{"id":42746,"date":"2018-11-15T14:06:28","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T14:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=42746"},"modified":"2018-11-15T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T15:58:12","slug":"life-tour-wembley-14-november-tom-bailey-belinda-carlisle-boy-george-and-culture-club-show-the-80s-werent-so-long-ago-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2018\/11\/life-tour-wembley-14-november-tom-bailey-belinda-carlisle-boy-george-and-culture-club-show-the-80s-werent-so-long-ago-after-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Tour: Wembley 14 November &#8211; Tom Bailey, Belinda Carlisle, Boy George and Culture Club Show The 80s Weren\u2019t So Long Ago After All"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Wembley marks near enough to the midpoint of the 12 date UK and Ireland \u2018Life\u2019 tour, headlined by Boy George and Culture Club, and supported by Tom Bailey and the Thompson Twins, and Belinda Carlisle. Bailey and Culture Club have been touring together for the better part of this year and last year, while Belinda has only joined for this current run.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Entering the Wembley SSE Stadium I was struck by the idea that for many of the audience this won\u2019t have been their first time seeing any of these bands &#8211; likely far from it. In fact, when we took our seats we talked to a couple who\u2019d already seen the show (with the B-52s supporting rather than Carlisle) in Salt Lake City. One had first seen Culture Club when she was 17, and told us George\u2019s voice had improved beyond compare, from even back in the 80s when he had one of the purest voices in pop music. Her husband said we\u2019d really enjoy the show&#8230;and we did.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tom Bailey as show opener was an inspired choice. Dressed in white, as were the members of his band, he was absolutely overflowing with energy, jumping about from instrument to instrument, dancing and singing and putting the rest of us younger folk to shame. It\u2019s clear he enjoys what he does, and although his set only allowed for seven songs, we\u2019re taking this as a taster, and will definitely go see him when he\u2019s headlining. The set list was mostly Thompson Twins songs &#8211; \u2018Love On Your Side\u2019 and \u2018Lies\u2019, from \u2018Quick Step And Side Kick\u2019; \u2018Doctor! Doctor!\u2019, \u2018You Take Me Up\u2019, and \u2018Hold Me Now\u2019 from \u2018Into The Gap\u2019, and \u2018Lay Your Hands On Me\u2019 &#8211; with only the title track from his current album, \u2018Science Fiction\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Random Ad stuff --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2076862002005673\" data-ad-slot=\"3107208401\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><\/p>\n<p><script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Bailey\u2019s set almost felt like church, with the audience as his willing congregation. A flashing light show with a disco ball on stage fully complemented Bailey and his band. Tom gave a brilliant demonstration of how gifted an artist he is, making his way around just about all the instruments on stage, from harmonica and percussion, to keyboards and guitar. My companion\u2019s observation was that he\u2019s \u201cturning into Mike Oldfield\u201d, but knowing Bailey\u2019s love of music in all its forms and genres, I didn\u2019t agree &#8211; this was Tom Bailey being Tom Bailey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Belinda Carlisle was equally as enthusiastic as Bailey, with her set running the gamut of all her albums, and surprising me as to how many songs of hers I knew &#8211; including \u2018Summer Rain\u2019, which she prefaced with, \u201cthis wasn\u2019t a hit over here but it was in other places, I\u2019m singing it because I want to sing it\u201d. My companion and I knew the song well, having come from Australia, one of those \u201cother places\u201d where it had been a hit. In fact, the track made it to number 6 in Australia, the only country where it made it into the top ten.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Opening with \u2018Live Your Life Be Free\u2019 from 1991, Carlisle swiftly worked her way through her back catalogue, including \u2018(We Want) The Same Thing\u2019 (from 1989 album, \u2018Runaway Horses\u2019), and \u2018In Too Deep\u2019, found on her 1996 album, \u2018This Is\u2019. Others which had the audience dancing in their seats were \u2018Big Scary Animal\u2019 &#8211; the idea of love being a big scary animal is likely a sentiment we can all get behind; and the fan favourites, \u2018Circle In The Sand\u2019, and \u2018Leave The Light On For Me\u2019. She closed with the one we were all waiting for, the song which marked her as a solo artist, \u2018Heaven Is A Place On Earth\u2019. Listening to Belinda Carlisle last night it was difficult to imagine her as having originally been a member of one of the most successful girl bands ever, The Go-Gos.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At about 9pm the lights dimmed and the audience hushed in anticipation of what was next. A stage set with stairs and drum cubicles, a grand piano, percussion, brass instruments and guitars told us we were going to be in for a treat. Gradually the band members came on stage and picked up their instruments. Next Mikey Craig appeared on the top of the stairs, greeted with cheers. Roy Hay\u2019s similar entrance was likewise met with joy. Of course, the most rapturous applause was reserved for George &#8211; we were all mad about The Boy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">From the start it was clear that the space (\u201cit\u2019s too big to call it a room &#8211; let\u2019s call it a space\u201d, said George) was filled with love. Dropping his outer coat George quipped that he wanted to be like Cher in Vegas, and change his outfit every eleven seconds. The entire night was characterised with George\u2019s humour, from his playful banter with Mikey and Roy, to his comments about how people have commented on his supposed immaturity over the years, to which he responded, \u201cI\u2019m a rock star, I don\u2019t have to grow up!\u201d \u00a0The songs were from the entire Culture Club and Boy George discography, with George saying, they were \u201csomething old, something new, something borrowed, and something probably blue\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.officialcharts.com\/chart-news\/what-was-number-1-on-my-14th-birthday-find-out-what-song-supposedly-defines-your-life__23071\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Official Charts recently suggested that the song which was the number 1 in the charts on your fourteenth birthday defines your life<\/a>: growing up in Australia mine was \u2018Do You Really Want To Hurt Me\u2019. While I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s particularly defined me, I certainly agree with George when he said that the song is possibly even more relevant today than it was when it was first released back in 1982.