Where do I begin? I know that some of you didn’t believe that tonight was ever going to happen, (because I said so…) but that just goes to show what a load of rubbish I talk. I am truly grateful to those of you who have stuck with me for all these years, and I hope you will know how true that statement is by the end of the show. Europe was truly inspiring, eighty shows in front of the most amazingly generous crowds. My band, who are the nicest (and most talented) bunch any musician could wish for, have played to well over a million people in preparation for this, your show. So expect the best, because that’s what they are going to give you. And I’ve been practicing in the bath, so I’ll probably be quite good as well. Good enough to make you forgive me for leaving it so long……George Michael/x
GEORGE MICHAEL can still remember the first time he fell in love with a classic American soul record. It was while he was on a childhood holiday with his family near the English seaside resort of Margate. Up early in the morning to enjoy the summer sun, George was stopped in his tracks by a song coming from a nearby radio. It was Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour - and it's soulful melody was to have an enduring impact on the youngster. A few years later, when he formed a group with his schoolpal Andrew Ridgeley in the London suburb of Bushey, the sound of Stateside soul was again a key inspiration. Wham! went on to become one of the foremost British chart acts of their era - a flamboyant Eighties pop band with a very British appreciation of a great melody - but they also took a lot of their inspiration from American funk.
'Hearing Stevie Wonder as a child has stuck with me all my life, 'recalls George. 'Then, as I grew up and started going to nightclubs in my teens, I listened to a lot more black American music. The first Wham! singles came out at the time of a movement called Brit-funk, but Andrew and I were really trying to sound like the American dance records that we loved. Sadly, we never quite managed it!' Given the quality of the funkier, bass-driven club mixes of some of the early Wham! singles, a few fans might disagree with the last part of that statement. Whatever, it is fair to say that George's American connections became a little deeper after those formative years.
He toured the States twice in the space of eight months with Wham! and went on to dominate the Billboard charts with his first solo album, 1987's Faith, a record that spawned six US No. 1 hits and ultimately sold an astonishing 20 million-plus copies worldwide to confirm him as the pre-eminent British soul singer of his generation and a songwriter of sensitivity, substance and skill.
Now, 17 years after he last toured the States - and 20 since he last put together a set comprising largely his own material - George Michael is here to entertain and entrance his North American fans once more with his acclaimed 25Live spectacular.
A sensational show that spans his entire career - from the pop hits of Wham! to the latter-day ballads and party tunes - these concerts are George's opportunity to give something back to an army of devotees who have remained loyal in his time away from the American stage (and the US airwaves).
'There's always an intense connection when I play in front of an English speaking crowd, ' adds George. 'And there's always a different level of hysteria in North America. Back in the Wham! days, the crowds were always a very expressive bunch, I'm looking forward to seeing that again. But I'm not coming to America to prove anything. I'm touring because there are a million George Michael fans who have held on even though I haven't had any radio play for years.'
The two European legs of the 25Live tour - the first a series of indoor arena shows, the second an outdoor stadium trek played to packed houses and rave reviews in 2006 and 2007. With George accompanied by his nine-piece band and six backing vocalists, the concerts were notable partly for a series of stunning special effects which complemented the music superbly. The centerpiece every night was a curved, armchair-shaped video screen that streched forward and merged with the floor of the stage. The metal surface, built to withstand the weight of any bandmember who walked on it, contained 3,000 MiStrip LED modules which projected a fast-moving array of video effects: a sunset here; a cartoon graphis there; the flashing lights of a disco whenever the song demanded them.
The video effects were stunning, reiterating George's commitment to giving his fans the latest, state-of-the-art visuals, whatever the cost. Ultimately, however, 25Live is as much about substance as style, and it is the performance of George himself that makes the show so memorable. Determined to strike an emotional bond with his fans rather than merely entertaining them (although he certainly does that), George spends the bulk of 25Live in the middle of the stage alone, fuelling scenes of warmth and intimacy unprecedented in big arena. With his talented group sprinkled unobtrusively on a series of gantries behind him, he has the artistry to single-handly command the attention of a huge audience.
'I go out there with the intention of working as hard as I can, 'he says. 'I want people to go home knowing that they got their money's worth. When you are onstage, you have so much positive energy coming towards you. The need to return that is overwhelming. It now comes as second nature to me. When I walk onstage, I realise that people want to have a good time. And, within a couple of minutes, they know that I'm there to give them exactly that. The show is about the audience rather than me, and I always feel a real sense of responsibility towards them.
