Seatwave

REVIEW: George Michael - Wembley Arena, London

• Posted on December 27, 2006 11:20 PM
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By Nick Levine

Gig played on 12/12/06

In a world where it's possible to earn fame by neglecting to leave a house in North London for 13 weeks, is there anything rarer than a forgotten superstar? But, think about it, this epithet surely fits George Michael, a pop icon who sold 80 million records, released one of the eighties' landmark albums and managed to turn an act of public indecency into a winning career move. Over the last 12 months, though, it's hasn't quite been all about the music for the one-time Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. He's hogged tabloid headlines for napping at the wheel of his Range Rover, picking up a 58-year-old truck driver on Hampstead Heath and shamelessly lighting up a herbal fag on The South Bank Show. But that old adage claiming all publicity is good publicity has failed him; his last two singles - An Easier Affair and This Is Not Real Love - limped into the charts at numbers 13 and 15 respectively.

Tonight, however, the redemptive power of live performance is in full force. Michael opens with Waiting, investing lyrics like, "There's a way back for every man, so here I am" with a palpable sense of occasion. And, if he ever harboured doubts as to the loyalty his fans, the sound of 13,000 people joyously reciting every word of a song about cruising (Fastlove) soon afterwards will have assuaged them.

His set takes in stately ballads (Father Figure, Praying For Time), sleek soul-pop stormers (Too Funky, Outside) and a smattering of Wham favourites (Everything She Wants, I'm Your Man). The only clunker is 2002's Human League-sampling protest song Shoot The Dog; tellingly, it's the only time Michael needs something other than his voice to fill the stage. But, truth be told, the spectacle of an inflatable British bulldog fellating a giant George Bush balloon is never going to compensate for Michael's forgetting to give the song a melody.

The evening's most affecting moment is when Michael follows Jesus To A Child, a grave ballad revealing the crippling grief he experienced after the death of first love Anselmo Feleppa, with Amazing, a bittersweet song celebrating the new relationship that helped to eased his pain. Its melancholy, Daniel Lanois-esque piano riff is almost unbearable in its poignancy.

If George Michael takes anything from his first tour in 15 years, it should be this: when he concentrates on singing the songs that made him famous, he receives the adulation he evidently feels he deserves. His fans show their faith for two-and-a-half hours tonight; he repays them with his still-stunning voice, his greatest songs and the unique brand of charisma only a bruised, resurgent superstar can radiate.

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