On what have been George Michael’s 55th birthday, I’ve decided to share some of the photos I took of George in 2006 / 2007 in Dublin and Belfast during his 25 Live Tour.
Being a huge George fan, these photos have been precious commodities to me over the past decade. Looking at them now, even though the cameras / phones were terrible in comparison to today’s standard, I’m thrilled that I have these personal memories of George.
I saw George six times during the 25 Live Tour, twice in December 2006 in The Point Depot in Dublin, once in the RDS in Dublin in June 2007, I also saw him twice in The Point Depot in and the last night of the tour in Belfast in August 2007. Yes, that’s three times in one week.
The very first night in Dublin was amazing. Myself and my sister, Cory, went. I’ll never forget the bass kick in during the second song of the night, Flawless. Steve’s live bass over the programming was just insane. I can still feel it pounding in my chest.
Over the course of the tour, there were songs that grew on me even more. I guess this was because of the audience reactions and interactions. The singalong during ‘Amazing’, the arm waving throughout ‘Spinning The Wheel’. I didn’t think ‘Freedom 90’ could get any better, George adds a riff from Michael Jackson’s ‘Will you be there?’ during some of the shows.
I bought a t-shirt at every show I went to. The one with the Shoot the Dog, George Bush style. A Listen Without Prejudice album cover t-shirt, 4 t-shirts with different dates on them, the dates being added as the tour got longer and longer. I bought 2 versions of the tour programme and a George keyring that still comes with me everywhere.
When George died, I cried my eyes out. I never met the man but he had such a profound effect on me since the age of 11 or 12. I’ve never visited his house, I kinda wanted to but he was such a private person, I would’ve hated to have invaded his personal space like that. The last thing I would have ever wanted to do was piss him off after all the joy his music has brought me.
I’m so glad I got to see George during the 25 Live Tour and once during The Symphonica Tour. I loved each night and I loved seeing how happy George was on stage, smiling and putting every ounce of energy into each song. He got buzzed off the crowd and the crowd got buzzed thanks to him. So lucky to have seen him live. George was one of the last great musical icons.
