Duran Duran in Miami Beach: A Christmas Gift and a Weekend to Remember
Two nights in Miami Beach, one legendary band, and a reminder that sometimes the best part of a getaway isn't the attraction you came to see.
Some Christmas Gifts Come With a Road Trip
Gina was a huge Duran Duran fan in high school.
Remember Duran Duran? Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio, The Reflex, Ordinary World. Back when MTV actually played music videos, these guys were everywhere.
Of course, somewhere along the way, the band we grew up listening to started showing up on the oldies station.
I'm still not entirely comfortable with that.
Anyway, when I discovered Duran Duran would be performing at the Fillmore Miami Beach in February 2019, I had an idea.
Christmas was coming. Gina loved the band. And Miami Beach was only about a five-and-a-half-hour drive from home.
So I bought two tickets and surprised her for Christmas.
But I figured we could make a little getaway out of it, too.
We'd drive down the day before the concert, spend two nights in Miami Beach, enjoy a nice dinner, see the show, and head home the following morning.
Nothing elaborate. No weeklong vacation. No complicated itinerary.
Just a couple of nights away built around something I knew she'd love.
The $100 Upgrade I Was Happy to Pay
When I started looking at tickets, general admission was $89 per person.
Not bad for a band like Duran Duran.
But there was a catch.
General admission meant standing on the floor. No assigned seats. You found a spot in the crowd and, if you wanted to keep it, you pretty much stayed there.
I'm not opposed to standing at a concert. But standing shoulder to shoulder for several hours isn't necessarily my idea of a relaxing evening.
Especially when there's another option.
The Fillmore had loge seating, and I found two seats in the third row, right in the center.
They were $189 apiece.
That's an additional $100 per person, or $200 more for the two of us.
I bought them.
And I would make the same decision again.
We had an excellent view of the stage. We could sit when we wanted, stand when we wanted, and go to the restroom without worrying that our seats would disappear.
There was another benefit I hadn't anticipated, but we'll get to that.
For someone who loves being right in front of the stage, general admission might have been perfect.
For us, those loge seats were worth every extra dollar.
A Little Art Deco Hotel With a Very Convenient Location
We drove our truck down to Miami Beach the day before the concert.
Our hotel was the Pestana South Beach, a small Art Deco property within walking distance of the Fillmore.
That location was the main reason I booked it.
The room was small, bright, and very white. It wasn't the kind of hotel room that makes you stop in the doorway and say, "Wow, look at this place!"
But it was comfortable enough for a couple of nights, and the staff was friendly.
The room cost approximately $150 per night, so about $300 for our two-night stay before the extras.
And there were extras.
We had to valet park the truck, which cost additional money. Breakfast wasn't included. We had a cocktail at the hotel bar on our first evening, and breakfast at the hotel's bistro the morning of the concert.
Everything was pretty much à la carte.
The hotel also had a pool, but we never used it.
We weren't there for a resort vacation.
We were there for Duran Duran.
And the hotel's biggest advantage became obvious as soon as we started exploring the neighborhood.
We could walk just about everywhere we needed to go.
No hunting for parking near the theater. No worrying about traffic after the show. No getting back into the truck to drive to dinner.
We parked when we arrived and left the driving behind.
For a short getaway built around one event, that convenience was worth a lot.
A Little Miami Beach, a Little Cuban Food
The day of the concert, we spent some time walking around Miami Beach.
We didn't have an ambitious sightseeing agenda. We took a walk along the beach, explored a little of the neighborhood, and enjoyed being somewhere different for a couple of days.
That was enough.
Before the concert, we walked to a small local restaurant for dinner.
I couldn't tell you the name today. I don't remember exactly what we ordered, either.
But I remember it was Cuban food, which was easy to find in the neighborhood, and we had a good meal.
Nothing extravagant. Nothing fancy.
Just a nice dinner together before heading to the show.
Sometimes that's all you need.
We hadn't made reservations at a collection of famous restaurants. We weren't racing around trying to squeeze every Miami attraction into a two-day visit.
We had one important thing on the calendar.
Everything else could be simple.
Duran Duran at the Fillmore
The concert was February 12, 2019, at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
And this is where the trip really delivered.
The Fillmore was packed, but it was a relatively small venue.
I've been to plenty of concerts in large arenas. You know the experience. Thousands of people, enormous video screens, and a stage that can seem a long way away even when you've paid for decent seats.
This was different.
Here was Duran Duran, a band that had been headlining major venues for decades, performing in a theater where you actually felt close to the music.
That intimacy made the night special.
Our third-row center loge seats gave us a terrific view, and the atmosphere was fantastic.
There wasn't an opening band. Instead, a DJ played music while everyone waited for the show to begin.
Then, around the scheduled starting time, the lights dimmed.
The crowd got excited.
Here we go!
Except we didn't go anywhere.
Nothing happened.
After a while, the DJ music started up again.
We waited.
And waited some more.
About 45 minutes later, the lights dimmed again.
This time, Duran Duran actually came out.
Whatever caused the delay, you certainly couldn't tell anything was wrong once the band started playing.
They put on a terrific show.
And remember those extra $100 loge seats?
Sitting comfortably through an unexpected 45-minute delay made them seem like an even better purchase.
The crowd was enthusiastic, the venue felt intimate, and we had a wonderful evening.
We were seeing a band Gina had loved since high school, in a setting that was much more personal than a basketball arena.
It was exactly the experience I'd hoped to give her.
The Best Part of the Night
We took some photographs during the concert, but we didn't spend the evening taking selfies or recording every song.
We were there to enjoy the show.
And that's what we did.
We watched the band with our own eyes instead of spending the night looking through our phone screens.
After the concert, we walked back to the hotel.
It was late, at least by our standards, and we were ready to call it a night.
The next morning, we checked out, collected the truck, and made the drive home.
That was our Miami Beach getaway.
Two nights in a small hotel. A little walking around the beach. A good Cuban dinner. One concert.
No grand adventure. No long list of attractions.
And nearly eight years later, I couldn't tell you every song Duran Duran played that night.
I remember they were great. I remember the venue was packed. I remember how much I liked those seats.
But what I remember most is Gina.
She was excited from the moment we arrived at the theater.
And she was smiling.
A lot.
I remember looking over at her during the show and seeing how happy she was.
That's the part of the weekend that has stayed with me.
Not a particular song. Not something Simon Le Bon said between numbers. Not even the performance itself.
Just Gina, smiling and enjoying a band she'd loved since she was a teenager.
And knowing that I'd made that happen for her.
Sometimes One Good Reason Is Enough
I've planned plenty of trips over the years. Some have involved complicated itineraries, multiple destinations, and months of preparation.
This one was simple.
We found something worth traveling for, built a couple of days around it, and enjoyed ourselves.
We didn't need to see every attraction in Miami Beach. We didn't need an expensive hotel or an elaborate dinner.
We didn't even need a particularly long vacation.
We needed two concert tickets, a convenient place to stay, and a little time together.
Would I plan another getaway like this?
Absolutely.
Because sometimes the best upgrade isn't a better seat, a nicer hotel, or a more expensive dinner.
Sometimes it's doing something that makes someone you love genuinely happy.
And when I think back on that February weekend in Miami Beach, I don't picture the hotel or the beach.
I picture Gina smiling.
And that's my favorite memory of the entire trip.