City rainstorms fade as Inverness stadium crowd give their all and Duran Duran say 'Let's make the stars come out tonight, Inverness!'

After a day of heavy rainstorms, maybe it was no surprise that both Duran Duran and Jack Savoretti had packed a rain song into their setlists on Saturday.

But as the crowd began to approach in numbers on foot around 5.30pm yesterday the Inverness Caledonian Stadium which was staging a second night of big music following Andrea Bocelli on Friday, the rain had cleared – for a while.

The long wait until either of the acts took the stage was livened up by broadcasters Cat Harvey and Arlene Stuart who informed the crowd they had been asked to step in for planned host, radio presenter Ewen Cameron who had previously tweeted he had Covid.

The friends revealed they had just been coming up to see the gig before being thrust into the spotlight.

Their invitation for the audience to tweet them about where they had come from for the gig revealed many fans had come from faraway places such as Michigan, Florida, Brazil and Minnesota – plus intriguing stories: a mum from Canada would be seeing Duran Duran for the first time over here with her 14-year-old daughter who would be seeing her first-ever gig.

Singer songwriter Jack Savoretti referenced the Mediterranean where he grew up and transported us with his music out of the continuing drizzle to warmer places – singing in Italian You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, made famous by Dusty Springfield. His own Dancing Through The Rain got people moving and temperatures were definitely raised by last number Back Where I Belong with its salsa beat and virtuoso keyboards.

Duran Duran took the stage at 9pm with a rampaging entrance, the backdrop all red light and dancing fire as Simon Le Bon in white jeans, pink jacket and enormous grin led the charge into The Wild Boys.

Out front the audience were already dancing, though stewards were politely stopping people from moving from seat spaces to try to go to the front to dance.

A set that included all the hits – including Hungry Like The Wolf, A View To A Kill, Girls On Film – added in three songs from latest album Future Past and covers, Grandmaster Flash's White Lines and Calvin Harris’s Acceptable In The Eighties, that one in a glorious mash-up with Girls On Film.

Back for the first encore song, Simon Le Bon teased the crowd: "We're going to play one of your favourites – Save A Prayer – and we want you to join us because YOU KNOW THE WORDS or you're standing next to someone who knows the words!"

Then he asked the crowd to get their phones out.

"Let's make the stars come out in Inverness tonight!"

Hard to follow, but a no-holds-barred Rio saw the crowd – having weathered drizzle, waits and many, a long walk to the gig – give their all as they joined Duran Duran in a dream final encore, ending the set at 10.45pm.

Afterwards, the bulk of the crowd began walking towards the town centre, though unlike the previous night, taxis were allowed to wait for their fares round the corner at Stadium Road. Traffic seemed to move freely on to the dual carriageway with little queuing in that direction.

* Lots more pictures and online soon!

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