Promoting the release of his first album of original material in 18 years, Boy George alongside a nine-piece band dazzled with a sprinkling of classic hits and tracks from This Is What I Do at Concorde 2 in Brighton last night, November 11.
Sporting a trademark red top hat and a dash of glitter sans lippy – “I’m not wearing lipstick, because I always think lipstick with a beard looks a bit too Kenny Everett.” – the now slim-line soul singer walked out to huge ardour; seemingly delighted to be back.
The show saw the new album played in its entirety which displayed George’s admirable confidence. Play Me, a kind of dub-step number with squalls of brass accompanying George’s now huskier, deeper vocals, was lilting, before it segued into the prophetic Feel The Vibrations.
This Caribbean twist continued when George dropped the sweet reggae of Everything I Own (his number 1 solo hit), an obligatory (and encouraged) sing-along number, before the Culture Club staple Church of the Poison Mind swooped fans up into a frenzy, with the blue eyed Motown-inspired call-and-response of the backing vocals thickening the already hefty chorus.
After re-verb issues – “I sound like a toilet” – George slipped into a bluesier Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?, his raspier vocal underpinning Reuben Fowler‘s blaring trumpet. While this re-imagining was inspired and played to George’s new Marianne Faithfull-esque timbre, too much rum punch was a bad thing for Karma Chameleon, which nearly buckled under swathes of reggae.
Nevertheless, the encores traversed George’s proud eclecticism and were a confident declaration that The Boy is back: we travelled from Jamaica to Nashville for It’s Easy – a country song evoking the most broken-hearted of Patsy Clines; were swept up in a cyclonic performance of T-Rex’s Get It On (featuring brass, electric guitar, biting vocals and the kitchen sink); shook our keys to the hare hare krishna of Bow Down Mister; and wiped away mascara tears over Victims, a chilling end to a blazing night!
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