Guilty Feet ain't got no rhythm...

For reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment, I found myself at the George Michael show the other night.

Yes, yes....

Anyway, George is currently packing them in Europe-wide with his 25 Live tour and this was the last of a 3-night sell-out stint here in sunny Birmingham. Essentially a 'Greatest Hits' tour the 2 hour set was, as they say on the wireless, 'All Killer - No Filler'. Anyone with access to a radio over the last 25 years would have known at least three quarters of the songs played and as such there was a 'carnival' atmosphere. Although I did notice that when he did the slower or lesser known tunes a few people took that as their cue to go and have a piss, which is fair enough I suppose.....Oh, and that 'Shoot The Dog' tune is still completely baffling in all respects.

However, even in the sonically atrocious vibe-vacuum that is the NEC (...Imagine a giant biscuit tin full of angry wasps) it has to be said that George sounded pretty good. I'm not a big fan by any stretch of the imagination but there is no denying that the geezer can sure carry a tune and his band were uber slick, as you'd expect I suppose. He doesn't do a great deal on stage - he just kind of smooches his way through the hits as the crowd go utterly fucking barmy, sing along and hang on his every word. He had them in the palm of his hand throughout.

For those of you who are unlikely to see the show (which is most of you, at a guess) I can faithfully report that hearing 10,000 people honking their way through Careless Whisper is a uniquely terrifying yet nevertheless strangely exhilarating experience - a bit like the Nuremburg Rallies, except with housewives and gay men instead of Nazis. It is certainly an image that will stay with me a loooong time.

Anyhow....when the show finished the frenzied crowd stripped the merchandise stalls to their very bones, grabbed their George memorabilia and headed off into the night a great, big happy throng.

One question though: Hey George, why no 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go, Go)'?

Even I would have sung along to that one.