george michael live 25 tour

George Michael 25 Live Tour

25 Live (also known as the 25th Anniversary Tour) was a concert tour by English singer/songwriter George Michael. The tour was the most commercially successful tour of 2006–2007 in Europe, grossing over $200 million, with positive reviews from music critics. The 106 tour shows were performed in 41 countries and seen by 1.3 million fans across the globe.

It was Michael's first tour in over 15 years. The tour, running for 50 dates, began in Barcelona on 23 September and was intended to end at Wembley Arena in London in December, but—due to great feedback from fans—continued into 2007 providing more gigs throughout Europe, concluding in Belfast. The tour is described as "a celebration of his 25-year career in music", and was accompanied by a Greatest Hits album, released in late 2006. The news of the tour came amid increased media speculation about Michael's personal life, in particular, his drug use and sex life. After the success of the autumn leg, new shows were added for summer 2007, in large arenas and stadiums. Pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor was announced as the supporting act for six of the eight UK shows. She did not open the show at Wembley Stadium as Michael was the first artist ever to play in the new stadium.

On 25 March 2008, a third Leg of the 25 LIVE Tour was announced for North America. This leg included 21 dates in the United States and Canada. This was Michael's first tour of North America in 17 years. The tour coincided with the release of his new Greatest Hits album on 1 April 2008.

The tour ended with two concerts at Earls Court in London named "The Final Two". Wham! fans would recognize the reference to Wham!'s last gig at Wembley Stadium in London in 1986, The Final. Another final concert was later announced. The concert was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 30 August and called The Final One. Australian dates were added in November 2009, involving stops in Perth, Sydney, and later Melbourne in February/March 2010.

Ticket sales in the UK and Europe were brisk. Within two hours of initial sales, 240,000 tickets were snatched up by eager fans. First to sell out were UK shows in London's Wembley Arena and Earls Court as well as Birmingham's NEC Arena and Manchester MEN Arena. The Manchester show sold out within minutes, and the two 25 Live dates added to the venue were sold out by lunchtime. To meet demand, 14 gigs were added to the tour, including three additional shows in London alone. Michael's dates around Europe were met with equally extraordinary enthusiasm. In Norway, the Oslo show at the Oslo Spektrum sold out in an hour and a half. In Copenhagen, 49,000 tickets sold out at the Parken Stadium in just three hours. The first Rotterdam concert at Ahoy Rotterdam arena sold out in a mere six minutes, and the second saw tickets vanish in 16 minutes. In fact, a third Rotterdam show was added by popular demand that also sold out in 16 minutes. This unprecedented response has stood out as the fastest sell of tickets ever experienced by Barrie Marshall, whose London-based promotion firm, Marshall Arts Limited, has been promoting shows for 30 years.

The 25 Live tour broke several ticket sales records, most notably in Copenhagen. Michael's concert at Parken Stadium sold over 50,000 tickets in the matter of minutes, shattering the previous ticket sales record at the venue, formerly held by U2.

In North America, although ticket sales weren't fast as they were in Europe, every venue was sold out in time for the concert. For a period of 25 hours during the week leading up to the Los Angeles show on 25 June 2008, tickets were sold for a promotional price of $25 (down from $95) in celebration of George Michael's birthday, 25 June 1963.

All the tickets for the Final Two shows in London and the Finale One show in Denmark where sold out in 2 hours.

Ticket sales for the Australian leg were also brisk, the concerts in Perth at the 25,000 seat Burswood Dome and the 42,000 seat Sydney Football Stadium both being sellouts.

On 11 June 2008, two dates were added, titled "The Final Two", taking place in Earls Court, London on 24 and 25 August 2008. These concerts were filmed for a 25 LIVE DVD release entitled "Live in London".

On 30 June 2008, Michael announced one more last show in Copenhagen at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium on 30 August. This special performance, entitled "The Final One", allowed Michael to say "thank you" to his loyal fans, not only in Scandinavia, but also across Europe.

