....is positively one of the best voices in the industry. I picked up his "Live In London" Blu-Ray today. It was filmed for his 25Live tour, on the last two nights in London. I'll try to keep each song's high points to a minimum.

The 45 minute documentary on the DVD is worth the effort alone. Called "I'd Know Him A Mile Off!" is a great look behind the scenes of the tour, the interviews, the rehearsals, the sound checks, and him constantly hopping into the back of a car to get to, or leave the venue, sitting on planes w/ his partner Kenny Goss, and even a funny moment at one of their homes, where Kenny (who I always forget is SO southern, as he is from Texas) is explaining that George likes a more minimal and modern look to the furniture in the house, whereas Kenny wants a big couch to curl up on. Looks as though GM got his way. Also in the docum, at one check point, the security guards, who have blocked off an avenue, says they won't let his car through. The driver, and a manager, tell the security police that GM is in the backseat. With a glance, GM is dismissed as "a look-alike". He walks off. Finally the manager gets out of the car and insists they get through. The security guard walks up to the car and demands I.D. The manager pushes him back. Security looks in the car and says, "I'd know him a mile off. That is not George Michael." GM is hysterical, calling the whole incident "brilliant" (and it really is!) GM wanted to stay to show them I.D., just for the sheer sake of filming it and capturing a great moment on film. They drive through the check point, and the camera catches the security guy flipping off the car, with GM in it. haha

As far as the concert, every song is spot fucking on. He starts with "Fastlove", using the extended mix in a slightly shorter form. The extended mix uses a different chorus later on, singing "Everybody needs a little fast love, baby....", and then has a chant of "who da man, who da man, who da man, goddamn!", and then goes into a funk ridden version of "I'm Your Man". As the song ends, GM says "I wouldn't do that to you. You didn't think it was over did you?" and goes into the regular version of "I'm Your Man". The energy stays high during "Flawless", and even he jokes that "this is probably the gayest cover I've done". (I guess he called it that because it's heavily based on The Ones song "Flawless"). He slows it down for a bit, and during "Father Figure" and "You Have Been Loved", his voice is so pure and spot on!!! He's right in the middle of his 40's, and he's still one of the best voices in the industry.

He pumps it back up with "An Easier Affair", name checking Rupert Murdock at the beginning of it, and quickly mentions it's about living your life, and not giving a fuck (his favorite word apparently) about what anyone says. The lyrics say that too of course. I love that song, and have since it came out on the TwentyFive CD/DVD set. He gets into "Everything She Wants" and the audience goes wild for it! Slow down again with "One More Try", which is just him and the six backup singers standing in a squared U shape, singing the song in a near gospel style, and knocking it out of the arena. He sits, and people go nuts when they hear the first notes of "A Different Corner". Voice again, spot on. He gets political with "Shoot The Dog", and plenty of anti-George Bush/Tony Blair animation (from the video), as well as a huge inflatable of GW. GM runs up to it and pulls open the front of his pants. Out pops a huge English bulldog, locked snout to crotch on GW's front side. (Tony Blair sucking GW's dick, in case you didn't get that.) He also gives a huge shout out to Barack Obama.

There is a 20 minute intermission, but we only see 5 minutes of it. He plays the video of "John and Elvis Are Dead", then immediately the stage lights up and "Faith" starts to ring out. Next is rather interesting. He sings "Spinning The Wheel", which is a song I missed early on, but caught it a few years after. Once the song is over, he goes into a deep club mix of the song, and resings the whole song as a remix. The light show is fucking amazing during this song alone.

He sits down to sing again. He talks about the footage the audience is about to see, and how they filmed it for this song in the show. He said the women in it are not models, but real people, and were gracious enough to let a crew invade a few moments of their lives. They are prostitutes in a brothel (much like the actual video to the song). He sits and sings "Roxanne", explaining that he did a cover album when he was having a hard time writing music. It's his favorite song on the album. He dedicates "My Mother Had A Brother" to his late mother, and his uncle (her brother). He then dedicates "Amazing" to his partner Kenny Goss (who it's written about), and to their friends Gary and Gary's partner, who are both in the audience somewhere.

He sings "Fantasy", which I only know from Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best Of, which might be its only album. He continues with one of three encores, the first being "Outside", which includes a cop's sunglasses, and uniform top. The next encore is "Careless Whisper", which the audience damn near provides vocals to make it a duet. The last song is "Freedom '90" which the audience loves as well. The three bonus tracks, listed below, are just as incredible.

GM mentions at one point that this is the longest show of the tour, but the audience has made it worth it. The show itself seems to be about 2:10, plus the three bonus tracks, which levels out closer to 2:25-2:30.

The DVD is a MUST for any GM fan. GM stated this would be the only show he would release in its entirety (which SUCKS), but even though it's the only one, it's SO worth the effort to find it. There are no other features on the DVD, other than what I've already listed. There are 3 audio tracks, one being DTS. The Pop-Up Menu feature is available on the Blu-Ray, which is the "Performances" menu, over the concert, opposed to the Main Menu wallpaper.

Also, there are several shots of GM changing clothes in the quick change room between songs. That man is still hot, shirtless, and otherwise. He obviously dropped a bit of weight for the concert tour, but his freakin' hot chest hair is all still freakin' hot on him. Also, apparently GM likes a diet/caffeine free coke and Tanq right after the show (it's in the car waiting on him to pour it).

Track list (copied from Wikipedia):
1. "Waiting (Reprise)" (Michael)
2. "Fastlove" (Michael/Rushen/McFadden/Washington)
3. "I'm Your Man" (Mihcael)
4. "Flawless (Go To The City)" (Michael/Alexander/Wooden/Turnier/Matthew/Stumm)
5. "Father Figure" (Michael)
6. "You Have Been Loved" (Michael/Austin)
7. "An Easier Affair" (Michael/Cushnan/Ambrose/Flynn)
8. "Everything She Wants" (Michael)
9. "One More Try" (Michael)
10. "A Different Corner" (Michael)
11. "Too Funky" (Michael)
12. "Shoot The Dog" (Michael/Flynn/Jackman/Oakey/Burton)
13. "John and Elvis Are Dead" (Michael/Austin)
14. "Faith" (Michael)
15. "Spinning the Wheel" (Michael/Douglas)
16. "Feeling Good" (Bricusse/Newley)
17. "Roxanne" (Sting)
18. "My Mother Had a Brother" (Michael)
19. "Amazing" (Michael/Douglas)
20. "Fantasy" (Michael)
21. "Outside" (Michael)
22. "Careless Whisper" (Michael/Ridgeley)
23. "Freedom 90" (Michael)

There are three bonus tracks on the regular DVD set (2nd disk), and on the BluRay:
* "Precious Box" (Michael)
* "Jesus To A Child" (Michael)
* "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (McCall)

The only low point to the DVD is knowing its the only concert he'll ever release. But I'm happy w/ this one.

Keep an eye on the graphics on the huge ass LED screen he's on. There are often times red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and orange lines/shapes on the screens. Each one is a direct feed from different audio feeds, and each one reacts to that feed. GM's is red, the drums are blue, the background vocals are green, etc. So with each song, not only does the actual pattern they've programmed change, but the reaction of each one is different. "Outside" is really good with this. The graphics are 2D flyovers of LA, and the skyscrapers have the colors in them. There was a huge write up on GM's site about the technology used in the concert that had never been used before. That alone is amazing too.
[Edited 12/13/09 15:06pm]

you kinda scared me for a moment

bboy87 said:

I'm sneaky like that.

