feelingrandy

We spent last night celebrating George Michael’s 45th birthday. It was a small affair, held at the Forum in Los Angeles. We haven’t seen George in twenty years, so he apologized and made this promise: “I hope by the end of tonight, you’ll have forgiven me for my absence… In fact, I’m going to make sure you forgive me, we’ll have a fucking wicked time!”
How odd to think of George as 45. That’s a lot of music under the bridge and George made every attempt to get to most of it in this 140-minute performance. Beginning with the beautiful “Waiting” one couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be GM at that very moment, singing:
“You look for your dreams in heaven
But what the hell are you supposed to do
When they come true?”

Accompanied by a 15-piece band, the show was also a multi-media extravaganza as a large screen in the background continually beamed Technicolor images. But it was his voice, a commanding voice that stood stage center. He worked through “Fastlove”, “Too Funky”, and “Star People 97″ and reached back into the catalog for 1984’s “Everything She Wants” from his WHAM! days and commented “This song is from 1984. Just turn to the person next to you and imagine them with four times as much hair, and you’re almost there. But you’ll have to help me, I’m an old man, and I can’t hit the high notes anymore…” which wasn’t true at all. It’s hard to imagine commanding the attention of thousands of people for three hours but that is just what Michael’s did: he sang his ass off. This was never so evident as when he took front stage with three members of the band and launched into jazzy versions of “Roxanne” and “Kissing a Fool” only to return to the danceable “Amazing”, “Flawless (Go To The City)” and the deeply personal “Outside.” We all sang Happy Birthday twice and Bo Derek brought out what appeared to be a large cardboard cake. It is the vulnerable side of George Michael that often makes an appearance and last night was no different. He dedicated songs to his lovers, both living and departed and there was sense of growing older, which can only be expected on a 45th birthday, and he turned that emotion to good use as he sang a “A Different Corner” “Jesus to a Child” and the heinously apropos “Praying for Time”. As the night drew to a close, George asked the audience what one song they would like to hear and though the shouts seemed to be of many different songs, it was the upbeat favorite “Freedom 90″ that sealed the deal. Indeed we forgave him, Los Angeles forgave him, we only hope it won’t be long before we see him again.

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