'On the two European tours, we did almost 90 shows, and I didn't miss one. I didn't even miss a soundcheck. If I was getting a reference, I think I would say that I did OK. There was no pretence to the shows, and that was how I liked it. The audiences could see me enjoying myself in a way that I hadn''t done in the past. There was something magical going on. People had waited a long time to see me, and the atmosspeher everywhere was so overwhelming I felt humbled by it.
'The crowds seem to accept me for who I am. I have strengths and weaknesses, just like everybody else. I make stupid mistakes, but the audience accept my flaws. As long as I'm not doing anybody any harm, all they care about is the fact that I keep making great music for them. They see how important that is to me. In some strange way, my weaknesses also help people to understand just how autobiographical the songs are. People can see that I'm sharing snapshots of my life with them.'
George's triumphant European tour featured some notable landmarks. The opening night, in Barcelona's magnificent Palau Sant Jordi, set the tone, with an expectant crowd giving the singer a standing ovation before he had even sung a note. Blowing kisses to 16,000 adoring Catalan admirers, George, sporting his trademark shades and an elegant two-piece suit, milked the adulation and then sang for nearly three hours. A few weeks later, in Copenhagen's Parken Arena, he broke the attendance record previously held by U2 as he got together woth 50,000 Danish fans to deliver what he describes as 'one of the best shows of the entire tour'. Some of the tour's most emotional evenings occurred when the party hit UK shores. With a series of ecstatic, rapturous receptions and plenty of instage banter, the singer took advantage of the first English-speaking audiences of the tour to chat more between songs. At some shows, he was joined by guest vocalist Mutya Buena, a former Sugababe, who sang beautifully with him on the sultry ballad This Is Not Real Love. Then there was the benefit show he played at London's Roundhouse of NHS nurses in recognition of the care given to his mother, Lesley, in her battle against cancer in 1997.
In June 2008, he also became the first act to play the newly revamped Wembley Stadium in London. George sold out two nights at Britain's most famous sporting venue, once again gracing the stage that that hosted 1985's Live Aid, with Wham! one of the main attractions, puls the band's farewell show, The Final, in 1986.
'When I was a kid, I always wanted to go to the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, 'he says. 'Of course, I never got to go, but to re-open the venue as an adult was amazing. We were lucky to have one of the only decent weekends of the summer in terms of weather, so they were special nights. '
In returning to the live arena, George also reaquainted himself with the art of adapting his show to suit the demands of his fans. Prompted by an axtremely enthusiastic reaction to the more upbeat songs, he made subtle alterations to the nightly running order, dropping some ballads in favour of the songs that got fans on their feet. he learnt, too, how to best preserve the nuances of a voice that has lost none of it's range or power in his years away from the stage.
'The strongest pull became the needs of the audience, 'he says 'A lot of my fans might be in their late thirties and early forties, but they still want to party. These are worrying times for a lot of people. To stand in a room of my peers and take them away from those worries for a couple of hours was a humbling experience. I understand the value of having a party.
'As the tour went on, I also learnt how to use my voice in such a way that it didn't get tired. In the beginning, I was doing almost 30 songs and giving myself a real vocal marathon. I wasn't doing myself, or the audience, any favours. So we chopped the set down a bit.
'I was also helped by the new technology. I can now hear myself much better onstage. As the tour went on, I was quite surprised at how much of my old vocal range came back. My voice still has certain qualities that I thought had gone. Once I had been on the road for three or four weeks, I was surprised at how well I could sing the older songs. Having been away for so long, my voice hasn't suffered too much wear and tear.'
With such an impressive catalogue to draw on, George was also able to pick and choose songs to suit the requirements of the show, dipping into the Wham! era for Everything She Wants and I'n Your Man but also fully acknowledging the importance of the ballads, such as A Different Corner and Jesus To A Child, which first earmarked him as a solo artist of real depth. Other highlights included the political satire of Shoot The Dog, a wonderfully raw, soulful cover of Ewan MacColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, high-octane party work-outs like Too Funky and Amazing plus songs such as Father Figure and An Easier Affair that allowed him to sing poignantly, honestly and self-deprecatingly about his own experiences.
