Live Aid Broke Up Duran Duran

The historic Live-Aid DVD will be released for the first time ever on November 8. One band who played the gig but wasn't happy with their performance was Duran Duran.

Guitarist Andy Taylor tells Undercover News Live Aid broke up the band. "Probably, if we hadn't have done Live Aid we probably wouldn't have split up. We wouldn't have had to face up to each other at a point were we could have done without it. It is a big ironic fact but because we were on the road in America with Power Station so we had to blow out a few gigs at hefty costs. We weren't on the road with Duran so we had to rehearse. It was just a nightmare. We had done enough. Everyone had made an awful lot of money out of us and we needed a space. If we had of stayed away from each other at that period for 6 months clears things might have calmed down".

Roger Taylor says their Live Aid performance isn't their shining moment. "It wasn't a great moment for the band. I think everyone was in different spaces really. It was the first time we had done a show after John and Andy were in Power Station and I was in Arcadia and there was some disquiet within the band at that time".

Saying no to Bob Geldof was not an option according to Roger "It is a hard thing to say no to. We someone rings you up and says "it is for starving kids in Africa and we need the money" you can't say no. You have to do stuff like that. I'm glad we did it because we could not do it".

John Taylor isn't looking forward to seeing the performance again. "It was not a good night for us". Andy adds "Having said that, there were people who were a lot more fucked up than us. I remember having this conversation with Ronnie Wood about him having a go at it with Dylan and Keith. They were really, really rolling around. No-one was really tight. I think Woodstock had some great fucking bands like The Who and Hendrix, they were tight, they were playing but at Live-Aid it was a cobble".

In October Duran Duran will release 'Astronaut', their first album in 21 years with the original line-up.

They told Undercover they will tour Australia again in May 2005.

Courtesy Undercover Australia

http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2004/aug04/20040825_duranduran.html