By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 15 December 2024, Culture Club tour runs through 21 June 2025

Setlist: White Boy; I’m Afraid Of Me; Take Control; You Know I’m Not Crazy; Boy, Boy (I’m The Boy); White Boys Can’t Control It; I’ll Tumble 4 Ya; Kissing To Be Clever; Love Twist; Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?; Church Of The Poison Mind; It’s A Miracle; Mister Man; Miss Me Blind; Stormkeeper; Changing Every Day; Black Money; Colour By Numbers; That’s The Way (I’m Only Trying To Help You); Victims; Time (Clock Of The Heart); Get It On; Karma Chameleon

Perhaps it was because this was the last night of this leg of the tour but we’ve seen Boy George and his band Culture Club live many times and this was the friendlist and chattiest we’ve ever seen him.

• Read on for reasons including how this was the warmest and most interesting we’ve ever seen Culture Club

It really makes a difference to warming up the atmosphere and it’s fascinating to hear the band play material for the 1st time in 40 years as well as reflect on little details like it was Haysi Fantayzee who encouraged them to write I’ll Tumble 4 Ya as they struggled for a 1st hit from their debut album Kissing To Be Clever which is played in full tonight.

George explains their influences as a mixture of prog, glam, lovers’ rock and reggae and it was their record company Virgin who thought the emotional honesty of breakout hit Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? might strike a chord.

William Baker’s production design is impressive in capturing video and photographs from the time which give a real sense of the imperiousness of then PM Margaret Thatcher and how the world fell in love with a frontman who had a way with a catchy quote (Sample: ‘I’d rather have a cup of tea than sex’ and ‘America’s got good taste. It knows a good drag queen when it sees 1.’)

There’s also a real sense of place with George mulling over growing up in nearby Eltham and Woolwich where the only entertainment was meeting friends outside an old red telephone box (pictured below).

We are conscious that there are people from all around the world in the audience around our 17th row seat and George explains he grew up listening to a wide variety of music from different countries including Jamaica and India which really put the culture into his band’s name.

He also discusses being ‘a Bowie kid from south east London’, his love of Marc Bolan (his Get It On is part of the encore here) and a few tweaks to the setlist means that we close with an infectious Karma Chameleon.

Tony Hadley setlist: To Cut A Long Story Short; Highly Strung; Only When You Leave; Through The Barricades; Chant No 1; Lifeline; True; Gold

We were never big Spandau Ballet fans although it’s clear a lot of people here are. Hadley is in impressive voice but as the singer rather than the songwriter of these tunes it all feels a little cabaret although the beautiful Through The Barricades comes along at a time when the world could do with a little tenderness and almost everything is forgiven.

Heaven 17 setlist: Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry; We Don’t Need This Facist Groove Thang; Come Live With Me; Let Me Go; Penthouse And Pavement; Temptation

We don’t think we’ve ever seen Heaven 17 live although you will find reviews on this site from those who have but they were a revelation. Like Hadley, lead singer Glenn Gregory has a distinctive voice used well tonight but it’s the quality of the songs that raises them up. Urging the entire arena to get up for last song Temptation, which they do and it’s almost full and then interpolating Donna Summer’s I Feel Love with it is absolute genius.

Christmas gigs can sometimes be a mixed bag but we’ll definitely seek out a longer set from Heaven 17 in the future and this was the warmest and most interesting we’ve ever seen Culture Club.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Culture Club Tickets
• Have you seen a Culture Club show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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