George Michael @ Xcel
Posted on July 8th, 2008 – 12:20 AMBy Jon Bream
What a surprise! I had no great expectations. But it turned out to be a highly entertaining, crowd-thrilling, Wham-tastic show.
GeoMike’s dance moves have improved. Yes, he was a bit winded after some of the more uptempo numbers. He was in pretty good voice (he’s lost some range and his voice wasn’t assertive enough in the first set but it was after intermission). And he put together a wonderfully stylish light show and production.
He even one-upped his buddy Elton John, who features Pamela Anderson on video doing a pole dance in pasties during “Bitch Is Back” in his Vegas show, by using Dita Von Teese on video doing a stripper routine in pasties during “Fantasy”.
It’s easy to quarrel with the Whamster’s song selection because he did so many obscure — at least to American audiences — numbers and skipped some of his bigger hits.
Here’s what GeoMike played:
set one 1. Waiting (Reprise) (played offstage) 2. Fastlove 3. I’m Your Man 4. Father Figure 5. Hard Day 6. Everything She Wants 7. One More Try 8. Different Corner 9. Easier Affair 10. Too Funky 11. Star People
intermission
set two 1. Faith 2. Spinning the Wheel 3. Fantasy 4. Feeling Good 5. Roxanne (the Police) 6. Kissing a Fool 7. Amazing 8. Flawless 9. Outside (he was dressed as a cop) ENCORE 10. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face(the Roberta Flack hit) 11. Careless Whisper 3. Freedom 90
What songs did you want him to do that he didn’t? What did you think of the show?
23 Responses to "George Michael @ Xcel"
I thought that the show was terriffic!! His voice is amazing and he looks really good. When I saw him perform on American Idol I thought he sounded a little rusty, but there was no rust in him last night. I loved the set list, especially when he showed off his voice in the second set with Roxanne and Kissing a Fool. (I don’t think he sang Star People though, double check that). My missing favorites include: Star People, Freedom (Wham version), and Waiting (regular version). All in all, it was the most entertaining show that I have ever seen. Way to go George.
He was fabulous!
I’d like to put some “rust” in him if you know what I mean.
More gay stuff from the Strib, and can you talk more about going green?
I love being a homo liberal, and judging by you financials, so does everyone else!!!
It has been a long time since I’ve been to a concert and he was AWESOME. He is a great entertainer and played a good variety of my favorites. He did play ‘John and Elvis are dead’ but I would have liked to hear ‘I want your sex’ and his new one ‘Cars and Trains’.
I was very disappointed with the concert and don’t appreciate paying $125 when the singer is 40 minutes late. The ticket clearly said show starts at 8:00 PROMPT not 8:40. I had never seen that printed before and probably won’t again and/or won’t believe it. Agree with others he could have played more of his own hits. We left early.
Loved GM!
I’m 45 and took my 21 year old daughter. We thought he was FAB!! Well worth the money I spent (also drove 3 hours). But he didn’t sing my fav… “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”. Awesome light show and voice, still after all these years! Very impressed!
Seriously!!!! 40 minutes late when the ticket clearly stated to be prompt?? He was okay, but had the audience sing most of his songs… Not worth the ticket price at all! Such a disappointment!!!
Who cares if he can sing. Did you see his butt?
There are few concerts that evoke the feeling of joy that this one did in me. I think he did a great job of balancing old with new, not making this concert about the past (although I DO love the oldies), and leaving us wanting more. He also made such a wonderful effort to connect with his fans and make us feel part of the show. Thanks, George/band/crew, for such a fun, energizing and joy-inspiring show!
The homophobic comments on here make me sad. I loved that he tried to push much of his more recent material - from the look of the crowd, I know a lot of people were there expecting Wham! material and stuff from Faith. But he was indeed touring in support of TwentFive, and he pretty much stuck to that - a good balance of some oldies and a good showcase of stuff from his last 2-3 albums. I was thrilled that he did the Forthright remix of Spinning the Wheel, which I have always greatly preferred over the album version. I was kind of hoping to hear Shoot The Dog and Freeek! (although the later of the two would have really alienated 3/4 of the audience, so I can see why he didn’t play it). As or Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me with MJB or Elton on the video screen would have been fun. I really like Precious Box, but it’s a pretty obscure song. The surprise ballad omissions were Praying For Time and Jesus for A Child. Either of those would have made a nice replacement for The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. Oh, and I would have been really cool to hear Star People ‘97, which he did NOT play.