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The entire show was, as I said earlier, characterised by love. Opening with \u2018God &amp; Love\u2019, from their most recent album, \u2018Life\u2019, I was deeply moved by how much Culture Club\u2019s message has always been one of love and peace, but it\u2019s only now that it\u2019s being taken seriously. George gave shout outs to his family and friends, many of whom were in the same area we were sitting, several of his god children were behind us &#8211; as well as the countries people had travelled from, and a special shout-out to his original stomping ground of South East London. My companion and I live a few miles from George\u2019s home town of Eltham, and so it felt all the more personal. He also added that Jean-Paul Gaultier was in the audience: presumably in the VIP section.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Second song was &#8216;It&#8217;s A Miracle&#8217;, and all those in the audience who weren&#8217;t already standing rose to their feet, as this was a song EVERYONE knew, as it was from Culture Club&#8217;s second album, &#8216;Colour By Numbers&#8217;. This was followed by a second song from &#8216;Life&#8217;, the beautiful &#8216;Let Somebody Love You&#8217;. George was wearing the same clothes on stage as in the video for this song, which made it all the more real, and the reggae style of the track suits his voice perfectly. It&#8217;s worth noting too that George&#8217;s voice has matured over time and is &#8211; if at all possible &#8211; even more beautiful than it was back in the day. My American seat neighbour was certainly right.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We were struck by how much George has made peace with himself. He&#8217;s clearly happy on stage and happy in life too. Perhaps it was because this was his home crowd in London, and he &#8211; as well as Roy and Mikey &#8211; knew they definitely had friends in the audience &#8211; but there&#8217;s a sense that something has changed in his life for the better. Wonderful! George also spoke of his trip to recovery, and mentioned his friend Tony, and said we&#8217;ve all recovered from something.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Scattered throughout the evening was some lively patter from George, and it was nice to get a deeper insight into the band. He said about how they originally started in Hammersmith, when he went to Mikey&#8217;s mother&#8217;s house to check out his guitar playing. George took his friend, &#8220;Claire With the Hair&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;the first white girl with dreads&#8221; &#8211; because he considered she might know a bit about music. Claire decided Mikey was suitable, and clearly he was, because he&#8217;s still here all these years later!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking of his time growing up in Eltham, George commented about how the train was very important to him &#8211; because it meant he could get to the clubs he wanted to go to &#8211; &#8220;straight up to Charing Cross then down under the arches&#8221;. It was very poignant listening to this as we&#8217;ve done the exact journey on many occasions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Culture Club&#8217;s show is more than just George, Roy and Mikey &#8211; there were a total of 12 people on stage, including 4 or 5 backing vocalists, a brass section, a few guitars, percussion, and drums, keys, and a grand piano.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Much of what we experienced last night felt like church, no less so than when Mary Pearce &#8211; the queen of studio and backing vocals &#8211; started singing. In fact &#8216;Miss Me Blind&#8217; was definitely churchi-fied. There were some nice moments such as the medley of &#8216;Church Of The Poison Mind&#8217; blending seamlessly into Wham!&#8217;s &#8216;I&#8217;m Your Man&#8217;, then back into Poison Mind. Culture Club dedicated the song, &#8216;Life&#8217; to all of us in the space, and it really did feel like it was our song. He shared with us how at the age of 11 years and 11 months he went to see Bowie at the Lewisham Odeon, and wasn&#8217;t it a travesty that they&#8217;d pulled it down? This led into a rousing note-perfect rendition of &#8216;Let&#8217;s Dance&#8217;, causing me to reminisce on how I learned to sing to Bowie&#8217;s music myself, meaning that even now I sing in a South-East London accent. George already had the accent so he was ahead of me there. It made me think about how it must have been for that young boy to grow up in much the same area as Bowie &#8211; George&#8217;s Eltham and Bowie&#8217;s Beckenham are barely six miles apart from each other. He followed &#8216;Let&#8217;s Dance&#8217; with T-Rex&#8217;s &#8216;Get It On&#8217;: Bolan of course had been another influence on the young George.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We knew by this time the end of our evening was nigh, and there was only one song left to sing. Of course it was &#8216;Karma Chameleon&#8217;, which we all sang with great gusto. George summed up the night quite well when he said, &#8220;well unless I&#8217;ve been at another show tonight, I&#8217;ve had a fucking amazing time, how about you?&#8221; Well I certainly did.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Life Tour continues Friday night at Birmingham Arena. Tickets are available through <a href=\"http:\/\/WWW.EVENTBRITE.CO.UK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eventbrite<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/WWW.CULTURECLUB.CO.UK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Culture Club\u2019s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wembley marks near enough to the midpoint of the 12 date UK and Ireland \u2018Life\u2019 tour, headlined by Boy George and Culture Club, and supported by Tom Bailey and the Thompson Twins, and Belinda Carlisle. Bailey and Culture Club have been touring together for the better part of this year and last year, while Belinda has only joined for this current run.<\/p>\n<div class='heateor_sss_sharing_container heateor_sss_vertical_sharing heateor_sss_bottom_sharing' style='width:39px;left: -10px;top: 100px;-webkit-box-shadow:none;box-shadow:none;' data-heateor-sss-href='https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42746'><div class=\"heateor_sss_sharing_ul\"><a aria-label=\"Facebook\" class=\"heateor_sss_facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fessentiallypop.com%2Fepop%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F42746\" title=\"Facebook\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size:32px!important;box-shadow:none;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle\"><span class=\"heateor_sss_svg\" 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