On 1 November 2008, Michael announced another last concert. This time it was held at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium on 1 December 2008, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It was the first event to be held at the new stadium and was billed as the biggest concert ever held in the UAE. It was also his first concert in the Middle East. The event also helped to launch National Day celebrations and an outdoor extravaganza of fireworks and lasers gave fans a spectacular and unforgettable experience.

The band George Michael – vocals Chris Cameron – musical director/arranger Lea Mullen – percussion Phil Palmer – guitars Andy Hamilton – sax, keyboards, Ewi Steve Walters – bass Mike Brown – guitars Carlos Hercules – drums Graham Kearns – guitars Luke Smith – keyboards Shirley Lewis – backing vocals Jay Henry – backing vocals Lincoln Jean-Marie – backing vocals Lori Perry – backing vocals Sharon Perry – backing vocals Lucy Jules – backing vocals

Management and production Michael Lippman – artist manager Andy Stephens – artist manager Ken Watts – tour director Lisa Johnson – assistant tour director Looloo Murphy – GM tour manager Sharon Ashley – band tour manager Ronnie Franklin – security consultant Mark Spring – production manager Di Eichorst – production coordinator Scott Chase – stage manager James Kelly – show manager Willie Williams – video staging designer and director Vince Foster – set and lighting design and operator Gary Bradshaw – front of house sound Andy Bramley – video director Simeon Niel-Asher – Osteopath Barrie Marshall and Doris Dixon – agents

Promoters Belgium – Live Nation Denmark – DKB & Motor France – Interconcerts Germany – Peter Rieger Konzertagentur Greece – Cosmote Netherlands – MOJO Concerts Hungary – Live Nation Hungary (previously Multimedia Concerts) Ireland – Aiken Promotions Italy – D'Alessandro E Galli Norway – Gunnar Eide Spain – Sagliocco Group Sweden – EMA Telstar Switzerland – Good News UK – Marshall Arts USA – Live Nation Australia – Paul Dainty

25 Live Tour features the first time a 3000 piece LED screen has been used. 25 Live Tour features a three dimensional video wall. The video screen isn't just a backdrop to the stage, it also lies on the stage surface. Paul McCartney used a similar concept in his 2005 US Tour. 25 Live tour features the first time that motion tracking comes from the artist to video. 25 Live Tour features the first time 490 frequency channels are transmitted to the audio mixing board, producing dynamic, richer sound for the performance 25 Live Tour features the first time that on-screen visuals respond to the musicians performing.

• 1 Jimi Hendrix
• 2 Joan Armatrading UK Tour 1992
• 3 April 22, 1966 Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome, Matawan, NJ

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George Michael Forever

Celebrating George Michael's music, life and legacy

Michael Gives It One More Try (Concert Review, 2008)

July 6, 2019

Concert review of the performance George Michael gave at the at BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, FL, USA on August 3, 2008 as part of the 25 Live Tour. Review written by Leslie Gray Streeter for The Palm Beach Post on August 8, 2008.

The onetime Wham! lead singer wraps up tour in fine form.

He wasn’t in the best voice: A persistent cold, sinus infection and the culmination of two long months of touring played havoc with some of the high notes he tried, and stopped him from attempting others altogether. And the neatly trimmed Leslie Gray Streeter salt-and-pepper beard covered a face more lined than that of the dewy young boy often seen frolicking, larger than life, on the screen behind him.

But on Sunday, the last night of the American leg of his “25” tour, George Michael’s soul-pop voice still powerfully and confidently filled Sunrise’s BankAtlantic Center, even in its occasional husky moments. His signature move a clappy side-to-side maneuver that’s somewhere between a hip shake, a shimmy and a club-worthy booty dance remained energetic and vigorous. And even two decades after the height of his pinup perfection, the former Wham! singer retains a sexual zing that had all the boys and girls twittering.

If Michael can deliver such a musically and emotionally punchy show, as he put it “sick as a dog,” it blows my mind imagining how good he would have been healthy.

And to think that the evening, spanning his early 1980s Brit boy-band success as one-half of Wham! to his latter-day status as a neo-disco god, started on the wrong foot because of a nearly hourlong delay. The printed tickets declared that the show would start “promptly” at 8, and by 8:50 p.m., the near sellout crowd tried cheering and clapping to rouse Michael onto the stage.

