| Concert Review of George Michael at Madison Square Garden on Mon Jul 21, 2008 |
| Event Date |
| Mon Jul 21, 2008 |
| Source |
| New York Times |
| Search for Tickets |
| http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/735650 |
| Concert Review Preview |
| Onstage in the U.S., if Not on the Air By JON PARELES Published: July 23, 2008 George Michael started his concert at Madison Square Garden on Monday night with “Waiting (Reprise),” a ballad that concluded: “Is it too late to try again? Here I am.” It was the first of two shows there (the second is Wednesday night) on Mr. Michael’s first American tour in 17 years, and he treated it as a vindication. Mr. Michael’s music since 1990 has received little play on American radio stations, ever since he unsuccessfully sued his label at the time, Sony, to end a 15-year contract he described as “professional slavery.” His lawsuit charged that Sony failed to fully promote the 1990 album “Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1” because Mr. Michael was determined to set aside his 1980s image as a smiling sex symbol. “Artists were losing all control as the biggies got bigger,” Mr. Michael said during a long speech from the stage. “And I didn’t think it was fair that I was on roughly a 30-year deal for £500. Somehow I lost that battle.” He continued: “Basically I went from being just as successful in America as I was in the rest of the world to having a fantastic career in Europe and almost no career here. That was not because Americans don’t like my music.” The reason, he told the audience, was that no one would “play it to you.” In the 45-year-old Mr. Michael’s grown-up persona, frankness and vulnerability mix with dance beats and the old sex-symbol charm. He came out in the ’90s as a gay man, which hardly mattered at Madison Square Garden to the thousands of female fans who squealed when he strolled a catwalk into the middle of the arena. Videos filled with female models, showgirls and prostitutes, he said, were for the many boyfriends who “have been dragged along here tonight.” . |
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| User Comments |
| I loved it. He sounded great and had the audience on its feet. |
| AMAZING |
| It doesn't matter when, it doesn't matter where... He is timeless, classy and it is just an amazing gift to expience his talent! |
| George Michael was amazing. The songs that he sang were perfect and so was he. These so called newspaper reviews are just crap, how many other singers who have been gone as long as GM has and can still sell out large stadiums like has, lets give credit where credit is due. He was great and looks great also. |
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