Last night was Boy George night! He was playing the Shaw Theatre where Owen and I saw him earlier in the year and it stands out for me as one of the best gigs of the year. The gig before that in 2007 had been at Koko and George seemed a little.. um... distracted.

No such problems tonight, he was in blazing form. With his core band members of guitarist/composers John Themis and Kevan Frost and again backed by the soaring vocals of Lizzie Dean George had us in the palm of his hand from the get-go.

A little too much in his palm... there were times I could hardly hear him as George does attract a percentage of female fans who just holler WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO whether he is singing or not - I mean for fecks sake... George is one star who is worth listening to when he speaks, let him speak bitches! Anyways that was my only quibble - otherwise it was Pop Fierce. Cutting a dash in his usual glittery B-Rude ensemble of hat, jacket and 3/4s - the latter a brave design choice - George raced through the set and was loudly called back for three encores.
The setlist included CHURCH OF THE POISON MIND, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME, DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE, EVERYTHING I OWN, GET IT ON, I'LL TUMBLE 4 YA, MISS ME BLIND, STARMAN, STRANGER IN THIS WORLD, SWEET TOXIC LOVE, THAT'S THE WAY, THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, VICTIMS, VOTE FOR LOVE and particular favourites included thumping happy clappy versions of BOW DOWN MISTER and KARMA CHAMELEON. I think the song I loved the best was his new single YES WE CAN, a real euphoric anthem. Download it on iTunes now, 79p worth of pop pleasure.

We are seeing him again at the Shaw in November at the end of his tour - I hope he makes it a hatrick of memorable gigs.