Pete is sad, and also he’s one reason our society is doomed.
Pete, pick yourself up, you coward, and act like a man you pussy.
Hey Pete - great comments. I saw the show in Seattle last Wednesday night and thought GM was wondeful. I too loved the fact that he segued the album version of Spinning The Wheel into the Forthright remix (the remix being my fave GM song ever). Our set list was slightly different from yours…we didn’t get Fantasy but we did get both Star People and Praying For Time (First Time Ever was in the first half of the show and Praying was the first song of the encore). Like you, I think Precious Box is one of the newer songs that could/should have been showcased. Anyway, great comments buddy.
That was the most fun I’ve had at the Xcel since Christina Aguilera (except GM was *way* better - which is not her fault, I love that girl) ANYway, I though Jon’s review was pretty succinct. This might be a weird comment, but I was slightly disappointed that he let the audience sing some of the hooks on the singles (I’m thinking “Everything She Wants” and I think he did it on a couple others). He has such a freakin’ great voice, I wanted to hear him belt it out. I loved “Amazing” and “Flawless”, I thought they flowed into each other really well. He looked so hot in that cop uniform during “Outside”, god 
I thought the jazzier lounge stuff was wonderful - “Roxanne” and “Feeling Good” really blew me away. Dita Von Teese was a nice way to reward the straight guys dragged there by their girlfriends. Oh, and the big pulsing rainbow during “Freedom 90″ made me tear up a little bit. Really moving and joyful.
Omissions, though I’m not complaining - I think I would have died if he’d played “Somebody to Love”.
The concert was totally awesome! I was thoroughly entertained and loved seeing George again. I danced for 3 hours!
I hadn’t been to a concert since Elton John in the mid nineties. Damn I need to go to some more if they are anything like what George Michael did last night. I started out kind of rocking back and forth, and by the end of the night I was dancing my ass off. Freedom was so fun. George looked like he really was having fun and feeding off the audience energy in a big way. I didn’t want it to end. His voice was flawless if you asked me and he still has dance moves that would take me some time to figure out for sure. George if you read this….I hope you come back…after people hear about your concert, you will fill that place!
I was at the Vancouver show…..loved it!!! I was born in ‘86 so I missed out on GM’s hey day! We heard Fantasy for the first time in 20 years, as an encore, and we got Star People, Praying For Time, and First Time Ever. I really hope that george changes his mind and doesn’t quit touring…..’cause I NEED to see him again and can’t on this tour. He’s an amazing showman and his voice is wonderful…I don’t think it’s diminished at all! GM Place was almost sold out…it sucks that Xcel centre was only half full!
AWESOME show at Excel Center. Having seen WHAM! and the FAITH tour as well, I can honestly say George is at the top of his game. Not only does he still have a great voice and moves, he seemed so happy to be performing and it came across on stage. Celebrating 25 years of HIS career, I did miss Wake me up Before you go-go and Jesus to a Child rater than the covers. The 40 minute wait complete with annoying music was trying, but all was forgiven when George took to the stage. After singing and dancing along for better than 2 hours, my wife said given the chance she would SO dance with George Michael. I understood completely.
He didn’t do I Want Your Sex? That is his best song!
I loved the show as Im a huge GM fan! Im a 35 yr old female who is more of a fan today than I ever was back in the Wham! days (Im not much of a Wham fan). I wanted to hear music from the Patience album–songs like “My Mother Had a Brother” and “Precious Box”. And as much as I love him dearly, I have to agree with someone else here who wrote that he had the audience sing way too much of his songs. He spent so much time pointing that mic out to the audience–especially to avoid hitting those high range notes! Cant really blame him:)
Outside of these small things, I loved the concert. Id love to go see him in England where he plays his more current stuff and not the old pop junk most Americans want to hear 
I LOVED this concert! It was amazing. I thought George has an incredible voice, gave a wonderful concert that was full of enthusiasum. You could tell he was having a great time, I had a smile on my face the entire time. I can’t stop thinking about it, so much fun. I don’t know if George or the band/singers read this stuff, but thank you so much. I never thought that I would get to see him in concert again. This was the best gift ever, for me. Worth every penny, and I would pay it again in a heartbeat!
