Roger TaylorGlassesNick RhodesDecksSimon Le BonTip from the barAndy TaylorMirrorsJohn TaylorDoor
Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Simon Le Bon, Andy Taylor and John Taylor in a Capitol Records publicity photograph, 1983. Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records, public domain.
The club’s mirror tiles, each a little out of true.
Broad Street · Galle · Sigiriya · Villa Park · Philadelphia · 1980–1985
Duran Duran
Before they were a band they were the staff of a Birmingham nightclub: the door, the decks, the glasses and the kitchen. Put them on the stage.
The Rum Runner, Broad Street · 1980
On the staff, then on the stage.
In early 1980 the band took their demo tapes to the Berrows, who gave them rehearsal space and jobs in the club so they would not need day jobs.
John Taylor remembers its mirror tiles and neon; Roger Taylor remembers a set of barrels from smuggling days, which gave the club its name.
Inside the Rum Runner in July 1977: the club’s resident DJ Paul Anthony, three years before Nick Rhodes took his own turn on the decks. Francis.nunnerley · CC0
Staff rota · Rum Runner · spring 1980
DoorDecksGlassesKitchen & mirrorsTip from the barStage
Nick Rhodes, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainNick RhodesDJ; his Tuesdays took overDecks
Roger Taylor, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainRoger TaylorClearing glasses; that week, painting the entranceGlasses
Andy Taylor, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainAndy TaylorMirrors, paint and burgersKitchen & mirrors
Simon Le Bon, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainSimon Le BonNot on the staff: a barmaid’s ex-boyfriendTip from the bar
Five on the staff rota. Move each one from his job to the stage.
John worked the door, Nick was the DJ and Roger cleared the tables. A Birmingham music archive adds that Nick was paid £10 a night, Roger collected glasses, and Andy polished the mirrors, painted and cooked burgers.
Sources
Birmingham Civic Society’s blue plaque to the Rum Runner, 2025. Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0
Site of the Rum Runner · Rum Runner Yard, off Broad Street, Birmingham (2 Bridge Street, B1 2JZ)
The Rum Runner opened on Broad Street in 1964, a nightclub and casino run by the Berrow family. In the late 1970s the brothers Paul and Michael Berrow took it over after a visit to Studio 54 in New York.
The club was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt hotel. A blue plaque was unveiled at Rum Runner Yard, Broad Street, on 16 December 2022.
The club has gone. A Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque marks the yard off Broad Street, beside the Hyatt Regency that replaced it.
Sources
Hyatt
Hyatt Regency Birmingham
2 Bridge Street, Birmingham B1 2JZ · Book direct
The hotel that replaced the Rum Runner in 1987, at 2 Bridge Street. The blue plaque is in the yard beside it. Pictured: the club’s site, 2025.
Russell Mulcahy and the producer Eric Fellner suggest shooting in Sri Lanka. The band fly out to film Hungry Like the Wolf, Save a Prayer and Lonely in Your Nightmare; Nick stays in London to finish mixing Rio and follows days later with a cassette of the album.
Leather in the heat Nick lands dressed head to toe in leather; his lift is a flat-bed truck, five hours for 60 miles, and he passes an elephant on the way to his room.
The elephants Riding elephants for the cameras, Roger’s elephant hears a female trumpet and charges off with him still on board. Another soaks John; he calls it the most fun of the trip.
Twenty grand Nick says the videos cost only about £20,000; Simon thinks the trip was Paul Berrow’s idea.
The lagoon Andy falls from a tree into a lagoon and is ill afterwards; malaria later postpones the band’s European dates that summer.
Sources
Three videos, one trip. Pick a reel to light the places it used.
The Pagoda Tea Rooms on Chatham Street, Colombo Fort, 2016. Dan arndt · CC BY-SA 4.0
De Mel Building, Chatham Street, Colombo Fort
Pagoda Tea Rooms
In Hungry Like the Wolf, Simon sits in a café in a hat and dark glasses, then stands and flips the table. That scene was shot here.
The video’s closing reunion was shot here too.
The tea rooms opened in 1884, one of Colombo’s oldest eateries, and serve lamprais, rice and curry, cream buns and short eats.
There are no snake charmers or monkeys there today.
Still a tea room on Chatham Street. Lunch is busy; the Sunday Times suggests the evening.
Sources
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Colombo Fort walks
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Live marketplace results for walks and tuk-tuk tours round Colombo Fort, where Chatham Street is. Check each itinerary for its stops.
