SIMON
Event(s) of the Year – It has to be a show because that’s my favourite thing ever. Cruel World festival was amazing, every date was, but the Halloween show at Madison Square Garden was the highlight. I did a lot of sailing. The birth of my third grandson Nakoa was an amazing event. And receiving an MBE from Prince William at Windsor Castle.
Best Movie You saw in 2024 – I don’t watch many movies right now, I most watch TV shows. I went back and watched the original “Blade Runner” and enjoyed that. I watched a lot of sport this year, way more than any movie. I did also enjoy “Dune Part 2.” I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first one, just like the book. The story becomes very linear. The visuals of the movie are incredible, I’ll tell you that.
Best TV You saw in 2024 - The fourth season of “Slow Horses” was extraordinary. I really love it. For a spectacular visual, I thought “Shogun” was quite something. Oh, and “Blue Eyed Samurai,” an animated series on Netflix. It’s really clever. And it’s for adults!
Best Book You Read in 2024 – Lisa Jewell books. She’s one of my favourite authors right now. One of her books is being made into a film – “None of this is True.” All her books are so good. Even better than that is “The Third Wife.” It’s a story about a middle-aged guy who has married his third wife and it’s the effect it has on everyone else around him. He is a good guy but he’s selfish. It’s a brilliant book.
Best podcast You Heard in 2024 – I love true crime podcasts. There are so many great ones. “Assume Nothing, Murder in the Stables.” It’s really good, it’s a true story about this guy who’s a naughty man. “Diddy on Trial” is good. It’s so lurid though.
Best Music You Heard in 2024 – I have to think about this, I listen to so much music. I might pick Reno McCarthy’s “Deja.” It’s something different, it’s spectacular. Foushee’s “Pointy Heights” is also so good, every song.
Most memorable DD event of the year – Halloween at Madison Square Garden.
Looking Forward to in 2025 – Going on holiday. Being in my house finally, Amber having her baby. Some more shows being booked and maybe working on new music.
ROGER
Event(s) of the Year – I am going to be very partial, I am a big Aston Villa supporter, and I know not everyone is going to like this, but the event of the year for me was Aston Villa getting back in to the Champions League, which is the first time since the early 80s. I sort of missed that period because of how busy I was with the band, so this has been fantastic for me to see. And their star player of the moment is Jhon Durán!
Best Movie You saw in 2024 – My movie of the year came out right at the end of 2023, but I saw it in 2024. “Zone of Interest” is an amazing film about the Holocaust about a commandant of Auschwitz. It’s a study of human behavior because he and his family lived this normal life, a very good life, and there was a wall divided their home from the concentration camps. It was shocking to watch everyone’s reaction – or non reaction – to their living circumstances. It’s haunting. It stuck with me.
Best Book You Read in 2024 – This year it’s Al Pacino’s “Sonny Boy.” I read mostly when we travel, so I am halfway through it now. He is a hero of mine and he’s been in some of my favourite movies. And it’s a beautiful cover!
Best podcast You Heard in 2024 – I’ve liked the BBC Radio Desert Island Discs show for a while. It gives a real insight in to personalities. The host is Lauren Laverne and she’s almost like a therapist with the guests, most people end up crying as they delve through their lives.
Best Music You Heard in 2024 - I get most of my recommendations from my eldest son, James. He’s so tuned-in and he sends me a load of stuff. One was Fontaines D.C. and they’re my favourite Irish band of the moment. Post punk, dark, grungy, but very musical and a proper band.
Most memorable DD event of the year – When we played Halloween at Madison Square Garden. It was the longest we ever played in our entire history; a lot of work that went into that show, we were nervous too about some of the songs we chose but we held everyone’s attention and that is an accomplishment! To go back and still fill MSG up after forty years is an achievement!
We also had some amazing moments in Europe last summer as well. Croatia, Athens, Italy – so much fun!
Looking Forward to in 2025 – Doing more shows! We have announced 2 shows in the UK and maybe a few more in Europe like we did last summer.
JOHN
Event(s) of the Year - I got hang out with my little grandson Virgil this summer, and we went on the underground, went on the Cutty Sark, took a boat down the Thames… it was kind of great to experience it through a young person’s eyes.
I went to see Aston Villa versus Bayern Munich in the first champions league game ever to be held in the city of Birmingham, and they won!
On the DD front, Cruel World was fantastic, Madison Square Garden Halloween show was fantastic. That was one of the greatest events of the year.
Best Movie You saw in 2024 – We really liked “Emilia Perez,” it was extraordinary. I saw “Conclave,” that was really good. I saw “THE NORTHMAN,” it’s about two years old but I just saw it. It’s an incredible Viking saga. It blew my mind, it’s an epic movie. I saw “ENO,” the Brian Eno documentary as well. The way he talks about music and art, he’s fascinating.
Best TV You saw in 2024 – I am a big lover of streaming. I just love “Bad Sisters” starring Eve Hewson. It has the most affecting theme tune. I am loving “Landman” starring Billy Bob Thornton. Taylor Sheridan cranks out the most amazing stuff. He speaks of the poor, the middle and the rich and they all interweave. True American stories. I am liking “The Agency.” TV has never been better. That’s how I chill out at night, a couple of hours of premium TV.
