Tonight (July 18, 2008) was George Michael’s concert in Toronto. Now let me start by saying, I wasn’t overly enthused when I we first got the tickets, but you know what? It was a great concert and I’m really glad I went.
So we get into the ACC to our seats, section 104 near the back, but at least in the bottom half of the concert so we had a straight on view. He got on stage at about 8:55 (didn’t his tickets say 8:00 sharp?), after one too many clapping outbursts from the crowd.
I guess for his age he is looking pretty good. Still the rough growth and poofy hair. We did notice the line on his neck was overly accentuated. Isn’t that where they go in to do a little skin pulling? I know he is a shy guy so that camera wasn’t on him that much during the concert. They had two screens but it would only show him once in a while. So maybe he just didn’t want people analyzing his facial features too much so he asked for very little camera time.
The sound was actually really good. He sounded fantastic. Maybe a little too fantastic? I always, always give the artist the benefit of the doubt that they are singing, but he isn’t Celine Dion. We did see him on American Idol not sounding too good. But even if he had help from a backup track at times, we still enjoyed the concert since we knew most of the songs. So my second theory is that they don’t show him on the screens too often because they don’t want to give too many hints that he may be getting some vocal help.
Now the stage. Fantastic. I could have sat there and stared at it all night. Now I have been to many pop concerts, and his stage was simple. Very simple. Just an LED screen that was stories high that came down and curved onto the stage and poured into the crowd. The visuals would come all the way down and George (if I may be so bold as to call him by his first name) and the back up singers would be standing on it. It actually made some really cool effects and some wonderful visuals. Like the film reel that came up from the crowd and slid up into the ceiling while playing clips of old footage. So simple. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I want one in our living room.
And now the people. There were people. And many annoying people. The girl next to Brad had an overly loud clap and she was really really into it. Some woman three rows up had a screechy scream and was yelling things like "Take of your jacket", "You are hot", "I love you George". Yes. We were very far away and he probably didn’t hear her. And I don’t think she is his type. I hope she can’t talk tomorrow and no, we don’t want to see him with his clothes off. This isn’t 1990. And lastly there is the guy in the picture on the right. We don’t know where his wife went. And we don’t know if he was there until the cleaners came to clean up his mess. But I couldn’t help but take a picture. Alas, George Michael’s biggest fan.
So I took some videos, they are kind of shakey, but it was hard not to dance while taking them. The first one is Too Funky, which I loved because I love models. And the second one is Freedom which I loved because I love models.