As usual I am wondering if Jon Bream and I were at the same concert.
I am a big Prince fan so the 40 minute late start didn’t bother me (sheesh, the Purple One can run HOURS late so this was nothing!). Honestly, I think it only infused more excitement into a crowd. By the time the music started, the place went nuts!
The stage consisted of two large video screens that project George throughout the show, flanked by three-levels of scaffolding holding his band on each side, while the middle held a long screen that flashed movies, videos and psychedelic imagery. It certainly added to the aura of the evening.
George took the stage wearing all black, razor stubble and his signature glasses. From the moment he opened his mouth I was mesmerized. I always knew he could sing, but, THAT MAN CAN REALLY SING! When you have the likes of Britney Spears, Madonna and even the New Kids on the Block (who are touring once again) to choose from for your musical library, Mr Michael is truly an under-appreciated singer. Not only can he sing, but he can put on a party, invite the entire city and make every single person feel like a part of celebration! The entire house was on their feet for the diration, dancing and singing along. It was as if he knew how thrilled all of us were that he was there and he made sure we got our money’s worth.
I loved that George did some old WHAM! hits, along with his well-known, radio-played songs and still peppered in some gospel, along with the ballads. His setlist truly showed his range. My favorites were the disco and dance hits, but I got goosebumps when he sang Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. Other standouts were his slowed down version of the Police’s “Roxanne, “Father Figure”, “Amazing” and “Freedom”.
He performed for about 2.5 hours and I couldn’t take my eyes of him the entire time. His talent was palpable. He moves like he feels it in his soul. I can’t explain it but it was breathtaking. He certainly hasn’t lost his appeal or energy and I was impressed with his presence as a performer. He commandeered the stage, playing to the masses, yet was welcoming to his six incredibly talented back-up singers. All together, they had it goin’ on!
I’ve been to a lot of concerts. Until last night, my all-time favorite show was Prince. As of today it is George Michael.
Well said, GooChick. My husband and I attended GMs 25Live concert in London, UK in ‘06. We made the trip there for the sole purpose of seeing him perform, as we thought it might be our last opportunity (husband has been a die-hard fan since he was a boy and didn’t think twice about taking his then-pregnant wife on an overseas adventure!). Fortunately, GM announced his US tour and we knew we had to jump at that opportunity as well.
We were equally impressed both times. He played almost an entirely different set this time around. I echo the comments that GM is under-appreciated, particularly in the US. It’s a shame his newer material isn’t played on radio stations here. It’s a much different story in Europe–he’s HUGE there. Those who’ve commented that they wanted more of his older hits played at the concert are obviously aware of only a fraction of a fraction of what GM has done.
His voice and overall performance (I LOVED the dancing moves!!!) were indeed captivating. Truly “flawless” and “amazing.” We think George was more relaxed and carefree in MN than he was in London. As he’s alluded to more recently, he is definitely a more contented man and is more unafraid of letting his true self shine through.
His talents have produced a wealth of musical creativity for 25 years. I understand the evolution one naturally undergoes during that time, so can appreciate his song selection in terms of being true to what he feels and experiences now rather than being stuck in what used to be.
GM told us he would give us an evening to remember, and he didn’t disappoint. I only wish he would be a bit more accessible to the public so I could at the least get an autograph for my husband (and myself too…it is official now that I, too, am a die-hard fan!)
Boy Gorge Michaels was a maze. Prancign numbers wases my flavorite. Form left to right of stag he wases moeving around teh cowrd, Tart People missign/
Praying for Time was a notable omission on the set list, but the covers were a big part of Michael’s 25 years of music from a very successful album, and they were performed brilliantly. And the Feeling Good cover was from his recent hit cameos on Eli Stone on ABC. There was a ton of variety the performance was outstanding. Obviously Bream wasn’t paying any attention and got a set list presented to him from someone because Star People wasn’t even played. God forbid a mea culpa was uttered in the blogs or paper for the minsinformation and lack of research on George Michael’s actual albums and reasons for the covers. Would expect nothing more from the crap that is the Strib these days though.
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