The PRINCELY one returns

[Ali Bon Tempi]

Muchos looking forward to it matey!
Yeah she's well jealous, I didn't realise she was a big fan of the wee man and thought she was gonna poo poo our night out!

Stella head you say, I'm already looking forward to my Stella hangover on Sunday morning! Nothing an overpriced service station full english won't cure!

 

[Morbyd]

Great show

We went on Tuesday, Aug 14. You couldn't beat the opening number - 1999! and he wrapped up the show with Lets Go Crazy!

We were fortunate enough to catch Mr Nelson on a night that was more hits than new material. Not that his new songs are necessarily bad, but that's not what we were there for.

Cream, You Got the Look, Take Me with You, Seven, Kiss ("you wanna hear something funky? What could I play that's funky? Rasberry Beret? Alphabet Street? Oh wait, I know!" - cue guitar intro) and Purple Rain were among the songs I recognized. Encores included Alphabet Street, Feel for You, Controversy and the aforementioned Lets Go Crazy.

The O2 Arena was a decent enough venue but there were atmosphere problems. The first one was the stewards running up and down the aisle chasing anyone trying to take pictures, which was aggravating.

And then there's this: Russians annoy me at concerts because if they're in seated rows they tend to sit through the show. Boring! Brits stand up and dance, which is great, but what the hell is this thing about constantly going out for more drinks/food?! I found that really annoying, the aisles were like a motorway during rush hour! For christ's sake, stock up at the beginning and stay in your seat until the end unless you really really have to pee! Or wait for the break before the encore!

We had a debate afterwards - whom did we enjoy more? Prince or George Michael? Irina settled on the purple one but I think big George still pips it for me. Prince is, of course, a better performer - his dancing, his musicianship, his showmanship, all heads above that of Mr Michael though the latter also shook his booty around. The visuals in both shows were great but I thought George's were better overall. Both tried to get the audience involved (which I enjoy, to a point, but I dislike it when they totally leave the singing up to the crowd, something both were guilty of at points).

I'm perhaps a little more emotionally connected to George's music, whereas Irina is a longtime Prince fan.

All that aside, it was a great show. If you can, go. It's a bit of music history, from a man who helped write the book.

Got some photos I'll post later.

 

[Robder]

Did you just admit to being a bona fide George Michael fan on a public forum without a hint of irony?

That's the sort of thing I do in the bunker secretly when I pull the drawbridge up and no one can see me! It's like the guiltiest of guilty pleasures!

...are you sure you don't want to press edit quickly?

 

[Morbyd]

I've already written about it on my blog so there's no turning back

I hated Wham! back in the 80s but grew to appreciate them in the 1990s as a bit of nostalgia from simpler times and a symbol of the Best Era of Pop Music in History (that, and one group of gay friends of mine insisted on playing Club Tropicana all the time ).

As for his solo music, Older is one of the best albums of the 1990s. Fact!

I feel that the fact that I rate Nine Inch Nails as my best rock concert of the year still lends me a bit of street cred

 

[Morbyd]

 

[Clara]

Just wish he'd played songs in their entirity when I went (Sat 11 Aug) rather than messing around on the keyboard and ditching them after 10 seconds during the second half.

Still, a good gig. Would loved to have heard Seven though.

 

[Morbyd]

Ah, Seven was one of the best tunes at the show we saw. Sounded really good (though some backup vocals appeared recorded)

I think that's the problem with this 21-night stand... any artist would want to mix it up a bit, but that means some people are bound to be disappointed because they'll get/miss some tunes that do/not appear in other shows.

And I totally agree about the shortened/tweaked versions of some tunes... though he stayed away from the keyboards when we saw him!