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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
John Aizlewood's rating
Reader rating
Description: The slick popster celebrates the last two shows of his 25 Live series of dates throughout Europe by naming them The Final Two in tribute to his own Wembley Stadium show with Wham! 'The Final' in 1986.
Phone: 0844980 8001
Website: www.wembleystadium.com
Email: customerservices@wembleystadium.com
Trains: Tube: Wembley Park; Rail: Wembley Stadium/Wembley Central; Bus: 18, 83, 92, 182, 224 
Extra info: Food, Telephones, Parking, Pub
George Michael overcame a rather flat first half with a turbo-charged rendition of Outside before taking the 75,000-strong crowd on a nostalgia trip of hits
Michael grew up just eight miles from the new Wembley Stadium
It's only eight miles from George Michael's Bushey roots to Wembley's gleaming new stadium. Yet, on Saturday when he became the first act to play there since its £793 million refurbishment met its construction deadline at the fourth time of asking, he had made the journey of his lifetime.
"Just think," he gushed, "I'm the first person to say 'good evening Wembley.'" And just to make sure he was undeniably the first, Michael eschewed support acts, thus keeping what he rightly anointed as "the most patient fans in the world" waiting for three hours with only the prospect of a £4.50 pie of indeterminate filling as distraction from the sun-kissed torpor.
Gallery: See more pictures from the concert here
So while the local megastar was the man for the occasion, for the first half of Michael's two-and-a-half-hour show the occasion was rather flat once he had crooned Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren backstage before lurching into Fast Love, and not merely because new Wembley's sound problems were much the same as the old's.
Michael hardly helped himself. As if fearful of creating a spectacle, his band was cast into darkness to lurk guiltily on some rigging and, instead of dancers Michael left himself to entertain a stadium on his own. Obvious charisma notwithstanding, the task proved too much whether he was attempting to re-create a mid-Eighties gay disco (an insurmountable task in daylight before an overwhelmingly heterosexual audience of 75,000) on Too Funky, or supper club intimacy while perched on a stool to deliver Father Figure.
Ultimately, this was an arena show (and one almost identical to Michael's pre-Christmas Earls Court dates) rather than a stadium experience. There were effects, but they were either cheap or, as during the disastrous Shoot The Dog, which featured a British bulldog orally pleasuring a blow-up George Bush, toe-curlingly crude.
Mercifully, the second half was better the moment it began with Michael dressed as an American policeman for a turbo-charged Outside and an audience including ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, famous divorcée Ivana Trump, plus television presenter Claire Sweeney began to revel in the nostalgia trip.
For an hour, the concert was broadcast live on Channel 4 and, tellingly, Michael was so galvanised he cheerily invited the press to "kiss my hairy Greek arse", a somewhat ungrateful response to 25 years of indulgence on and off stage.
By the end, he had, for reasons never explained, played Freedom 90 twice, dedicated Amazing to "the man I love", current beau Kenny Goss, embraced his Wham! legacy with a spirited I'm Your Man and Edge Of Heaven and melted even the flintiest of hearts with a mighty Careless Whisper to complete Michael's journey and christen new Wembley in the manner it warranted.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
As I suspected, George was fantastic on 9th June at Wembley. The best night of my life.
Have been enjoying is performance since he started. Truly loved his voice on Song to the Sirens. Well to be honest, I simply have no words to say how perfect George's voice is.
- Rehan Farrukh, Edmonton, Canada
Was fortunate to be at Wembley on 10th June and what a fantastic night I had with my friends - George still has a voice that makes your hairs stand up on your back - some people do not know the meaning of a great voice. George is a first class entertainer and long may he have that charm and energy!
The police and tube staff did a splendid job at getting everybody onto trains at Wembley Park. The memories of that Sunday night will stay with us for a very long time to come and have not stopped playing his music since that night. We want much more of George in the future!
- Amanda, London, UK
On the whole I'm not his biggest fan. I went with an open-ish mind and was pleasantly surprised. Acoustic can't be argued with, teach them to pay £100 to sit down! The man can sing, of that there is no doubt. To be honest, I was swayed by the opening gambit. That was not crooning I suspect the reviewer just didn't like it. You could argue it was indulgence, but to be honest he's a singer, what was he going to open with to show the talent people went to see, knife throwing? Go see showgirls, demented, prancing, pvc trousered cross dressers somewhere else.
Wembley as a venue will be a great success, although on this occasion it was helped by the more sedate fans, there was never going to be a mosh pit.
One thing I'm surprised not to see is a reference to the inordinate amount of time it took them to get us in there. What were they doing? Once at the door the process was extremely quick. Hope they are still learning or somthing. Perhaps the paratrooper-esque "Rapid Response Team" should be a bit more rapid?
