Boy George and Squeeze Have Clearwater Dancing All Night at Bay Care Sound
It was a British invasion on Friday night with 80’s megastar Boy George and Squeeze celebrating their 50th anniversary. On this, the “Squeeze Me, Boy George USA” tour, it is a double bill, and the artists switch back and forth on who opens first, it was George for Clearwater. George is sans Culture Club this tour performing solo after his guest stint in Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge” as Harold Zidler. Dressed in black & white and one of his signature hats, he brought an exuberant fun energy opening with a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain” and the T- Rex iconic tune, “Bang A Gong (Get It On). Coming next was his own 1983 hit “Karma Chameleon”, by this time most of the audience was on their feet. George’s voice has matured into a beautiful instrument. Of course, the song that made Culture Club a worldwide phenom, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” was on the setlist. A reworked version sounded great with backup singer Natalie Palmer. She also brought the pipes on “Church of the Poison Mind” that brought back memories of Helen Terry. The mashup of “Church” and Wham’s “I’m Your Man” was a great tribute to fellow Brit George Michael and brought smiles to faces all around.
Boy performed his 1992 hit, the haunting “Crying Game” produced by the Pet Shop Boys from the movie of the same name. Backup singer Vangelis Polydorou, who was a finalist on George’s team on The Voice Uk steps up to the mic for a solo on “Kylie T-Shirt”, a song he wrote with George and giving George a break to change. Clearwater got two more Culture Club hits with “I’ll Tumble for Ya” and as George tells it, he was in L.A. for the first time and looked over and in the car next to him was Telly “Kojak” Savalas, then he wrote “It’s A Miracle.” Everyone was dancing to the feelgood tune! “Mrs. Blame” brought out acoustic guitars for George to go country and it was fun. He closed with a cover of Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” calling the audience to move up to the stage. He then surprised the crowd by coming back to sing Bread’s 1972 hit “Everything I Own.” A great show by Boy George and band! George will be touring the UK with Culture Club. Tour dates at Boy George and Culture Club.
Squeeze took the stage around 9:30 p.m. Celebrating their 50 years starting in 1973 in the new wave genre. They opened with 1978’s “Take Me I’m Yours”. Next came the hit “Hourglass” that was in heavy rotation on MTV in 1987. The band has a total of eight players on tour. The stage is designed with light installations changing colors, a simple but effective way when having many players on the stage. Original members Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford are keeping the Squeeze train moving along with Stephen Large, Simon Hanson, Steve Smith, Melvin Duffy, Owen Biddle and the only female Danica Dora. Much of the crowd was on their feet for the entire show in the front orchestra.
Great musicianship will keep a band going over the long haul and Tilbrook/Difford’s songwriting and loyal fans keep Squeeze on tour. “Pulling Mussels (From the Shells) is a fan favorite. They save their best and biggest tunes for the finale with “Tempted,” “Cool for Cats” and closing it out perfectly with “Black Coffee in Bed.” The tour is going to resume for Squeeze in the UK in October to sold-out shows across the United Kingdom. Check it out at Squeeze Official.
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