Duran Duran and David Lynch are collaborating on a live webcast of the band’s March 23 L.A. show at the Mayan Theatre.
The event will kick off the second year of “Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express,” and will be live-streamed at 10:00 p.m. EST on YouTube here.
The concert and webcast come the day after the physical release of the band’s 13th album, “All You Need Is Now”(S-Curve Records).
Duran Duran have a busy spring planned as they promote their latest release. In addition to being one of the biggest acts at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX, the band is playing high-profile festivals Coachella (in Indio, CA) on April 17 and Miami’s Ultra Music Festival on March 25. They’re also scheduled to perform a string of intimate North American shows, including dates in Pomona, CA, Toronto and Boston.
Iconoclastic director David Lynch (“Blue Velvet,” “Mulholland Drive,” “Twin Peaks”), known primarily for his darkly disturbing cinematic excursions, is an offbeat choice for the project, but has always made music an integral part of his films. He recently collaborated with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the multimedia “Dark Night of the Soul” project, which featured musical contributions from Iggy Pop, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, Suzanne Vega and others. Lynch’s last feature film was “Inland Empire,” starring Laura Dern.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to experiment with Duran Duran,” Lynch said in a statement. “The idea is to try and create on the fly, layers of images permeating Duran Duran on the stage. A world of experimentation and hopefully some happy accidents.”
“We are all beyond delighted that David Lynch has agreed to direct this show for us, the band’s singer, Simon Le Bon, said in a press release,” “In talking to him about what he is planning, we all believe this live-streamed performance is going to look nothing like anyone has ever seen before.”
This will be the fourth installment of the “Unstaged” series. Previous sessions have featured Arcade Fire, John Legend & The Roots, and Sugarland. “Unstaged” has used high-profile directors before: Terry Gilliam (“12 Monkeys,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”) helmed the Arcade Fire session, while Spike Lee (“Malcolm X,” “Inside Man”) directed John Legend & the Roots.
Here’s a look at what we can expect from Lynch and Duran Duran: