Boy George and Culture Club Make Tampa Hard Rock the Starter of 2026 American Tour

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was buzzing the Big 80’s for the sold-out Boy George and Culture Club show at the Event Center venue! The fashionistas of the 80’s were wearing big hats, fingerless gloves and shoulder pads.  Culture Club diehards had on t-shirts of every tour decade.  The audience consisted mainly of the “I Want My MTV” crowd along with the LGBTQ fans and some Gen Z’ers who appreciate the great music of the 80’s.

George stepped on stage in a silver glitter policeman cap given to him by fan Julie Lemieux and he wore it for the opening number of “You’re So Loud”.  George changed into matching hat to his plaid long vest/jacket with an AC/DC t-shirt and matching trousers and gave us a rousing medley of “Church of the Poison Mind” and paying tribute to the late George Michael with “I’m Your Man.”  The audience was on their feet for the first of many fun dance tunes.  Singer Natalie Palmer is a gem with a voice reminiscent of Helen Terry back in the day.  OG Culture Clubber’s Roy Hay on guitar and keyboards and Mikey Craig on bass both look and sound great. The band sounded tight with drums, percussion, keyboards, saxophone and a 2nd guitar to round out the band.  Vangelis Polydorou is still singing with the band after being a finalist on The Voice UK and George was his mentor. George is chatty and personable in between songs and talks and waves to some of the fans in the front rows.

All the hits were on the set list, “Time (Clock of the Heart)”, “Miss Me Blind” and revamped version of “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” as a duet with George and Natalie on vocals.  One of the best songs was a newly released tune called “Letting Things Go” and George talked about being in recovery and everybody being in recovery from something.  They did a fun cover of David Bowie’s “Let Dance” that had everybody dancing and George talked about being heavily influenced by Bowie which is well-documented in his book “Karma”, that he used camp out at Bowie’s home as a teenager.

For the encore George changed into another outfit with one of his tall bowler signature hats in white.  Another cover is an extended version of the Rolling Stones “Sympathy For The Devil” which allows for band introductions and solos. Another rocker was a cover of T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution.”  “She’s Lying” was an absolutely stunning ballad from George. Don’t expect George’s voice in the high register of 80’s but it has aged and sounds lush in a lower register. They closed out the night on a high note with “Planetary Karma” (Karma Chameleon) and everyone happy and clapping along. Don’t miss Boy and the gang as they make their way around the U.S.  Check out the tour dates at https://boygeorgeandcultureclub.net/

Photos provided by Seminole Hard Rock – Yvonne Gougelet