Always looking for ways to inprove the show, George introduced new ingredients as the tour progressed. For the Wembley Stadium shows, he opened with his take on The Mortal Coil's shimmering arrangement of Tim Buckley's song Song To The Siren. 'That was a piece of indulgence on my part,' he admits. 'It's such an amazing song, and I've always had these great personal associations with it, because it's a song that I remember from the beginning of my career. '
North American fans can also expect a marginally different show to the one that conquered Europe. The hits, ofcourse, will still be there, but George is comtemplating the introduction of a jazzier interlude during which he will decamp to a smaller stage to sing numbers such as Brother Can You Spare A Dime?, an anthem of the Great Depression, and his commanding version of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse's Feeling Good. The latter, a song he recorded to accompany his regular appearances in the TV drama Eli Stone, also happens to be one of the most powerful vocal performances of his career.
There will also be a slightly greater emphasis on the Faith album.'I've got to acknowledge the sheer size of that record in America,' says George. 'People hooked into that record big time and it developed a momentum of its own. I made it at a time when I was discovering own identity away from Wham!. I didn't have any stylists telling me what to wear, and I was gradually growing up. I was beginning to find out more about myself, and it was so gratifying when Faith struck such a dinstinct chord with people. It won the Grammy for best album and was the biggest selling record in America that year (1988). And that was at a time when people were selling an awful lot of records. I simply have to acknowledge that kind of success in the show, but it won't be at the expense of the other big songs from the European tour.'
(click to enlarge)The legacy of Wham!, also forms a key part of the show. The band, who sold six million copies of their aptly-named second album, Make It Big, in America, were a breath of fresh air when they bounded onto a stagnant UK pop scene in the early Eighties. Their impact in the States was equally significant. 'We weren't the first of the post-punk bands to emerge,' says George, looking back at the era's pop explosion. 'But we were the band who took it a stage further. We thought we had to be witty as well as musical. It was strange really. It shows just how much Andrew and I underestimated ourselves as a duo that we thought we had to be funny to get anywhere. But, in 1982, the UK scene was very aloof and cliquey, and we were never cool enough for that.
'I remember coming offstage in Aberdeen after the opening night of an early tour. We got back to the hotel only to discover Andrew's father had promised the press that we'd give them all interviews. I had broken out in a terrible rash caused by nerves. I had screamed my way through the show and just wanted to go to bed. But we agreed to do the interviews. The next day I was all over the centre pages of the Daily Mirror covered in this awful rash! As I said, we were never cool.'
But success with Wham!, and later as a solo artist, had its downside. Despite the fact that he has sold 85 million records, written songs that are loved by millions and played some of the most momentous concerts in pop history, George has also suffered his fair share of trauma. There have been wrangles with record companies and brushes with the law. He has also faced huge personal upheavals and the distress of losing some of those nearest and dearest to him, experiences which have helped to shape the man he is today.
'By the end of the Wham! era, I was genuinely sad, ' he says. 'I had the creeping realisation that I was gay and had painted myself into a corner. There was also the growing understanding that fame wasn't going to make me happy in any way. I was very proud of what we'd done and grateful for the privileges that went with it. But I also knew that fame wasn't going to fill the hole, and I was too young to realise what would fill it. So I just felt incredible loneliness.
'So many truly dreadful things then happened during the Nineties that I was a wreck by the end of that decade. It seemed that God had decided that my big learning curve was going to occur over those ten years, and it took a long time for me to convince myself that a really distressing part of my life was over. But, despite my fears, I worked my way through it.'
Today, older, wiser and able to look forward with renewed confidence, George is making some of the best music of his life. His most recent studio album, 2004's Patience, was remarkably wide-ranging, musically and emotionally, while 2006's superb retrospective. TwentyFive, featured a handful of new songs that were intimately sung while being constructed with the consummate skill of a true craftsman. 'I put a lot of myself into Patience, ' says George. 'Everything is there on that album. It has moments of real joy, because it reflects that I am with my current partner, Kenny. But there were also songs that dealt with losing my mother and coming to terms with that. One was the best thing that has happened to me. The other was the absolute worst thing that's ever happened to me. '
A return to the thrill of live performances has also brought out the best in George. With future tours likely to be on a smaller scale, 25Live may well be the last chance for fans to see him with all the whistles and bells of a big arena show. If that does turn out to be the case, then the singer is going out with a bang, with these US dates likely to feature even more extravagant visual effects as well as the second stage and a central walkaway. Ultimately, though, the show will still be about that tiny figure in the middle of the stage and the enduring bond between a great artist and his audience.