“Where are you?” a woman in our row asked. The answer came a few moments later, as Michael’s voice, singing Waiting (Reprise), was heard from behind a giant screen that swept like a wave from the floor to form a wall behind the stage, flashing images and colors like the disco dance floor from Saturday Night Fever.

“Here I am,” Michael sang, emerging black-clad from a door that opened suddenly in the screen.

Forgiving fans

If anyone had been annoyed by the delay, which, the singer apologetically explained, was cold-related, all appeared to be instantly forgiven.

He launched into the cheeky anti-monogamous come-ons of Fastlove, the crowd singing along with the refrain borrowed from Patrice Rushen’s Forget Me Nots.

He followed that with a sultry, slowed-down R&B take on Wham!’s I’m Your Man, and the crowd seemed satisfied to have even that brief nod to Michael’s past with former musical partner Andrew Ridgeley. But Michael, delightfully, was not.

“Come on, people. I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said, as the band restored the song to its perky 1985 origins to video flashes of Michael and Ridgeley in all their Choose Life T-shirted, sun-kissed poolside bare-chestedness and shoulder pad-blazered glory.

While some artists may have ignored the cheesiest portions of their resume, Michael, to his credit, willingly featured highlights from throughout his career, both the well- and lesser-known.

“I’m not trying to make a comeback in the States,” explained Michael. “But being the last night, we’ve got some partying to do.”

And so there was, with the majority of Michael’s material, including Outside and Father Figure, aging remarkably well. Everything She Wants, the 1984 saga of a money-grubbing bride and her overworked young husband, stood out alone as dated and, though well-sung, as goofy as it was 24 years ago, because ballads to the disco-heavy hits, you’re still going “If she’s a money-grubbing shrew, make her get a fr-king job!” But, you know . . . the ’80s.

Backed off high notes

Everything else was near perfect Michael gamely attempted a few of Father Figure’s high notes but backed off them when they didn’t come, staying in his rich lower register. He and his backup singers delivered a gorgeously organ-adorned gospel take on One More Try, and later he donned a police uniform, recalling the video for Outside, itself a nod to his Los Angeles arrest for indecent exposure. He covered much of his disco-heavy latter work including 1990’s Too Funky and 2006’s An Easier Affair.

Besides One More Try, the evening’s highest points were his cover of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, which he said had become the “anthem of the tour,” and the final encore, Freedom ’90. The latter song, which in its original release appeared to be an artist’s rebellion against label attempts to package him, now reads like the poignant struggle of a young man coming to grips with his sexuality.

As the colors of the rainbow flashed behind him, Michael summoned what was left of his voice to sing “All we have to see/Is that I don’t belong to you/and you don’t belong to me.”

The funny thing is that in that moment, with assorted throngs of gay men, groups of ladies on a night out and thirtysomething couples of every orientation reliving their early adolescence, that wasn’t exactly true.

At that moment, George Michael’s words and struggles and even his 1980s fashion faux pas did indeed belong to the passionately singing audience, and theirs to him.

There were a couple of other songs it would have been nice to hear, like Kissing A Fool or Monkey, but the evening satisfied.

Similar Posts:

• List of Duets and Backup Vocals
• George Michael Interview with Capital FM Radio with Dr. Fox (Dec 1998)
• George Michael: Red Line Radio Interview (Part 1)
• Wham!’s Last Week, Smash Hit Magazine (July 1986)
• An Audience with George Michael: Interview with Chris Evans (1996)

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Freedom, a constant theme in George Michael’s work, something he craved and cherished, this liberation that he gave his audience through his music, is his enduring spirit and his everlasting legacy. The Irish Times, “Freedom: George Michael gets his final right to reply – and it’s a thing of beauty,” October 15, 2017

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• July 9, 2008 Setlist

George Michael Setlist at United Center, Chicago, IL, USA

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Tour: 25 Live Tour Tour statistics Add setlist

