need Is Now," out today on iTunes (physical drops in February) and produced by Mark Ronson, who connected with Duran Duran in 2008 in Paris, soon after they became the first band to perform at the Louvre Museum.

Duran Duran and its four original members -- John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon, the latter sporting one of the best rock names in the business -- haven't been wanting for exposure. In addition to playing near the "Mona Lisa," the four gents who once looked like walking advertisements for Vidal Sassoon have been playing festivals around the world the last couple of years.

Hungry like the wolf: Julie Ann Rhodes goes from rock 'n' roll wife to food fame

From the rock 'n' food department:

The next time you want to test the mettle of a hard-core Duran Duran fan, mention Julie Ann Rhodes.

True “Durannies” are well versed in the fairytale romance between DD keyboardist Nick Rhodes and the Iowa-born model Julie Ann Friedman, whom he met at a party in Los Angeles during the early ‘80s. After a whirlwind courtship, the pair married in a lavish Art Deco-inspired ceremony at London’s Savoy Hotel in 1984, and became a fixture on the global party circuit. The two had one daughter, Tatjana, before divorcing in the late ‘90s.

After developing an interest in healthful eating for her young daughter, Julie Ann Rhodes became a founding member of England’s Parents for Safe Foods before embarking on a short-lived stint in acting.

But her love for fine cuisine eventually pulled her back into the kitchen, resulting in the Roving Stove, an L.A.-based personal chef service she created in 2002. The successful venture has allowed Julie Ann Rhodes to indulge her inner foodie, which is on full display on her blog 'Jewels' From the Roving Stove, where she shares personal stories about her years traveling with Duran Duran, favorite recipes and reviews of fine restaurants 'round the world.

Her motto: “The glamour doesn’t have to stop when you put the apron on.”