I was really looking forward to this gig. Not even the fact that Geth and I, at some point in the past, got it into our heads that it’d be a clever idea to sign up for a half marathon the day afterwards could spoil my excitement!
First of all, the support acts for this tour were cracking. Geth was more excited about the support bands than the main act!
Tom Bailey, formerly the lead singer of the Thompson Twins, was first on. He played a mixture of Thompson Twins classics and stuff off his new album. I really quite enjoyed the new stuff and will be checking out the album, but it was definitely the classics that went down a lot better with the audience. My highlight was Doctor, Doctor, which has long been a favourite of mine due to its gorgeous synth line and its frequent use in Doctor Who montages.
Tom Bailey setlist:
(We Are Detectives – the band came onstage to this tune)
Love On Your Side
Science Fiction
You Take Me Up
Lies
Lay Your Hands On Me
Doctor, Doctor
Hold Me Now
Next up was Belinda Carlisle, who was brilliant and still rocks the stage like she did thirty years ago! Her voice is still gorgeous too. My highlight from this set was Heaven Is A Place On Earth, because it’s been a favourite ’80s song of mine for such a long time, and I couldn’t believe I was actually getting to hear it live – but there were so many great hits!
Belinda Carlisle setlist:
Live Your Life Be Free
We Want The Same Thing
In Too Deep
I Get Weak
Circle In The Sand
Summer Rain
Leave A Light On
Heaven Is A Place On Earth
Culture Club are one of those bands where you’re never entirely sure how long a reunion is going to last, because there have historically been tensions among the members. Indeed, the full original band was not a hundred percent present, because drummer Jon Moss left the tour partway through the US leg and is not performing on the UK leg. I’m sure he has his reasons, but I was super disappointed not to see him, not least because it means I’ve now got to track him down separately for my new Band Aid baby bucket list project!
It was a fantastic gig though. So many hits that I’ve heard all my life and never dreamt I would actually see performed live by Culture Club. So many nods to classic artists beloved by me and clearly also by Boy George – the wee Wham! tribute during Church Of The Poison Mind, and the glam rock section during the encore with T.Rex and Bowie covers. Victims, my favourite Culture Club song, which I’d been praying they’d play since I bought the tickets. The wonderful finish of Karma Chameleon, with moments from my life flashing before my eyes: the hilarious Lothian Buses number 26 bus that never fails to crack me up; the crappy old Audiogalaxy download that I had of the song for years that had a slight jump during the first repetition of ‘you’re my lover, not my rival’; the time that my old schoolfriend Laura wrote the lyrics down wrong in my homework diary in high school and I had to correct them:
I got super emotional during Karma Chameleon, in short. I’ve had the Now ’80s channel on all day today, and every time it’s come on, I’ve just been staring at the TV all like ‘I actually saw that performed live by Culture Club at the weekend’.
Wonderful concert. Probably my favourite of the year so far.
Culture Club setlist:
God And Love
It’s A Miracle
Let Somebody Love You
Time (Clock Of The Heart)
Everything I Own
The Truth Is A Runaway Train
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?
Victims
Different Man
Miss Me Blind
Church Of The Poison Mind/I’m Your Man
Life
Let’s Dance
Get It On
Karma Chameleon