Best Book You Read in 2024 – I loved this biography on Claude Monet, “Monet, the Restless Vision” by Jackie Wullschlager . I thought, I don’t know anything about his life, so I wanted to learn more, and wow! He never gave up his dream. That got me on to the book “Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin”. What these guys went through because they had a passion, they just never gave up.
Best podcast You Heard in 2024 – I don’t listen to podcasts much, this summer I got obsessed with Peter Attia, a health and fitness guru. I would put on his podcast and go for a ride on my bike, it was very affirming. Having said that, I haven’t listened to him in a while. I love the BBC iPlayer. You can access an incredible array of BBC Radio shows. I am a big fan of their classical radio, there’s a show on Saturday called Record Review that I love.
Best Music You Heard in 2024 – Eno put out his music from TOP BOY. I really love that. It’s ambient music, but I can put it on again and again. I discovered SOPHIE this year. She passed away in a crazy accident and her team put out this album posthumously. It’s very electro, which isn’t typically my taste, but extremely progressive. A great work of art. I really love the Duran Duran “Evil Woman” remixes. I am very pleased with them.
Most memorable DD event of the year – Definitely the Garden, Cruel World, Latitude was great, Lucca was great, those two shows were some of the best we’ve done this year. We don’t play that many shows but the ones we play are great.
Looking Forward to in 2025 – My daughter’s wedding.
We will be playing shows in Europe, I am excited about that. I am excited about Duran projects and enjoying life. I stopped watching the news, it’s better for me that way. I have never relied on anyone else for my own happiness, I don’t know if that’s an only child thing, but it has made me self-reliant and I think we should all work on that. If you lean too heavily on anything, you will get disappointed. I still love America and I love England, I have a life beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you to the fans out there for helping realize that for me.
NICK
Event(s) of the Year - I started my year in Venice, and it’s one of my favourite places in the world. There is no place like Venice. It’s just stunning. So that made me smile from the beginning of the year. I saw a play/musical in London called “Cold War” based on the movie of the same name. I saw the John Waters exhibition at the Academy in Los Angeles. I was thrilled they honoured John Waters with a proper show. I saw a small Almodóvar exhibit there too. Ed Ruscha at LACMA in Los Angeles was particularly well done. The Naomi (Campbell) exhibition at the V&A made me happy, I couldn’t be more pleased for her, she has had an astonishing career. My real highlight of the year was the Jean Cocteau exhibit in Venice. It didn’t let me down. He did more things in many different genres better than most. But by biggest highlight by far was my birthday present, which was a Russian Blue pussycat!
Best Movie You saw in 2024 – I loved a very small independent movie and I don’t know if it’s out yet. It’s a movie called “Ravens” about a Japanese photographer named Masahisa Fukase. It’s a low budget movie, but it’s such a well-done story which shows you someone’s life, well filmed, exquisite, amazing soundtrack. I hope people get to see it. I liked “Kinds of Kindness.” I liked being in that world for a while. It was mad, but fun to watch. On another level of Hollywood movies, I liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I didn’t like it as much as the first one, but it was good to see the characters come back to life. Being in Tim Burton’s world is a great place to hang out. I just watched “The Last Showgirl” with Pamela Anderson and it was fun to watch.
Best TV You saw in 2024 – “Shogun” was the best thing I’ve watched. I loved everything about it. The actors, the storyline, the way it was filmed. It was amazing. “Cristóbal Balenciaga” was really, really well done. He was a fashion designer, one of the best. It was fun to watch, everyone in it was great.
Best Book You Read in 2024 – The great artist and photographer Stephen Gill’s Variations on Themes of a Pillar. This is a handmade book! He hand-printed everything, it’s special in a way that not many people do things like this anymore. Julia Borissova, a Russian artist, made some beautiful books this year – handmade as well.
Best Music You Heard in 2024 – There’s a song by Delia x Erika Isac called “Ratat.” It’s so delightfully bonkers. It’s probably as well that I don’t understand everything they’re saying, but it’s unique and great, and it really caught my ear. I think Simon might rather like it, too. Another thing I like is Foushee, which Simon did choose as his regard of the year. This is the reason Simon and I get along musically so well. I loved “Still Around.”
Most memorable DD event of the year – Do you mean, of the decade? Obviously for me it was our show at Madison Square Garden on Halloween.
When we were being inducted into the Rock Hall, we needed a few shows to warm up, and ended up doing a Halloween show in Las Vegas. That tiny event grew into a whole album, a Deluxe album this year, and an extravaganza at Madison Square Garden where we had dancers, a flock of wonderful drag queens, giant puppets of a clown and a witch…on paper, it almost looked impossible! It’s the most I ever had to do before a one-off show in my entire career. So many new songs to learn, the costumes by Jeffrey and B. Åkerlund, the hair & make-up, Jonas Åkerlund filmed the show. Every single person rose to the occasion and that’s what made it so incredibly unique.
Looking Forward to in 2025 – I am looking forward to our European tour this summer. I can’t say dates other than the two British ones that have been announced, but we haven’t properly played in Europe and we are trying to do that. I am hoping we can finish off the “Reportage” album sometime this year. I am working on three photo books. I’d like to finish mine and John’s musical, that’s in pretty good shape. I also hope we get a little more peace in the world.
