“As a rule, I would never let someone be onstage and be higher than me,” Boy George told a packed, but not quite sold-out Saturday night crowd at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre.
He was introducing one of his backing singers, Vangelis Polydorou, a 29-year-old finalist on “The Voice” he met as a guest judge in 2016. And the kid indeed towered over Boy George’s yellow top bowler hat—with scribbles of what looked like lightened-up characters from a Tim Burton animation—not only in his platform heels, but his wide vocal range, and direct harmonic assistance from Roxy Yarnold.
“I’ll let you get away with it tonight,” George added.
The folklore behind the name of Culture Club’s current “Letting It Go” tour—which also features new-wave superstars Howard Jones and Berlin—is exactly what it sounds like: Letting shit go. Boy George’s specific example was how couples can’t let disagreements and arguments get in the way of things, and how moving on from said altercations as quickly as possible is the healthiest option in the long run.
“I can still be a proper diva,” he countered.
But in a sense, the “letting it go” ideology also applies to letting go of the ‘80s-nostalgia-only schtick, and looking to the future with new jams in mind.
Five songs from Culture Club’s 16-song set last Saturday night are currently unreleased, and considering how many singles Boy George has dropped in the last year, it would shock close to no one if there’s a new album or ten in the pipeline, no matter the moniker. Just after 9:15, Culture Club—still featuring original bassist Mikey Craig and OG guitarist Roy Hay—kicked off its 95-minute set with “The Next Thing Will Be Amazing,” a mostly electronic anthem worthy of rocking a Sunset Saturdays gig over at The Ritz Ybor.
Boy George would intersperse the other unreleased tracks’ titles into his banter to introduce them, like when he referred to the strong women in the crowd—his favorite type—as “angels of mercy,” a very piano-based, slow-jam song that was written with Roxy Music in mind.
But all the new, unreleased material included didn’t mean that Boy George was looking to snub the prime of his career. Very early in the set, Culture Club paired “It’s A Miracle” with “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” back-to-back, both being played a half-step or two down with Yarnold and Polydorou providing some newly arranged, more amplified backing vocals on each respective hook.
“Church of the Poison Mind” was played in its original key, and was given a bit of an extended, drum-and-bass intro, a mid-song segue into Wham!’s “I’m Your Man,” and a high money note from Roxy Yarnold to cap it all off. And, if you thought “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” was enough of a slow number, the slightly slowed-down tempo and key dip heard in last Saturday night’s live version would have made for the perfect first dance for a new, albeit doomed married couple.
While steaming ahead to the highly anticipated, everyone-to-the-front “Karma Chameleon,” Boy George gave his take on a few covers that came before Culture Club’s time. An encore started with The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil”—with far less “hoo-hoo’s” than the original—followed immediately by T-Rex’s “Get It On.” “I’m basically a ‘70s kids. The ‘80s was a bit of an accident,” George admitted. “I love it, don’t get me wrong, but it was the ‘70s that really got me hooked on music, rock and roll, and lyrics.”
And earlier in the set, he performed his almost reggae-tempo rendition of Bread’s 1972 ballad, “Everything I Own,” his only no. 1 solo hit in the U.K.
Speaking of those heavily influenced by the sounds of the ‘70s, a longtime master of letting things go ran through his own 45-minute set before any eyeliner voodoo could hit the stage.
Howard Jones was the only one on the bill who didn’t give a nod to his newer material, and stuck only to the optimistic, new-wave melodies that granted him a spot in synth mainstream. You can’t blame the guy, though. He’s been pushing new material for close to a decade now—with at least two more albums supposedly coming before or around his 70th birthday in 2025—so maybe a night of only looking back was what he needed.
Jones, rocking a white button-down shirt and zipper-pocketed pants, with sequined shoes and a streak of teal in his platinum hair, kept everything in its original, respective key, though still leaned on the crowd when it came to blurting out a few of the choruses. He would sporadically rock the keytar on “New Song,” after singing the first verse alone behind his Roland RD-2000 keyboard, and then go acoustic on “Life In One Day” with guitarist Robin Boult and kilt-rockin’ bassist Nick Beggs backing him up. Beggs, who used to play in Kajagoogoo, was later praised by Jones, who would then lead the band into an electric “Too Shy.”
“How much ‘80s can you want in one breath?” Boy George would later joke.
Before finishing his set with “Things Can Only Get Better,” which turned into Cedric Gervais’ EDM remix—bass drop and all—HoJo mentioned that while he’s grateful that his fanbase has stuck around for 40 years, he is well-aware—but not at all insulted—that the “Letting It Go” tour is far from the biggest-selling tour of the year. “It’s hard to get tickets to Taylor Swift, but you can always get tickets for my gig,” he acknowledged.
As for Berlin, lead singer Terri Nunn still sounds as powerful and crisp as she did when she joined the band in 1980. She would sing the first verse of “Take My Breath Away” completely a cappella before the rest of the band—including original bassist John Crawford and classic-era guitarist David Diamond—kicked in, and even got offstage and headed into the crowd during a version of The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary.” Nunn, rocking a tulle-bottom dress, also gave her take on the tour’s name. “I’m finally making fun important in my life,” she admitted. “Better late than never.”
Nunn fronts the band at Epcot’s “Garden Rocks” concert series every spring, so perhaps making fun important with her will be an annual thing for some of us.
See Sandra Dohnert’s photos below.