Amangalla, formerly the New Oriental Hotel, inside Galle Fort, 2010. richardmichaelshaw · CC BY 2.0
10 Church Street, Galle Fort
Amangalla, once the New Oriental Hotel
The band’s bar scene by a staircase in Hungry Like the Wolf was shot here, when it was the New Oriental Hotel.
So were the interiors of Save a Prayer: Simon reclining on a couch with a book, and his dance with the woman in the red dress in a room off the lobby called the Zaal.
Interior scenes of Lonely in Your Nightmare were shot in one of its rooms.
Amangalla stands inside the ramparts of Galle Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at 10 Church Street.
A hotel now: book a room, or a table in the Dining Room or for high tea on the Veranda.
Sources
Aman
Amangalla, Galle Fort
10 Church Street, Galle Fort, Sri Lanka · Book direct
The old New Oriental Hotel, where the bar scene, the couch and the dance in the Zaal were filmed in 1982. High tea is served on the Veranda.
In Lonely in Your Nightmare, Simon stands on a beach with a small island and its house behind him. The island is Taprobane.
It lies off Weligama, across the road from the bus station.
In October 2026 its website said it was not taking bookings while the property is under maintenance.
A private island hotel, not taking bookings while it is maintained. See it from the beach at Weligama.
SourcesSigiriya from the air, 2016. dronepicr · CC BY 2.0
Sigiriya, Matale District
Sigiriya
Midway through Save a Prayer a helicopter shot finds the band on top of a giant rock with ruins: Sigiriya.
Sigiriya is the remains of a royal palace built in the 5th century; modern and ancient stairs lead to the top, past the claws of a stair shaped like a lion.
Tickets are sold online by the Central Cultural Fund and collected at the site counter, open 7am to 5pm.
Filming, drone filming included, needs the Fund’s written approval first.
Buy entry online from the Central Cultural Fund and collect it at the counter, open 7am to 5pm. Filming, drones included, needs written permission.
Sources
Central Cultural Fund
Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa entry
Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka · Full and child (6–12) foreign tickets
Buy entry to Sigiriya and the ancient city of Polonnaruwa online and collect it at the site counter, open 7am to 5pm. Tickets are single entry for the day.
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, North Central Province
Lankatilaka, Polonnaruwa
The last shot of Save a Prayer: the band walk among temple ruins, Andy on a stone platform with a guitar, and look up at a Buddha. It was filmed at the Lankatilaka.
A giant white stupa stands in the background of the shot.
A short walk south of the Gal Vihara inside the ancient city, on the same ticket.
Sources
English Harbour, Antigua, 2025: a view of the island’s south coast, not a filming place. Dr. Thomas Liptak · CC BY 4.0
Antigua · 1982 · named, not mapped
Rio, and the ketch that came back.
After their first Australasian tour, the band and Russell Mulcahy filmed Rio and Night Boat in Antigua.
Rio was filmed on board Eilean, a ketch built by the Fife yard in 1936. In 2006 Panerai’s chief executive found her rotting in the mangroves of an Antigua harbour; she was restored in Viareggio and relaunched there in 2009.
No source used here names the exact beaches or bays, so the island is named here and not mapped.
Sources
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Antigua island tours
Antigua
Live marketplace results for island tours of Antigua. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.
Before Montserrat they spent about three months writing in a chateau in the south of France, with a RAK mobile studio parked outside.
In 1983 the band began recording their third album at George Martin’s AIR Studios on Montserrat. They worked there for about six weeks, with Alex Sadkin brought in as producer.
The Reflex’s drums, bass, guitars, synths and backing vocals were tracked there. Nick found its steel-drum-like part on a Jupiter 8. A percussionist played film canisters filled with dried peas and beans. Vocals and overdubs followed at EMI’s 301 studios in Sydney.
The ruins of AIR Montserrat, May 2013. Captmatty · CC BY-SA 3.0
AIR Montserrat · now
AIR Montserrat opened in 1979. Hurricane Hugo damaged it beyond repair in 1989, and George Martin closed it.
A derelict ruin on private land. See it from the road; don’t go in.
Sources
London and Birmingham · July 1983
A royal gala, then a home show.
20 July: Tottenham Court Road, London.
The Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road, London, 2021. N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dominion Theatre · 268–269 Tottenham Court Road, London
On 20 July 1983 the band played the Dominion for the Prince’s Trust, with Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the audience.
It was found later that the IRA had planned to bomb the theatre that night. The plan failed.
On their first tour, supporting Hazel O’Connor in late 1980, Simon sang backing vocals on her encore of Suffragette City at the Dominion. The Dominion is a Grade II listed Art Deco theatre with 2,069 seats on two levels.
A working West End theatre on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street. Buy a ticket for the current show.
