John Taylor
10/4/99, The Yucatan, Santa Barbara

This was the show that every guy in town's girlfriend attended. Like I was saying, John Taylor is still extremely cute. I never got to see Duran Duran back in the day, though I would consider myself a big fan, HUGE when Planet Earthand Riocame out, and John was my favorite.
But I guess I wasn't that much of a die-hard, because I didn't get there at 8:00 pm and wait around 2 hours for them to go on as many others had. That's why my pictures aren't as close as they could be. I got the feeling that some of the girls would tear me to pieces in a Dionysian frenzy if I got in front of them with my camera.
It was worth it, if only to be able to say that I finally got to see him. John had a set of new material but also included a few Duran Duran songs, in which he sang. This was totally weird. I have blocked it out for the most part. I remember he did "Reflex" and even Power Station's "Some Like It Hot." I guess that'd be the hardest part about going solo... people are just waiting for you to play old stuff and practically not paying attention to the new songs. Well he had more merchandise than song material anyway, including posters, T-shirts, programs and postcards.
It's interesting that I heard more than one person mention John Taylor reminded them of our own local JR Richards from Dishwalla. I think it should be taken as a compliment to John.