• Waiting (Reprise) Play Video
• Fastlove Play Video
• I'm Your Man ( Wham!  song) Play Video
• Father Figure Play Video
• Hard Day Play Video
• Everything She Wants ( Wham!  song) Play Video
• One More Try Play Video
• A Different Corner Play Video
• An Easier Affair Play Video
• Too Funky Play Video
• Star People Play Video
• Faith Play Video
• Spinning the Wheel Play Video
• Feeling Good ( Anthony Newley  cover) Play Video
• Roxanne ( The Police  cover) Play Video
• Kissing a Fool Play Video
• Amazing Play Video
• Flawless (Go to the City) Play Video
• Outside Play Video
• Careless Whisper Play Video
• Freedom 90 Play Video

Edits and Comments

31 activities (last edit by ExecutiveChimp , 17 Oct 2021, 17:46 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Father Figure
• Kissing a Fool
• One More Try
• Everything She Wants by Wham!
• Feeling Good by Anthony Newley
• I'm Your Man by Wham!
• Roxanne by The Police
• Spinning the Wheel
• Star People
• Waiting (Reprise)
• A Different Corner (2)
• Flawless (Go to the City)
• An Easier Affair
• Careless Whisper

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• Jul 04 2008 General Motors Place Vancouver, BC, Canada Add time Add time
• Jul 07 2008 Xcel Energy Center St. Paul, MN, USA Add time Add time
• Jul 09 2008 United Center This Setlist Chicago, IL, USA Add time Add time
• Jul 13 2008 American Airlines Center Dallas, TX, USA Add time Add time
• Jul 14 2008 Toyota Center Houston, TX, USA Add time Add time

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XL Video has worked with specialists of Barco, a company that provides LED modules for the 25Live tour, designing and engineering the video screen of which the concept came from Willie Williams.

This unique screen is made up from over 3000 ' MiStrip ' LED modules, a quantity which is necessary to obtain such high resolution, needed for a spectacular visual impact when playing videos and graphical effects.

The MiStrip is a linear LED screen element, a strip of pixels, that can be combined in any shape and quantity to make up any size and form of LED screens. With 25Live the elements have been combined as such that they form a screen that flows down onto the stage and beyond via concave and convex curves, which creates a stunning visual element. Also the screen is so strong that George can simply stand and even dance on it.

Pictures from Digital Antics

Links XL Video Willie Williams Digital Antics Barco Digico Links to articles Productionprofile with pictures by Professional Digital Console - Thanks to Olivier from France! Mic me up before you go go Willie Williams Wins Creative Review Award Using Barco Creative LED Modules Mojo Barriers with George Michael for First Wembley Stadium Concert Willie Williams wins Creative Review award for outstanding design using Barco creative LED modules Barco’s Creative LED Modules Set Stage for George Michael XL gets Live 25 with George Michael George Michael on Tour with Sennheiser Three D5s for 25 Live Wigwam Acoustics Stocks Up with Van Damme Cable for George Michael Tour Total Solutions Group Hog the Stage XL Video wins TPi Award DiGiCo D5 Makes George Michael’s Live Broadcast Straightforward

Tour 2007 - Europe

• Czech Republic
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25Live Tour Links

Amsterdam ArenA 2007

Video Links 25live 2006

• Amazing - Ahoy
• An Easier Affair - Madrid
• Concert Opening - Ahoy
• Everything She Wants - Ahoy
• Faith - Ahoy
• Father Figure - Milaan
• First Time Ever I Saw Your face - Ahoy
• Freedom - Ahoy
• Freedom -Zurich
• I'm Your Man - Ahoy
• I'm Your Man - Milaan
• Jesus To A Child - Ahoy
• Last Christmas - London
• My Mother Had A Brother - Manchester
• Outside - Ahoy
• Praying For Time - Ahoy
• Praying For Time - Dublin
• Praying For Time - Keulen
• Shoot The Dog - Ahoy
• Spinning The Wheel - Ahoy
• Star People - Ahoy
• Star People - Milaan
• Too Funky - Manchester
• Too Funky - Parijs
• You Have Been Loved - Ahoy

George Michael - Live in London

Starting sat, july 28, george michael winds down his 25 live tour in his first-ever concert film, which finds the former wham leading man revisiting hits familiar and fresh in two sold-out shows at london's earls court..