SourcesThe Holte End of Villa Park, Birmingham, 2008. User:Woodym555 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Villa Park · Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham
On 23 July 1983 the band played the Aston Villa football ground to raise money for the charity Mencap.
When the charity’s target was not reached, the band and their manager gave a large sum themselves.
Aston Villa’s home ground. See the Holte End from Trinity Road, or go on a match day.
Sources
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Birmingham music tours
Birmingham
Live marketplace results for music and city walks in Birmingham. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.
John Taylor, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainJohn TaylorThe Power StationThe Power Station
Andy Taylor, 1983 (detail of a Capitol Records publicity photograph). Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainAndy TaylorThe Power StationThe Power Station
John and Andy make an album as the Power Station; Simon and Nick start Arcadia and ask Roger to join.
Sources
Live Aid after dark at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, 13 July 1985. Squelle · CC BY-SA 3.0
Site of JFK Stadium · Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 South Broad Street, South Philadelphia
Duran Duran played four songs: A View to a Kill, Union of the Snake, Save a Prayer and The Reflex. It was the original five’s final show. It stayed their last show together until a reunion in 2003.
On 13 July 1985 Duran Duran and the Power Station both played Live Aid at JFK Stadium. About 90,000 people were there on a 95-degree day, and the Philadelphia show reached an estimated 1.9 billion viewers in more than 100 countries.
The city condemned the stadium in 1989 and it was demolished on 23 September 1992. The arena on the site opened in August 1996. The arena has been called Xfinity Mobile Arena since 1 September 2025.
The stadium has gone. The arena on its site holds games and concerts: buy a ticket for any event.
Sources
The Power Station in a Capitol Records publicity photograph, March 1985: Tony Thompson, John Taylor, Robert Palmer and Andy Taylor. Brian Aris; Distributed by Capitol Records · Public domainThe arena on the old JFK Stadium site in 2010, then the Wells Fargo Center; it is now Xfinity Mobile Arena. PHL Approach · CC BY-SA 3.0
Perry Barr, Birmingham · 28 July 2022
Home again.
The band were announced as the musical finale of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening ceremony here on 28 July 2022, back in the city where their career began.
The ceremony was planned for a live audience of over 30,000, with Tony Iommi and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra also on the bill.
An athletics stadium in Perry Barr: go to a meeting or event to see inside.
Sources
Alexander Stadium during the athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Arconning · CC BY-SA 4.0
Where it is now
Off the rota, 13 places.
Rum Runner Yard, Villa Park and the Alexander Stadium are all in Birmingham. In Sri Lanka, Colombo, Galle and Weligama run down one coast, with Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa inland.
Where it is now
13 places you can visit, from a yard off Broad Street to South Broad Street, Philadelphia. Antigua is named and not mapped: no source used here names the exact beaches or bays.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The club has gone. A Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque marks the yard off Broad Street, beside the Hyatt Regency that replaced it.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Aston Villa’s home ground. See the Holte End from Trinity Road, or go on a match day.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An athletics stadium in Perry Barr: go to a meeting or event to see inside.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working West End theatre on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street. Buy a ticket for the current show.
1Birmingham Civic Society’s blue plaque to the Rum Runner, 2025. Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0
Rum Runner Yard, off Broad Street, Birmingham (2 Bridge Street, B1 2JZ)
Site of the Rum Runner
The Rum Runner opened on Broad Street in 1964, a nightclub and casino run by the Berrow family.
The club has gone. A Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque marks the yard off Broad Street, beside the Hyatt Regency that replaced it.
Sources
2The Holte End of Villa Park, Birmingham, 2008. User:Woodym555 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham
Villa Park
On 23 July 1983 the band played the Aston Villa football ground to raise money for the charity Mencap.
Aston Villa’s home ground. See the Holte End from Trinity Road, or go on a match day.
Sources
3Alexander Stadium during the athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Arconning · CC BY-SA 4.0
Walsall Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham
Alexander Stadium
The band were announced as the musical finale of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening ceremony here on 28 July 2022, back in the city where their career began.
An athletics stadium in Perry Barr: go to a meeting or event to see inside.
Sources
4The Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road, London, 2021. N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0
268–269 Tottenham Court Road, London
Dominion Theatre
On their first tour, supporting Hazel O’Connor in late 1980, Simon sang backing vocals on her encore of Suffragette City at the Dominion.
A working West End theatre on the corner of Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street. Buy a ticket for the current show.
Sources
Stay
A room on the Rum Runner’s site.
The Hyatt that replaced the club, and the Galle hotel where three videos were filmed.
