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Culture Club, headed by Boy George, performs at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Picture: Simon Cross
THE last time Culture Club came to Adelaide it was due to people power. It was July 1984, they were the biggest pop band on the planet and Molly Meldrum lured to make a mammoth appearance at Rundle Mall in lieu of a full concert.
Fast forward to 2016 and Culture Club are finally playing live in Adelaide, again due to people power, this time grumpy fans hassling Boy George on Twitter. It worked.
Their Adelaide Entertainment Centre show was not only the first stop on their first full Australian tour in 16 years but the first gig of their entire world tour.
“I was channelling Brooke Shields that day,†a chatty George told Adelaide fans of his last visit. He may have called it “Arundle†but hey, at least he remembers.
You know those budget retro tours done on the cheap with only a few original members? Culture Club in 2016 is not one of those. There’s 13 musicians on stage, including the four founding members (Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss) plus brass, percussion and guest vocals, and the musicianship is incredible. They’ve spent money getting the music right.
The set list is a smart mix with enough nostalgia for the masses and a handful of new songs to stop it being purely retro. But it never stops being a party, with the band away long enough to enjoy going down memory lane playing their “battle hymnsâ€.
Boy George may get all the attention, most of it for his icon status, not enough of it for his iconic voice, but Culture Club’s musical chemistry is what made all those hits so diverse and still so successful.
They start with a triple whammy of Church of the Poison Mind, It’s a Miracle and I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, burning through Miss Me Blind, the underrated Move Away and, democratically, two solo Boy George hit covers — Everything I Own and The Crying Game.
George’s voice has gotten deeper and more soulful — adding power to timeless ballads Victims and Time (Clock of the Heart) as well as fan favourite Black Money and their breakthrough hit Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
You still can’t buy their unreleased comeback album Tribes (even George jokes about it not being out yet) but they showcase almost half of it, from the reggae driven Let Somebody Love You to the country vibes of Runaway Train.
Naturally Karma Chameleon surfaces in the encore, but they finish with T-Rex’s Bang a Gong (Get It On) and throw in David Bowie’s Starman as an unplanned treat.
Culture Club broke ground first time around, now they’re demonstrating how to do reunion shows in style.
Reformed Melbourne band Kids in the Kitchen were the ideal opener — showcasing their melodramatic 80s pop/funk that’s right on trend and back in fashion.
Boy George, pictured in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall in July, 1984. Picture: News Corp AustraliaSource:News Corp Australia
Culture Club play Perth on Wednesday, Melbourne on Friday, Sydney on Saturday and Sunday and Brisbane next Tuesday.