'Compared to previous tours, I've been much more relaxed during 25Live. ' he says. 'The whole thing has been very chilled. Even when things have gone wrong, which has only happened on a couple of occasions, I haven't become upset. In the old days, I would have gone into a strop. Nowadays I'm nowhere near as neurotic about perfection. There was one gig where the video screens went down for the last 20 minutes, but the show still ended on a high. If you're communicating well enough, you can still make an arena show work without the effects.
'I'm really doing these shows to say thank-you. I'm here because I want to be here, not for any other reason. I think this show is going to blow people away and be even better than before.
'I've deliberately gone for the songs that elate people and the ones that make them want to cry. The whole thing is going to be a party...with some quiet moments. '
By Adrian Thrills
(Note: This small collection of pictures (photos of photos) posted here doesn't do the book justice, but they are merely here to give you an impression. In the book they look far more glamorous.)
Tour Credits
Chris Cameron - Musical Director & Arranger
Phil Palmer - Guitars
Andy Hamilton - Sax/Keys/Ewi
Steve Walters - Bass
Mike Brown - Guitars
Carlos Hercules - Drums
Graham Kearns - Guitars
Luke Smith - Keyboards
Lea Mullen - Percussion
Danny Cummings - Percussion
Shirley Lewis - Backing Vocals
Jay Henry - Backing Vocals
Lincoln Jean-Marie - Backing Vocals
Lori Perry - Backing Vocals
Sharon Perry - Backing Vocals
Lucy Jules - Backing Vocals
Michael Lippman - Artist Manager
Nick Lippman - Artist Liaison
Lynne Kirkwood - Executive Assistant
Andy Stephens - Artist Manager
Michelle May - Personal Assistant George Michael
Nikki White - Personal Assistant Kenny Goss
Alex Georgiou - GM Touring Assistant
Ken Watts - Tour Director
Mark Spring - Production Manager
Looloo Murphy - GM Tour Manager
Lisa Johnson - Assistant Tour Director
Sharon Ashley - Band Tour Manager
Diane Eichorst - Production Coordinator
Ronnie Franklin - Security Consultant
Paul Dallanegra - Head of Security
Andy Frost - Security
Yvonne Ryan - Logistics Coordinator
Zach Niles - VIP Ticketing
Willie Williams - Video Staging Design
Simon Halfon - 25 Live Logo & Tour Book Design
George Michael - 25 Live Logo & Tour Book Design
Scott Chase - Stage Manager
James Kelly - Show Manager
Cyril Thomas - Backline Guitar Technician
Morton Thobro - Backline Guitar Technician
Kerry Hopwood - Pro Tools
Thom Pierce - Keyboard Technician
Kevin Bell - Drums & Percussion Technician
Andrew Robinson - Audio Consultant
Gary Bradshaw - Front of House Sound
Steve May - Monitor Engineer
Simon Hall - Band Monitor Engineer
Niall Flynn - Sound Engineer
Ruadhri Cushnan - Sound Engineer
Guy Gillen - Audio – WOW
Don Parks - Front of House System
Nick Davis - Stage/Monitor Tech
Rob Priddle - Audio
Stefano Serpagli - Audio
Sean Horsman - Audio
Sid Rogerson - Audio
John Fredricks - Audio – DVD
Owen McAuley - Audio – DVD
Pete Seddon - Audio – DVD
Benoit Richard - Lighting Director
Shelly Smith - Lights – Crew Chief
Stephane Hazebrouke - Lights
Paul Kell - Lights
Jim Mills - Lights
Dan Wiseman - Lights
Phil De Boissier - Lights
Graham Hill - Lights
Meic Heggett - Lights
Moss Everhard - Lights
Mike Farese - Head Rigger
Danny Machado - Rigger
Rick Wilmot - Rigger
James Gould - Electrician
Richie Shipman - Video Operator
Paul Eggeton - Live Director
Graham Miller - Video Engineer
Koen Lavens - Video Crew
Al Wright - Video Crew
Abel Berlage - Video Crew
Patrick Vansteelant - Video Crew
Mark Davies - Video Camerman
Dan Omerod - Video Camerman
