July 25, 2008

Admittedly, I had my apprehensions. George Michael, the teen idol of my sister Angela, and later one of my own most respected pop stars was coming to Madison Square Garden a whole 17 years after his last US show. I was expecting a letdown like I always do at shows like this. Think Madonna.

Unlike Madonna, and many manufactured pop stars, George Michael did always have the vocal chops. Faith is still a sexy record. Listen Without Prejudice is still melancholy and revealing. Older is still haunting. He released a forgettable covers album and then a quite-good album peppered with euro house (Patience, complete with a sample of The Ones). But he has been away from the US. And I did not know what to expect.

He's lost his looks. That saddened me. Not so much for him, but for me. Watching him, at first, made me, feel old. But then i saw, again and again, from our rather great seats (right next to supermodel Jessica Stam), his huge smile. And that made me forget his boring wardrobe, horrible tinted glasses, and bad hair. The music was electric.

He covered "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" with style and subtlety
. "Father Figure" was a gospel masterpiece. "Kissing A Fool" could have been better had he hit the high notes (he shied away from them, perhaps, no longer in his range). "Too Funky" flashed Tyra on a giant screen and things got gay. Really gay, in fact, when in LAPD drag, he sang "Outside," a song, about, public gay sex. "Service the community" he sings, with a straight face. Half of the audience (the straight, middle-aged woman) I don't think had a clue. He was talking about sucking off strangers, lady.

That is what is brilliant about George Michael. His two personas, with two different audiences. They were all under one roof. One is the woman, like my sister, who loved him in the teenage years. He was their Justin Timberlake. And then there are the gays, who may or may not have worshipped him like the women, but who have seen someone experience troubles of the modern gay experience in the public eye: coming out and risking everything, the loss of a lover to AIDS, the sex, the drugs. He's just your average gay guy, who's been blessed in life, but who has not been above the trappings of the lifestyle.

So he always represented more than just your average pop icon/sex symbol. There was always two-sides. And being a Gemini, and gay man in the last truly closeted American generation, I relate.

But at the end of the day it's about the music. A sold out crowd sang "Careless Whisper" as a group choir. It shook the rafters. He then appeared alone for a solemn reading of "A Different Corner," only to emerge with the show-stopper "Freedom 90." That song was his coming out song(though officially that occurred nearly a decade after the songs' release). In it he pleads with his fans to "stick around." They have. While Naomi, Linda, Cindy, and Christy mimed his songs on-screen (it is without a doubt, the greatest music video ever, and so gay, supermodels?) George commanded us to "have some faith in the sound." And we did. For in that audience two things rang true for everyone: freedom and the unmistakable power of a good beat.