Duran Duran welcomed the Strokes’ Nick Valensi at their Paris concert Wednesday night, bringing him onstage to jam with them during their final number, the 1982 classic “Rio.”
While the Strokes were playing the last night of their 2026 European tour in Dublin, their founding guitarist — currently on a break from his band — strutted the stage with Simon Le Bon and John Taylor at Accor Arena, adding his long-haired indie-rock grit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ glitter.
So what’s the connection? Valensi is married to Taylor’s ex-wife, the feminist media maven and photographer Amanda de Cadenet, host of The Conversation podcast. Valensi was already in Paris helping his and de Cadenet’s daughter, Ella, move into a new apartment. (The couple also share a son, Ella’s twin, Sylvain.) So Taylor invited them to see Duran Duran — and asked Valensi to join the band for the encore.
The invitation came just 48 hours before the show, but Valensi was ready.
“I know ‘Rio,’” Valensi tells Rolling Stone. “I had to tell my fingers how to do it, but I already knew most of it in my head. I was saying this to John: When you know a song, like you just know it.”
Still, Valensi joined the band in the warm-up room when he arrived, just in case. (See our exclusive video, courtesy of Gavin Elder, below.)
Backstage after the show, Taylor and Valensi settled into Taylor’s dressing room, where they playfully pondered exactly how to define their relationship.
“It’s a family affair!” Taylor said.
“Are we related?” Valensi asked. “I’m not sure that marrying the same woman really makes you related. But I am the stepfather to your daughter.”
“Yes!” Taylor replied. “I think of you as my daughter’s other dad.”
(Taylor’s daughter, Atlanta de Cadenet Taylor, is married to yet another musician: Dave Macklovitch of electro-funk duo Chromeo.)
“I don’t know what the real term for it is, but I know that, more than anything, you feel like my brother-in-law,” Valensi continued. “So when your brother-in-law calls you and says, ‘Hey, you’re going to be in Paris; we’re going to be in Paris. Will you just come on stage and play ‘Rio’ with us?’ — you don’t say no to that. I’m a huge fan.”
Wendy Laister*
“And I love your band too,” Taylor said. “We’ve always had a respect for each other. That’s always been there.
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Taylor added that Duran Duran were thrilled with how the collaboration went. “That was a great moment, out there onstage with you,” he said. “Everybody in the band was super jazzed about it.”
In May, the Strokes announced on social media that Valensi “will be taking a temporary break from the scheduled tour, but we look forward to his return.” The band will perform on Saturday Night Live on Nov. 7.
