Las Vegas Mixtape v16: Duran Duran’s Live Mashups, Easy Scenic Escape, and Yacht-Rocking at Palms Pool

Track #1: Duran Duran, @Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas

It’s always rewarding to catch up with a legendary band that continues to thrive, takes creative risks, and is comfortable in its skin.

At the second of two shows at the Encore Theater, Duran Duran was ultra-confident. Their arena-synth-meets-guitar-rock sound was big but intimate, too, benefiting from the venue’s sterling acoustics. And frontman Simon Le Bon remains a total showman, utterly happy to be on the stage and easily reaching the high notes on a #1 gem like 1993’s “Ordinary World.”

The British band adeptly hopscotched across many genres (pop, glam, art-rock, funk, disco, goth, and hip-hop). This sons-of-David-Bowie strategy has kept them vital and engaged.

Impressively, the electro-rocking hit “Invisible” from their 2021 album “Future Past” fit right in alongside their signature smashes “Hungry Like The Wolf” and “Notorious.”

They began the night with the atmospheric “The Chauffeur” and later managed to weave Rick James’ “Super Freak” into their own 1982 deep cut “Lonely In Your Nightmare.” They also expertly mashed their early hit “Girls On Film” into Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” It was like they were DJ-ing their own anything-goes party.