As any seasoned stoner will tell you, the stuff they put in it these days can make any regular user prone to paranoia. Perhaps that’s why ten songs into his first London show for fifteen years, George Michael confessed that he was terrified of the reception he might receive from a home crowd.
As the sound of 24,000 feet stamping out their adoration spread from the back to the front, the 43-year-old singer pondered: “I should have known, shouldn’t I? I’m from Finchley.” You can take the man out of Finchley, but this show offered an opulent reminder that beneath the “troubled” George Michael of recent news stories lurks the same North London soul boy who landed his first Top 10 hit 25 years ago.
Setting the tone, Fastlove saw three tiers of musicians lay down a fat, funky foundation that defied resistance – while, out front, a lone Michael showboated his way through the octaves with effortless aplomb. Lest we forget, this sung advertorial extolling the virtues of cruising your blues away came out two years before Michael did. Michael’s reluctance to apologise for his lifestyle stood him in good stead back then and it continues to do so. Tonight he seized the opportunity to hit back at his critics. Introducing My Mother had a Brother – a song about a gay uncle who committed suicide – he declared that “there has never been a better time to be gay”. Some of his Greek ancestors 2,500 years ago might have begged to differ, but this seemed like no time to pick nits.
With those initial terrors overcome, Michael had the air of a man waking up to the notion that this evening might actually be quite enjoyable. As a child, going to see Elton John and Queen here, he said it seemed like “the largest room in the world, but tonight we’re going to turn it into a living room — just push the table away”.
Doing her best impression of a melancholy princess, the former Sugababe Mutya Buena was more than a match for Michael on a new duet, This is not Real Love. The pre-millennial dread of Praying for Time sounded as strange and vast as it did when it was released 16 years ago. Here, it was instructive to note that, on the line “Charity is a coat you wear twice a year”, a watching Bob Geldof could be seen singing along, while Naomi Campbell merely stared impassively. Both were more amused when a bulldog in Union Jack boxer shorts clamped its maws around an inflatable George Bush’s privates for Shoot The Dog. “There’s that George Michael going out on a limb again,” you thought to yourself, while wishing he’d come up with a tune to match the gesture.
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On the occasions that he did though – a simply beautiful Jesus to a Child and a rapturously received I’m Your Man – you realised that you were in the company of the best soul singer this country has produced in the past three decades.
If Michael had indeed succeeded in turning a hangar into a front room gathering, the encore signalled that it might finally be time for the cheese course. Three tiers up, a lone saxophonist delivered the intro that could only be Careless Whisper. A guilty pleasure for guilty feet. Even Naomi Campbell danced to that one.
Box office: www.ticketmaster.co.uk