Boy George Mouths Off At Commercial Radio At First Australian Show

Culture Club have kicked off their third Australian tour in just 18 months with Boy George slagging off Australia’s commercial radio stations during his first show in Melbourne.

George made a crack about the quality of music on Australian radio (and for that matter he is not wrong) but in a classic case of the “pot calling the kettle black” he had no trouble taking home a six-figure salary from reality show The Voice. The sole purpose of that show was to create disposable acts for the record industry to turn-over, exploit and discard every 12 months. At least George gave his “exploitation” Hoseah Partsch the opening slot on the show.

Because three tours in 18 months is a struggle for most fans to keep up with the tour relied on ‘its point of difference’ to convince fans to come along. The ‘point of difference’’ was the well-chosen guest act Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins, who performed 35 minutes of back to back hits with his all-female band. There is more on that here.

Culture Club did change this show around from the last two tours. A new song ‘Bitch Face’ opened the set and it was a powerful, rock number. The other new songs ‘More Than Silence’ and ‘Different Man’ (about Sly Stone) later in the show gave the show a sense of now instead of retro.

The songs are from the crowd-funded ‘Tribes’ album which three years after taking fans money still hasn’t been released (its now listed for 2018). Again George, don’t mouth off at one part of the business when you are years late in releasing an album that you happily took fan funds for while you were off fronting a reality show. Again POT-KETTLE-BLACK George!

Culture Club the band were at their best. MD Roy Hay silenced the crowd with his stunning piano for ‘Victims’. Together with three incredible Soul backing singers it was the perfect union. With founding members Jon Moss on drums and Mikey Craig on bass Culture Club live in 2017 is as authentic as when you first heard them in 1982.

The audience may have come for the hits but were enthralled by the choice of covers. The combination of The Stones ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ with Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wildside’ was a highlight. Later in the encore, the Prince tribute ‘Purple Rain’ (also done on the last tour) and the T.Rex classic ‘Get It On’ made for a party feel encore.

There is no denying the calibre of hits that Culture Club delivered was a positive contribution to 80s pop culture. ‘The Church of the Poison Mind’, ‘I’ll Tumble For Ya’, ‘Time (Clock of the Heart)’ and ‘Miss Me Blind’ played back to back showcased a stunning highlight of the bands successes.

You will get quality with a Culture Club show. With the number of major tours in Australia right now from Paul McCartney to Cat Stevens to The Human League or maybe Muse or The Weeknd, Australian music fans have a lot to choose from.

Culture Club setlist Melbourne 30 November 2017

Bitchface (unreleased)
Church of the Poison Mind (from Colour By Numbers, 1983)
It’s a Miracle (from Colour By Numbers, 1983)
I’ll Tumble 4 Ya (from Kissing To Be Clever, 1982)
Time (from Kissing To Be Clever, 1982)
Miss Me Blind (from Colour By Numbers, 1983)
Different Man (unreleased)
You Can’t Always Get What You Want / Walk on the Wild Side (Rolling Stones cover/ Lou Reed cover)
More Than Silence (unreleased)
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? (from Kissing To Be Clever, 1982)
Victims (from Colour By Numbers, 1983)
The War Song (from Waking Up With The House On Fire, 1984)

Encore:
Karma Chameleon (from Colour By Numbers, 1983)
Purple Rain (Prince cover)
Get It On (T. Rex cover)