When I was a little girl, growing up in the backwoods of Alberta, I had a dream…well actually two dreams. Unlike Martin Luther King’s beautiful dream for the world, my dreams were the selfish dreams of a 10 year old. You see, my cat Tramp (yes…that WAS his name), had been missing for a few weeks. I was beside myself with stress and worry. In my dream, I remember looking out the back window, and seeing him crouched down beside our garage, licking water from the lightly frozen little pond in the yard. Imagine my amazement, when I woke up, and sure enough, there he was. It was so long ago…I can’t remember if he was actually trying to lap up the water, but believe me: he was there. I was convinced that I had found my hidden power: I had the gift of vision.
Imagine my delight when the next night I dreamt that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley showed up in the very same backyard. They were wearing white cotton shirts, and what I now know to be Birkenstock sandals. They had come to get me, because (wasn’t it obvious?) our futures were intertwined—we were meant to BE together (remember these were the WHAM! days…prior to some personal revelations that GM was to experience in the future).
Sadly, that dream did not come true (although I waited…and I can remember being SURE that it would happen…b/c come ON!! The cat came back!!). It seems that fate had decided many, many years later, in a far off land, I would have my opportunity to share a few magical hours with GM. Who would ever have predicted that I would end up in Zayed Sports City, in Abu Dhabi, watching GM and his Wham! Dance moves through a pair of binoculars.
It was an amazing night for me.
Before I get into details, let me just mention:
1. Alicia Keys was also there. We actually ended up with two complete concerts for the price of one. She is absolutely gorgeous, and has a strong voice. Had I been familiar with more than 3 or 4 of her songs, I probably would’ve loved her show. As it was, I found myself getting a bit antsy…and waiting for her to be done.
2. I need to clarify my ‘love’ of George Michael. When Wham! came onto the scene in the 80s, I was just a little girl. I don’t remember ever thinking “I’m in love with George Michael and want to marry him” (I believe I already had another childhood crush going at the time). I just remember thinking that despite the feathered highlighted hair, the tan, the earrings (two hoops for the price of one), and the ‘wake me up before you go-go’ 80s beats, this man had some serious depth. You could hear it in the anguish of ‘Everything She Wants” (‘if my best isn’t good enough, then how can it be good enough for TWO?’), the ‘guilty feet aint got no rhythm’ in “Careless Whisper’, and “if you are the desert, I’ll be the sea…if you ever hunger, hunger for me…whatever you ask for THAT’s what I’ll be”…sigh…! That’s WOW! This guy had good-looks (lucky him), but more importantly (even to childhood me) he had brains and heart. He had felt pain and heartache, and could express and communicate those emotions through prose. He also has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard…not many men have his vocal cords and sound. When GM ‘came out’ publicly, regarding his sexual preferences, I wasn’t distressed or saddened by the revelation in any way (I know some fans turned away). “I Want Your Sex” was never ever the way I felt about him. The parts of him that I loved and admired were still all there, unchanged, for all time.
That’s enough with the clarification. Now let’s talk about the concert.
Zayed Sports City was a zoo. P dropped my friend Janice and I off on the road and we walked to the entrance. Traffic (as usual) was crazy and backed up, so it was much faster for us to walk there. We had already gotten instructions (from Brenda and Christine…waiting for us inside) that we should find Entrance 6, and come in ONLY through that entrance. The line-up was huge, and in true AD style, chaotic, inefficient and without any order. But we eventually got to the front of it. I was wanded, while Janice got patted down (she’s cuter than I am). I got my purse checked for “may-tal objects”…I had some, but nothing that could be considered dangerous I guess, as they let me through. We met up with our companions, and began the wait. The show started pretty soon after we got there, with Alicia Keys (please see blurb on her above).
I chose this time to go to the toilet. Let me mention that Zayed Sports City is a brand new facility; in fact, I believe this was the first event (in honour of National Day-37 years). The toilets, however, did not look like ones you would expect to find in a new facility. Let’s do a one-word summary: revolting. I used the men’s washroom, and discovered that I have fairly strong quads. It’s not an experience I ever need to have again.
Between AK and George Michael, there was a 30 minute intermission for changing the stage. More screens, and a second floor for musicians. Christine and Brenda decided that due to sore butts, they were moving down the grass. Janice and I felt more comfortable on the seats, so we stayed there. We were exposed to WAY TOO MUCH second-hand smoke. Coming from Edmonton, with the no-smoking laws (that are enforced), you forget just how absolutely disgusting smoke is. Having the open-air stadium helped a little bit…but I’m really waiting for the day that AD lays down the complete no-smoking ban (and actively enforces it).
And then it began. The lights went down, and the voice came pouring out like honey all around me: “There aint no point in moving on, til you’ve got somewhere to go…”, on
e of my absolute favorites. Lights came up, and he appeared on the big screen. I was mesmerized: I couldn’t take my eyes (aided by binoculars: thank-you Tikka!) off of him the entire time. He went from slow ballads, to fast songs (which got everyone up and dancing); old music and new(er). Half-way through the set, he took a twenty minute break (and was considerate enough to provide us with a countdown clock) and returned in jeans and a sports coat, and continued singing through his hits. After saying goodnight, he returned for two encores (Careless Whisper and Freedom). We walked away with his voice filling the air with an ode to his ‘freedom’.
Due to smart parking and driving, Brenda avoided all the horrible traffic. We were home by 2 a.m. A had a great evening with her dad (which I only worried about a few times through the evening), and that was so nice to hear. I had one of the most enjoyable and memorable nights of my life.
When I was young and carefree, I was bouncing around to ‘wake me up before you go-go’. When I started to move into the teenage years, he taught me about sticking with someone in “Faith”, and how to pick the right guy (when you remember the ones who have lied…who said that they cared and then laughed as you cried—who wants THAT guy?), and obviously he pushed the envelope on sexuality (but in a positive way—explore monogamy) with “I Want Your Sex” (which he didn’t sing…maybe too risqué for the AD audience?). When I was a young adult, he made me think outside myself: What was my contribution to society? Was ‘charity a coat I wore twice a year'? He also made me feel loved at times when as a young adult, I felt all alone, unloved and lost—“take care, my love, he said, you have been loved”. He was the music in my ears on my wedding day (literally in the limousine) and mentally, when we walked into our reception and I thought of my new groom “I think you’re amazing…celebrate the love of the one you’re with”. He was the lament that I sang to my dearest friend, Oliver-- ‘and every single memory, has become a part of me’, to help me deal with the pain of his passing. When my daughter A was born the music that echoed in my heart and head sang “the first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes…” as I spent hours on end simply watching her breathe, and taking in every part of her.
In essence, George’s music has been the music of my life.
One day, I hope to be able to meet him in person, and tell him how much his music has meant to me. I would thank him, for being able to pull himself up out of his dark and sad places, and put something positive into the world.
And with that, I conclude my ‘novella’ on the George Michael concert. If you meet George, please pass along my details, so he can get in touch with me.