I so want that DVD!!!! If I can't find it in stores, Ernest, I'm gonna either org you or tweet to you!

it's a really great bluray, i think the first bluray that i'm in

the two nights at earls court were the 24th and 25th august 2008, the bluray is taken from the final night, the 25th which was the longest night. the show is slightly edited, as his comments regarding the xmas song aren't there, likewise when he mentioned something like he removed 3 songs from the setlist from the previous night, to big boos, and added 5 different songs instead, to big cheers

whilst there are 3 "bonus" tracks, i'm not sure if these were the songs from the previous night, or if they were edited from the main set, as i'm pretty sure the original gig lasted about 2hrs 45 mins with the break in the middle, and they included about 5 mins of the break with the elvis and john video. when i was watching the bonus footage i was trying to see if the audience or clothing was different, and it was hard to tell but it looked like the same outfit. i'll have to check the setlists from the bootlegs i have. i've finally deleted the pro shot clips of the show from my PVR that were broadcast a year ago when the dvd was originally to be released (as mentioned at the show but removed from the dvd)

there's also a very brief 2 second clip of one of the glasgow gigs i was at, so there's now 3 or 4 GM shows on official dvd that i was at. in a few years time i'm sure the technology will become available to pinpoint my spot in the crowd

the documentary is pretty good too, and a decent 40 mins in length. it makes me wish the old south bank show video got an official dvd release, as that's a really great documentary. it made me want to rewatch the "a different story" dvd, which is a really great official documentary dvd

when i was at he shows i thought they would look really great on the plasma and surround sound, at the visuals were amazing. the bluray really doesn't do them justice as the venue was so big, the LED screens were the worlds biggest at the time and were huge and just looked fantastic in the dark venue. on the plasma in HD it just looked and sounded fantastic, just like being there. i'm sure my neighbours all the way down to the ground floor heard the songs loud and clear as i had the amp pumping near full volume so the room was at concert volume levels. the sub was also very clear. the overall sound mix (mixed at abbey road) was very clear and discreet in 5.1. i'll need to arse around with this from my dvd version (i got both dvd and bluray) and see if i can seperate the vocal channel

oh, and i can show it to my mum, and point to the part where he gets everyone to shout "hi mum" for the dvd

Timmy84 said:

It's at Best Buy.

unique said:

The notes say that the DVD is from the final two nights. I saw a couple of edits to support that His physical stance was different from shot to shot a few times. Regardless, it's a must have.

unique said:

Also, I noticed the outer stage is different. It wasn't the U shaped catwalk, but rather a T shaped walk way right off the front of the stage. Perhaps this was an outside/stadium vs inside/arena venue situation. Changes always have to be made for either type of venue

http://link.brightcove.co...6066807001

http://link.brightcove.co...6066807001



a hard day from one of the shows, this is an outtake from the dvd. i've not found what night it is yet

ernestsewell said:

some of the edits simply remove talking, before feeling good he had a yap for a while, saying that he had a new xmas song for free download on his website and mentioned eli stone (which i think the first season had finished at the time) and stuff, and that's edited, and when he sits down near the end i think he chatted longer. it's hard to tell if any songs were removed from that night

ernestsewell said:

the first 25 live tour was an arena tour, and there was no catwalk, the stage was similar to earls court (which is huge) but without the catwalk. then he came back and did the stadium tour, and that had the U stage with i think 2 stages of circle, there was the gold circle that was a small bit right at the front, and the silver circle was the remainder of the U thing

i think earls court was the only show with the extended catwalk. i remember he did one song with the band on the small stage at he end of the catwalk, it must have been the first night

actually, the first night was a dancier night, the different songs on the second night were slower and more album tracky. you'll notice the first part of the show is fairly upbeat and dancey and singalongy, and then it drags a bit on the second half with the down tempo stuff

oh, and the version of fastlove he did is basically the same as the 12" version that seques into part of i'm your man. lisa moorish did a cover of i'm your man and george michael did backing vocals. this was released as a single. george then released his version (i think it was on the wham hits sony cd) that was the same recording but with georges lead vox. the fastlove remix only had the first couple of minutes of it. the remake of i'm your man might be on the fastlove cd single, i can only find the promo cd at the moment which only has the one track. there's a bunch of promo only mixes of tracks from about that time, like todd terry remixes of everything she wants (remixes of the remake on the sony hits - there's other remixes by other people too)

I love George and always have, I will no doubt buy everything he has on offer. Older is one of the best albums put out by anyone, and I still groove to my Wham! albums. If nothing else the man has chutzpah.
[Edited 12/13/09 2:55am]

Sure he is positive as he is high most time of the day

But he's indeed a better artist than most of the crap being published today, and certainly set good shows in the past.

