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LAS VEGAS
MGM Grand Garden Arena - 21st June 2008
I can blame my curiosity to see a George Michael show on the same reason I go to see the current slate of action/adventure films: Summer is the time for candy, spectacle and flamboyance. We indulge in such confections in June because we don't have the tolerance for it in November. Maybe it's the weather; then again, it's always sunny here.
Nonetheless, it was a perfect excuse to see the U.K. singer-songwriter, touring behind a 25-year catalog that hasn't reached American concertgoers in 17 years. Part of Michael's absence can be attributed to his gradual shift from white-boy Motown and multi-genre revisionism to Eurodisco and Anglo-style R&B. His last hit was the runway-strut anthem "Too Funky," and that was 1992. So, for most, Michael's "Twenty-Five" tour is pure nostalgia.
And yet, on June 21, an almost-full MGM Grand Garden Arena screamed nearly as loud for non-charting dance songs like "Fastlove" and "Flawless" as it did for his solo and Wham! radio hits. Did European tourists and American gays -- his fanbase these days -- flock to MGM last weekend? Not really. Most of the people I saw were suburban heterosexual couples, some with their children in tow. And yet they moved to the Massive Attack-like and Eurotrance rhythms of "Spinning the Wheel" as jubilantly as they did to the familiar '60s Detroit beat of "I'm Your Man." Perhaps the crowd knew a good performance when it saw one, Michael and his band on target for almost all of its two-and-a-half hour show, or perhaps it had just waited too long to see the singer finally play their turf. Either way, it was an uncharacteristically engaged Las Vegas arena crowd, and its excitement was contagious.
It was also refreshing to hear a singer tone down the pomp and stun so many people with just his voice. Sure, there was some fun to be had during the rockabilly pop of "Faith" and the satiric camp of his bathroom-blowjob anthem "Outside" (complete with cop uniform and helicopter effects), but some of Michael's best moments Saturday night were during his cover of "Feeling Good" (most famously sung by Nina Simone), his jazzy "Kissing a Fool," and his acoustic take on the socially conscious "Praying For Time." Other numbers like "One More Try" accentuated his gospel and soul roots. This was no shallow entertainment -- just a classic, well-rounded, summertime pop show.
Nonetheless, it was a perfect excuse to see the U.K. singer-songwriter, touring behind a 25-year catalog that hasn't reached American concertgoers in 17 years. Part of Michael's absence can be attributed to his gradual shift from white-boy Motown and multi-genre revisionism to Eurodisco and Anglo-style R&B. His last hit was the runway-strut anthem "Too Funky," and that was 1992. So, for most, Michael's "Twenty-Five" tour is pure nostalgia.
And yet, on June 21, an almost-full MGM Grand Garden Arena screamed nearly as loud for non-charting dance songs like "Fastlove" and "Flawless" as it did for his solo and Wham! radio hits. Did European tourists and American gays -- his fanbase these days -- flock to MGM last weekend? Not really. Most of the people I saw were suburban heterosexual couples, some with their children in tow. And yet they moved to the Massive Attack-like and Eurotrance rhythms of "Spinning the Wheel" as jubilantly as they did to the familiar '60s Detroit beat of "I'm Your Man." Perhaps the crowd knew a good performance when it saw one, Michael and his band on target for almost all of its two-and-a-half hour show, or perhaps it had just waited too long to see the singer finally play their turf. Either way, it was an uncharacteristically engaged Las Vegas arena crowd, and its excitement was contagious.
It was also refreshing to hear a singer tone down the pomp and stun so many people with just his voice. Sure, there was some fun to be had during the rockabilly pop of "Faith" and the satiric camp of his bathroom-blowjob anthem "Outside" (complete with cop uniform and helicopter effects), but some of Michael's best moments Saturday night were during his cover of "Feeling Good" (most famously sung by Nina Simone), his jazzy "Kissing a Fool," and his acoustic take on the socially conscious "Praying For Time." Other numbers like "One More Try" accentuated his gospel and soul roots. This was no shallow entertainment -- just a classic, well-rounded, summertime pop show.
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