- David, London
It's not the acoustics or fuzzy screens it's your bloody George Michael performance...he sucks as a single performer and as he did with that ****** of a boy band sham or wham...whatever it was called!
- Frank, Westminster, MD
I also agree with the review. The show was fantastic and it is great to hear him singing live again. I loved the colourful stage set (except the blowup toys). But this show was better suited to a smaller arena - you need a band to fill a stadium and it is a shame he hid his. And it is very disappointing that the "Very Special Guest" did not appear - no explanation given. That and the repeat of Freedom 90 was quite a letdown for fans. The new stadium is just as impressive as the old one but I thought the crowd control was a shambles, the staff didn't seem to know what was going on, lots of queues and confusion.
- Karen, London
We went to Sundays gig which was brill - he himself said that the Sat show had to be changed and songs cut because of live TV on the previous night and that he felt more relaxed now it was the 2nd night - We were in the gods at Wembley and our only grumble was that the screens showing him up close couldn't be seen by us...they should have used the outer ones and/or maybe the Wembley screens - oh well - still a great night!
- Jill, London
Excellent, I enjoyed this and Wham the final, we went to see GM and that's what we got!
- Satwant Lota, Middlesex
I don't see that this review criticises either GM's voice or stage presence. In fact, I agree with pretty much every word - the acoustics at Wembley, at least in the upper tier, are shockingly bad. And having seen this show twice before, it works far better in an arena setting where you can actually hear the quality of GM's voice, and feel a little more connected to what is going on.
- Susan Witterick, Isleworth, UK
I was obviously at a different concert to Cindy and Lou. It was fantastic! I was lucky enough to be in the inner gold circle so maybe I'm biased - you could not fault anything. Even getting out of the stadium after was brilliant, we were out and on a tube within 10 minutes.
- Nikki, London
Not being the biggest George Michael fan in the world we went to Sunday's Wembley gig with much anticipation and in the whole we weren't disappointed. The set was impressive, George's performance was second to none, but the acoustics of Wembley Stadium are nothing short of atrocious! Having the roof sections closed bounced the sound around like we were inside a tin can, clearly those in charge of Wembley got this wrong as well! As for the special guest appearance as stated on the tickets, well it just didn't happen, is that not misrepresentation?! All that said, an excellent GM gig and nobody we saw was left disappointed.
- Dave, Essex, UK
I really cannot understand the comments by John Aizlewood above, why did he even bother going when he obviously was going to hate the concert from the start. He is obviously not a fan and has really given a very one sided view of the nights proceedings. You could not fault George Michael on either his voice or stage presence and I think from the reaction the majority of the crowd enjoyed and agreed with the political comments. He is a big star but did not come across as a big ego, something that the reviewer above should think about.
- Lisa Broder, Peterborough, UK
We went to George Michael yesterday (Sunday). What a dissapointment! Compared to last year in Earls Court, last nights performance can only be described lacklustre. He seemed keen to minimise his time on stage (2 very precise 45 min slots) & quite clearly mimed several songs. That combined with the terrible acoustics in the stadium and the fact that the tube evidently can't cope with the volume of the crowds made this an experience NOT to be repeated!
- Cindy, London,
I went to see George Michael play Wembley stadium on Saturday night and was very disappointed. The show was almost identical to one I'd seen at Wembley arena in November. And there was no sign of the 'very special guest' that we'd been promised on the ticket. We'd been hoping for Andrew Ridgley - but had to settle for a half-hearted George. He only seemed to wake up and perform when he knew the show was being broadcast on TV. Also, we were very high up in the stadium and neither the atmosphere - or the acoustics - seemed to make it that far. All in all, not a great way to open Wembley.
- Lou, bristol, uk
The stadium was so huge that one person alone on stage looked so tiny, but Michael shone, his voice never faltered, reaching all the notes he did 25 years ago to perfection! The second part of the concert was brilliant - old classics and disco greats combined with smoochers.
I have to congratulate the Met. Police as well - 75,000 of us left the stadium without any problems - they filtered us through to Wembly Park Tube in an orderly manner - and the trains were not even cramped. The sight of the crowds from the Tube down to the Stadium is an awesome sight.
George was brill, and really looked as if HE was enjoying the night as much as WE did!
- Lou, London
George was absolutely fantastic on Saturday night. He has shown he still has a superb voice. He was fantastic in his arena gigs, and to be able to fill Wembley Stadium is a huge achievement. He didn't need any dancers, or support acts. His fans were there just to see him perform. I think his critics need to shut up and listen, stop publishing rubbish, his fans know the truth, and report on what he is, an outstanding talented artist. This is what he should be recognised for. I hope that this is not the last that we will hear or see of George. He has a huge loyal fan base, who want to see him even more now. It would be wonderful to now hear some new material. Don't stop George. We love you.
- Jo, Essex UK