Hyatt
Hyatt Regency Birmingham
2 Bridge Street, Birmingham B1 2JZ · Book direct
The hotel that replaced the Rum Runner in 1987, at 2 Bridge Street. The blue plaque is in the yard beside it. Pictured: the club’s site, 2025.
Entry to Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa, and walks and tours in Galle, Colombo, Birmingham and Antigua.
Central Cultural Fund
Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa entry
Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka · Full and child (6–12) foreign tickets
Buy entry to Sigiriya and the ancient city of Polonnaruwa online and collect it at the site counter, open 7am to 5pm. Tickets are single entry for the day.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The full record
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 29 of 29 Moments
Site of the Rum Runner
Rum Runner Yard, off Broad Street, Birmingham (2 Bridge Street, B1 2JZ)
Demo tapes at the club
The band take their demos to the Berrows and come away with a rehearsal room and jobs on the staff.
A guitarist from Newcastle
Andy Taylor answers a Melody Maker advert and moves to Birmingham.
Pink leopard-skin trousers
A barmaid’s ex-boyfriend comes down the alleyway to audition, with a notebook of lyrics; Roger, painting the entrance, meets him first.
Five on the bill
The first show with all five, at the club where they worked.
The Rum Runner comes down
The club is demolished for the Hyatt hotel.
A blue plaque
Birmingham Civic Society unveils a plaque in Rum Runner Yard.
Villa Park
Trinity Road, Aston, Birmingham
Mencap at Villa Park
Three nights later, a home show for Mencap at the Aston Villa ground; the band make up the shortfall.
Alexander Stadium
Walsall Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham
Home for the Games
The band are the musical finale of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Birmingham.
Dominion Theatre
268–269 Tottenham Court Road, London
A support slot
On tour with Hazel O’Connor, Simon joins her encore at the Dominion.
The Prince’s Trust
The band play for the Prince’s Trust with Charles and Diana in the audience; a planned attack on the theatre fails.
Pagoda Tea Rooms
De Mel Building, Chatham Street, Colombo Fort
Hungry Like the Wolf
A hat, dark glasses, a flipped table and, at the end, a reunion in a Colombo tea room.
Galle Fort and its ramparts
Galle Fort, Galle (pin at Flag Rock Bastion)
The bazaar and the rampart
Simon walks through Galle’s old market; in another video he ends on a rampart.
Amangalla, once the New Oriental Hotel
10 Church Street, Galle Fort
The Zaal
The bar scene, the couch and the dance in the red dress, all inside the New Oriental Hotel.
Taprobane Island
Weligama Bay, south coast
Lonely in Your Nightmare
Simon on a beach with Taprobane behind him.
Sigiriya
Sigiriya, Matale District
Three videos, one trip
Russell Mulcahy and the producer Eric Fellner suggest shooting in Sri Lanka. The band fly out to film Hungry Like the Wolf, Save a Prayer and Lonely in Your Nightmare; Nick stays in London to finish mixing Rio and follows days later with a cassette of the album.
Leather in the heat
Nick lands dressed head to toe in leather; his lift is a flat-bed truck, five hours for 60 miles, and he passes an elephant on the way to his room.
The elephants
Riding elephants for the cameras, Roger’s elephant hears a female trumpet and charges off with him still on board. Another soaks John; he calls it the most fun of the trip.
Twenty grand
Nick says the videos cost only about £20,000; Simon thinks the trip was Paul Berrow’s idea.
The lagoon
Andy falls from a tree into a lagoon and is ill afterwards; malaria later postpones the band’s European dates that summer.
Save a Prayer from the air
A helicopter finds the band on top of Sigiriya.
Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, North Central Province
Two Buddhas
Nick, John and Andy sing in front of the standing and reclining images.
Lankatilaka, Polonnaruwa
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, North Central Province
The last shot
The five walk into the Lankatilaka and look up.
Antigua
Antigua; the beaches and bays used are not named in our sources
Rio
Rio and Night Boat are filmed in Antigua with Russell Mulcahy, Rio on board the ketch Eilean.
AIR Montserrat
Friths Road, Salem, Montserrat
The Reflex
Six weeks on Montserrat: a Jupiter 8 playing steel drums and film canisters full of dried peas.
Hurricane Hugo
The studio is damaged beyond repair and closes.
Site of JFK Stadium
Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 South Broad Street, South Philadelphia
Two bands
John and Andy make an album as the Power Station; Simon and Nick start Arcadia and ask Roger to join.
Live Aid
Four songs at JFK Stadium: the original five’s last show until 2003.
Roger leaves
At the end of 1985 Roger announces he is leaving the band.
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