My 11 year old self would have been very proud and excited to be able to be within Boy George’s breathing distance. We even exchanged glances at one point, although I meekly looked away. Gah!
Boy George was on top form, a bright yellow hat stylishly perched on his elaborately tattoo’ed head. Now almost 50, his voice has grown gravelly with lot of body and soul – it is truly enjoyable to hear. A series of star guests joined him onstage, like Paloma Faith, Adam Ant, New Young Pony Club, and interestingly, Josh Weller, who went to British New Academy of Music like myself. I didn’t say hello as I wasn’t sure he’d recognise me. (Josh, if you are reading, I’m Dan Middler’s coursemate!) He’s done so well to share a stage with George – I wish I can be in that position one day! 🙂
As the description of the event said ‘evening of jazz’, I was just expecting Boy George to sing jazz stuff. But he played his hits too! Like a reggae’d out Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Church of the Poisoned Mind and Karma Chameleon. His backing singer sang a super-powerful rendition of Time. Adam Ant came on with just his electric guitar, seemingly addressing his short set to two groupie-looking girls dancing on the stairs. Paloma Faith looked fantastic in her dress – and sang ‘Ain’t no sunshine’ with gusto. The night, besides raising awareness for Hepatitis C, also showcased the best in singing talent – my girl friend thoroughly enjoyed herself, saying it’s one of the best gigs she’s ever been to. I had such a fab time simply standing 6 ft away from my childhood idol.
Also touting raffle tickets was Gizzi Erskine. I was staring at her for a long while when she was standing near me, like, ‘I know her from somewhere… she’s beautiful… she must be an actress’. Then later on I realised who she was, when Boy George’s photography was being auctioned off to raise money for Hepatitis C awareness. Gizzi offered to cook dinner for the winner of the bid for her photo dressed as Siouxie Sioux. Shame I don’t have a couple of grand to spare for that. She is truly beautiful in real-life.
It was a stupid night not to have a camera, and even more stupid that I believed I didn’t have one when it was actually sitting in my bag. Grrr! I guess I did take Boy George’s aversion to having videos of his live shows being taken (on like, crappy cameras) a bit too seriously – surely one photo wouldn’t have hurt right?Â