24th august setlist

Waiting (Reprise)
Fastlove
I'm Your Man
Father Figure
Hard Day
Everything She Wants
One More Try
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
An Easier Affair
Too Funky
Star People
Intermission (with 'John And Elvis' Video)
Faith
Spinning the Wheel
Feeling Good
Amazing
Flawless
Outside
A Different Corner
Careless Whisper
Freedom '90


25th august setlist

Waiting (Reprise)
Fastlove
I'm Your Man
Father Figure
You Have Been Loved
Everything She Wants
Precious Box
One More Try
Jesus To A Child
An Easier Affair
Too Funky
Shoot The Dog
Intermission (with 'John And Elvis' Video)
Faith
Spinning the Wheel
Feeling Good
Roxanne
My Mother Had A Brother
Amazing
Flawless
Outside
Careless Whisper
Fantasy
Freedom '90

for comparison the dvd is...

1. "Waiting (Reprise)"
2. "Fastlove"
3. "I'm Your Man"
4. "Flawless (Go To The City)"
5. "Father Figure"
6. "You Have Been Loved"
7. "An Easier Affair"
8. "Everything She Wants"
9. "One More Try"
10."A Different Corner"
11."Too Funky"
12."Shoot The Dog"
13."John and Elvis Are Dead"
14."Faith"
15."Spinning the Wheel"
16."Feeling Good"
17."Roxanne"
18."My Mother Had a Brother"
19."Amazing"
20."Fantasy"
21."Outside"
22."Careless Whisper"
23."Freedom 90"
* "Precious Box"
* "Jesus To A Child"
* "First Time Ever"

it looks like the dvd is madeup by editing the two shows together. all songs played over both nights bar star people and hard day (which i posted a link to above) are represented, with 3 of them appearing as bonus footage

i must say they did a good job editing it together as i thought i was watching footage from the one show, and i was there

always loved george michael, all the way back to his cheesy wham days

unique said:

I'm talking about edits in the middle of a song, not between them. I understand that there is stuff taken out between songs to keep the momentum going on a DVD.

.
[Edited 12/13/09 10:11am]

lowkey said:

Why is WHAM! cheesy? Songs like "Everything She Wants", "Freedom", "I'm Your Man", "Last Christmas" and more are pure pop perfection. You can hear GM's song writing abilities grow as each of those three albums, and other misc stuff, was released. "Careless Whisper" is a perfect example of that. Wasn't anything cheesy about them. It put him where he is now, and even he's grateful for that.

The thread title threw me for a second...

ernestsewell said:

there's no edits in the middle of any songs. where do you think there is an edit?

What a fucked up title dude.

Vendetta1 said:

Odd how people immediately assume the worst, based on the very word "positive".

Thankies! I shall pick this up at Best Buy Tomorrow.

ernestsewell said:

not all that surprising since we just had threads about how he was living his life.

I thought the same thing and then some.

ABeautifulOne said:

Yeah, I found it pretty tasteless.

VoicesCarry said:

as someone who's been positive for 10 years i have to agree

ernestsewell said:

Odd how you gave it this title knowing that is what people would think, especially since George is so self-destructive these days.

And why did you start a new thread when there is already a thread about the DVD?

Just own up to it.

Vendetta1 said:

because when you talk about gay men and mention positive it's safe to bet you are talking about one thing UTTERLY TASTELESS and i've asked for this thread to be or removed.

ehuffnsd said:

Good and I hope it will be.