Mark Crushanks - Video Camerman
Andrew Torks - Video Camerman
Gino Cardelli - Head Carpenter
Appy Thorig - Set Carpenter
David Medrano - Set Carpenter
Flory Turner - Set Carpenter
Aaron Alfaro - Set Carpenter
Michele Baylis - GM Make-up
Lisa Good - Wardrobe
Melissa Agee - Wardrobe
Simone Johnson - Dressing Rooms/Backstage
Rolant Jones - Trainer/Masseur
Helena Robertson - Head Catering
Wendy Deans - Catering
Pete Bailey - Catering
Valerie Chalmers - Catering
Rachel Carmody - Catering
Dagmar Hewell - Catering
Steve Quinn - Catering
Vikki Walker - Catering
Tour Suppliers
Accountants – Stephen Marks / James Parmenter / Meila Hirschfeld / SRLV
Agent – Carole Kinzel / Allison McGregor / CAA
Air Freight – Alan Durrant / Rock-it Cargo UK/ Kevin Roach / Rock-it Cargo LA
Aircraft (GM) – Cecile Monchatre / Claudette Gharbi / Chapman Freeborn
Audio – Chris Hill / Wigwam Acoustics Ltd / Mark Saunders / Sennheiser / Roger Wood / Digico
Backstage Furniture – Graeme Dixon / GLD
C A D Services – Peter Brungardt / Brungardt Enterprises L.L.C
Catering – Wendy Deans / Popcorn
Communication – Jeremy Schilling / Road Radios
Inflatables – Robin Harries / Air Artists
Insurance – Paul Twomey / Robertson Taylor Insurance/ Carol Thornhill / Robertson Taylor (NA) Inc
Legal– Chris Organ / Simon Esplen / Russells
Lighting – Kevin Forster / Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting, Inc
Merchandise Design – Melanie Panayiotou
Merchandise – Jeremy Joseph / Tanya Davis / De-Lux Merchandise Ltd/ Dell Furano / Rick Fish / Pete Weber / Signatures Network Inc
Microphones/Radio In Ears – Mark Saunders / Sennheiser
Power – Henry Wetzel / John Zajonc / Legacy Power Services
Pre-Programming – Niall Flynn / Rupert Coulson / Adam Noble
Publicist – Connie Filipello / Ros Morgan / Connie Filipello
Rehearsal Spaces – Nunu Whiting / Music Bank
Rigging – Gavin Weatherall / Andy Bailey
Set Construction – Chris Cronin / Merv Thomas / Total Solutions Group / Adrian Brooks / Lite Structures / James Fairorth / Adam Davis / Tait Towers
Soft Goods – Megan Duckett / Sew What? Inc
Stage Engineering – Neil Darrocott / Andy Prescott / Xolve Ltd
Stylist – Sumaira Lateef / SLR
Tour Programme – Alan Hill / Hill Shorter Ltd
Tour Passes – Mandy Cox / Tim Cox / Publicity & Display
Tour Ticketing – Shelley Lazar / Slo Limited
Travel (US) – Laura Giantonio / First In Service Entertainment Travel
Travel (UK) – Fran Green / Kellie Rayner / Rebecca Ryan / Media Travel
Trucking – Del Roll / Edwin Shirley Trucking
Video Supplier – Chris Mounsor / Phil Mercer / XL Video UK Ltd / Rene Dekeyzer / XL Video Belgium / John Wiseman / XL Video LA
Video Screen Technical Design – Frederick Opsomer / Marc Fichefet / Olivier Clybouw / Innovative Designs
Video Content – Sam Pattinson / Onedotzero / Willie Williams / Neal Street Studios
Video Creative Producer – Alan Traquair
Video Creative Consultant – Andy Morahan
Video Creative Editor – Max Abbiss-Biro
Video Production Coordinator – Janine Carter / Bikini Wax Limited
Video Graphics Production – Addiction Group Ltd & Absolute
Video Design – Marc Fichefet / Innovative Designs
Video Content Creative – Luke Halls / Damian Hale
Video Animation – Shiv Pandya
‘Freedom ‘90’ Animation – Matt Pyke – Universal Everything
‘Outside’ Animation – Alex Rutterford / concept by Willie Williams
‘A Different Corner’ & ‘Careless Whisper’ Animation – Richard Cullen
‘Shoot The Dog’ Animation – 2DTV & Damian Hale
Video Archive Consultant – Nick Bradbury
Video Archive Footage – Jonathon Ryan / Getty Images Ltd
Visas (UK) – Gale Claydon / Traffic Control Group
Special Thanks – Jenny & Barrie Marshall / Doris Dixon / Marshall Arts