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I went to see George Michael
I went to see George Michael After I wrote my last blog on George Michael and his upcoming last tour in San Jose, many urged me to go. This is a once in a life time experience after all. I don’t want to look back with regrets.
So, with a ticket I got at a discount on Ebay, I went to the arena named after my employer. The crowd was very big. Outside the stadium there were quite a few protesters. Last week the state of California sanctified gay marriages. I guess many opponents felt this was a good opportunity to shove it back in the gay people’s faces as they go to their hero’s concert. But no one was bothered. People were very excited. I heard many different languages. I imagine they were once young fans like me dreaming of meeting their idol some day.
To my surprise, the audience had as many men as women. But they were either accompanying their female partners, or, gay (and contrary to the stereotype, many were bald and overweight). Unlike a Justin Timberlake, or even better, a Miley Cyrus concert, no one seemed under the age of 25. I had to smile to myself.
George Michael had been gone for so long. He actually joked about it. He says, “Imagine this is 1984. The person next to you had 5 times as much hair.” He looks great for a 45 year old. But he is no longer the Greek God he once was. The perfect features are blurrier. The famous superbly shaped tushy was hidden carefully under a jacket. His voice is still great though at times he had to hide behind the backup singers.
But the fans, I at most, couldn’t care less. We are here to root for him. He had seemingly everything at a very young age. Yet he lacked happiness. He wanted to be taken seriously as artist but was forever labeled as a heartthrob. He was the dream of countless young women but he only longed for men. So he hid away. And he had to appear in a public bathroom to show the world who he really was.
Tonight he seemed really happy, and relaxed. He dedicated a song to his partner Kenny. And he congratulated all the people from San Francisco that were finally able to marry. After the finale the fans refused to leave. We applauded and screamed and yelled for an encore. He said, “I have no idea why I stayed away for so long.” And we sang “Freedom” one more time.
I do. Sometimes we just want to move on. We just want to do something different. As I listened and danced to his music tonight, memories started flooding back to me. His songs are forever associated with a certain period of my life, like the set of a play frozen in time. It marked the end of a chapter and I hadn’t looked back since. It was surprising how fragile our memories are. I once thought the events of that time, much like his music, were so indelible that I can always play back like a MV. But now I could hardly remember the lyrics. It’s like a box locked away for many years. I had a peak at it tonight. Then I put it in yet another box and back to where it was kept. Tonight is yet another box I will open some day.
It was no coincidence he chose “Careless Whisper” as his finale. He had the audience sing most of it, and we obliged merrily. These words seemed perfect for the occasion:
Tonight the music is so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it’s better this way
We hurt each other with the things we want to say
We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But now who’s gonna dance with me
Please stay
Stay he won’t. He seemed determined to once again move on. As I left the concert and got in my car, the radio station was playing “Careless whisper”. So I know, we’ll always have his music, just as I’ll always have my memories. Eeriely, I feel I finally had a closure.
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06-22-2008, 03:16 AM
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