I am not the biggest fan of his solo work, especially his more recent offerings, I am more of a Wham fan! However, I think that an artist that big is worth going to see, and I am glad that we did.
We were running late getting there as we had been at Louden Castle country park that day and by the time we made it to Mount Florida, the traffic was a nightmare. After a lot of driving around, we finally found a parking spot about a mile away and as we walked to the National Stadium we could hear the support act, Sophie Ellis Bexter belting out Murder On The Dancefloor, which is a shame as I would have quite liked to see her.
There was a real party atmosphere with people sitting on the grass having a few drinks before going to watch the concert. I spotted a few T-shirts with Choose Life proudly displayed on the wearers' chest. Made me laugh as I had one of them back in the middle of the 80's!
Upon entering Hampden Park, I was impressed. It is the first time I have been there since it was refurbished and it looks great. If St Mirren get the finger out next year then perhaps I will be be here again for the Scottish Cup Final. Here's hoping!
There was time to grab a hot dog and a beer before fighting our way through the crowd to find a good vantage point. Just after 8.30, George took to the stage and the crowd went nuts!
After 25 years in the business, he certainly knows how to milk the crowd and I must admit I was swept along with it.
The stageshow was fantastic and at some points he was only 20 metres in front of us, thanks to a runway that looped out from the main stage. He belted out hit after hit and we all sang our hearts out. Not even the midges or really bad hayfever spoiled it!
He took a break half way through the show, promising to be back in twenty minutes. When his time was up, he burst back onto stage in full LAPD outfit to sing Outside. The crowd loved it.
He really went for it in the second half of the show with some real crowd pleasers like The Edge Of Heaven and Careless Whisper and came back for a second encore to sing Freedom. Annoyingly, spouting anti Tony Blair propoganda at the start of the track. Give me a break, George!
Anyway, that is my only criticism. Well that and the fact that he never sang Club Tropicana!
