Duran Duran, Incubus To Headline Rock Festival

Eighties pop icons Duran Duran and ’90s alternative rockers Incubus will make their Costa Rican debuts in April at the 2008 Festival Imperial, management of national beer brand Imperial, the festival’s organizer, announced recently.

The bands will join other confirmed acts including Costa Rican groups LePop and Porpartes for the rock festival scheduled for April 19 and 20 in La Guácima de Alajuela, northwest of San José, the newswire ACANEFE reported.

Best known for early-career hits “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf,” new-wave fave Duran Duran came out with a fresh release in November, “Red Carpet Massacre,” its first album since 2004’s “Astronaut.” The CD sees the boys from Birmingham, England, outfitted with spruced-up beats and rapping bits by hip-hop producer Timbaland, as well as intermittent vocals by pop sensation Justin Timberlake. But despite the contemporary veneer, hints of the classic Duran Duran style – labeled “new romantic” – still show through.

Incubus, by contrast, creates a harder, more guitar-driven sound, but, like Duran Duran, the California band fronted by singer Brandon Boyd features vocals front and center. This can be heard in the ballad “Love Hurts” and other tracks on the 2006 album “Light Grenades.”

Festival Imperial debuted in 2006 with heavy-hitting headliners Sting and British funk masters Jamiroquai, drawing crowds of about 38,000 (TT, April 7, 2006).

To follow this year’s Festival Imperial as its lineup gets pieced together, and to watch for the release of ticket information, visit the event’s Web site at www.festivalimperial.com.