Author: Jernej Vene
Location: Munich/Germany
Concert date: 10/28/2006
Attendance: 14
Ticket price: 62,00€ – 90,00€
When the news dropped this spring that the unpredictable George Michael was heading out on tour for the first time in fifteen years, I quietly hoped he’d come somewhere near us. Not because I’m a die-hard fan or can’t live without his music. Quite the opposite: he’s put out new material so rarely over the last ten years that he really has to work to win me over. His latest album Patience (2004) is meticulously polished soul pop and ballad stuff, and a few of the songs run a bit long. He could have trimmed them by a good minute without a pang of guilt, and I wouldn’t have minded at all. His concert is a different story. If you ask me, I’d have stretched it by a good hour. First, you need to know that his female fans and “male fans” had been waiting a long time, and the tickets sold out lightning fast. The Sunday show in Munich even got a Monday date added. Shortly before half past eight, we got our gentleman in his prime, and the packed hall was literally eating out of his hand. George Michael deftly strolled through the hits of the last twenty-three years. The mostly female crowd (men who weren’t companions or designated drivers were a seriously small minority) rode a wave of emotion and excitement. Between the fast dance numbers Michael slipped in heartfelt ballads, blowing on the souls of a melting hall, because he knows exactly how the business works. Tickets have been pretty salty in recent years, ever since Western Europe switched to the euro, and really so has everything else that comes with a concert. Merchandise, meaning artist-related souvenirs (T-shirts, caps, lighters, key chains, mugs, the tour book, etc…), is booming like never before. Record sales are shrinking, songs are being sold (and stolen) online. And a tour as big as Michael’s costs an extreme amount to produce. George Michael dreamed up a megalomaniacal stage, the centerpiece of which is a video screen running from the front edge of the stage all the way up to the hall’s ceiling. It’s the main projection screen, and Michael and the backing singers actually walk along it. Besides the central one, there are two side screens as well. With the colorful combinations of hues accompanying every song, the crowd was left breathless. Visually, Michael’s concert is a feast for the eyes, and few of the big names can match it for inventiveness. The musical side hit perfection too. George Michael has lived through plenty of stupid stuff in everyday life, mostly of his own making. Getting back on stage must have taken a lot of courage and strength. He sings effortlessly, has his voice under total control, and does so at every moment of the evening. He wasn’t exactly chatty, though; a few times he asked how we were feeling and whether we were up for a dance. During the ballads he sat on a bar stool, and perhaps the most heartfelt moment was his cover of Roberta Flack’s The first time ever I saw your face from the album Songs from the last century (1999). What impressed me most was the idea of where to put the backing musicians, of whom there were as many as fifteen. George Michael had them on both sides of the big screen, spread over three levels, which gave the already imposing stage an even bigger magical charge. Most of the musicians are black, seasoned old hands of the British soul and acid jazz scene. Three guitarists provided the full sound, among them studio ace Phil Palmer, who stepped down from the platform and tore through a solo in Faith. Yes, that was the first song after a twenty-minute break, which didn’t really sit well with me, since the crew isn’t exactly as old as the Eagles or whoever else takes a breather mid-show. Fair enough. The last song before the break was the musically somewhat dull Shoot The Dog, and before it he asked everyone what we thought of US president Bush. Without waiting for our reaction, he turned the thumb of his right hand toward the floor and made it perfectly clear what he thinks of him. The hall agreed, and during the song a caricature puppet of President Bush inflated on stage, and later his British counterpart too, in the shape of a dog who ended up in a slightly awkward position. In recent years I’ve seen a few criticisms of American politics at concerts around Europe, but never one this direct. As we know, George Michael had plenty of trouble with the video for this song too, since it was just too blunt. The audience sang along to most of the songs, so he often handed them the choruses, though in my opinion always right when the highest notes in the songs came up. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s true that I haven’t seen such flawless music-making and such a fusion of the main protagonist with a sea of male and female fans in a long time. If Michael had played a few more of the hits from his rich bag of tricks instead of the intermission, your correspondent would have been even happier. Maybe he could have sung a duet or two with one of the backing singers (Lucy Jules, for example), the kind that practically offer themselves. Next time! Finally, thanks to Concert Freak for the prompt ride there and back.
Setlist
1. Waiting (reprise)
2. Flawless
3. Fast Love
4. Father Figure
5. Everything She Wants
6. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
7. Praying for Time
8. Too Funky
9. You Have Been Loved
10. Star People
11. My Mother Had a Brother
12. Shoot the Dog
—intermission (20 minutes)—
13. Faith
14. Spinning the Wheel
15. Jesus to a Child
16. Amazing
17. I’m Your Man
18. Outside
—encore—
19. Careless Whisper
20. Freedom ’90
Lineup:
George Michael – vocals
Phil Palmer – guitar
Graham Kearns – guitar
Mike Brown – guitar
Luke Smith – keyboards
Andy Hamilton – keyboards
Steve Walters – bass guitar
Danny Cummings – drums, percussion
Carols Hercules – drums, percussion
Shirley Lewis – backing vocals
Jay Henrey – backing vocals
Lincoln Jean -Marie- backing vocals
Lori Perry – backing vocals
Sharon Perry – backing vocals
Lucy Jules – backing vocals
