My humble review of George Michael concert with the symphonic orchestra in the O2 in Dublin (3 Nov.2011) by Belén Delgado

Seeing Michael live on stage was very important to me, I was only a kid when I heard of George Michael for the very first time, my sister Marta was a big fan of him. I grew up listening to his songs and watching his videos dancing along with my sisters. Another dream come true, I got tickets to see him live in Dublin the O2! The symphonic orchestra tour is where you can see the evolution of George Michael. He has really grown professionally as an artist and his style of music has evolved from pop to a more jazz-chill out type of music. From wearing jeans and t-shirts to wearing an elegant black suit. There was not a single free place left in the huge O2 arena in Dublin. At some point, I tried to start counting how many people there could be in there but I stopped shortly after since it was impossible to keep count! There were thousands! It was also a very mature audience, I´d say I felt really young in there lol  (I should go to this type of concerts more often!). Unfortunately, our seats were not the best, on the very left side, side A row 26 but it didn´t matter to us because George´s voice could fill the whole O2 Arena. There were no dancers, no special effects, no big changes of stage decoration or wardrobe, just the magnificent symphonic orchestra with more than 30 musicians, 4 back singers & an elegant George wearing his black glasses that never took off . George's experience  & talent with a more than 30 years of a career in music, made all of us want more and the 2 hours and a half that the concert lasted flew by. There was one big screen at the back where they played beautiful images going with the melody and sometimes they zoomed George while he was singing. By the way, he looks great ,probably thanks to Botox but he is also in good shape ! He even made some dance moves that reminded me of the young George in his 80'es video "Faith". The concert was divided in 2 parts with a 15 min interval in the middle. In the first part he played mostly his newest songs such as "Cowboys and angels", "You have been loved" ,"Kissing a fool"(he said this was one of his favorite songs) etc and in the second part the audience got really excited when he sang a mix of some of his most famous 80'es songs starting with Wham's song: "I´m your man "and followed by "I want your sex"; "Amazing"; etc but to me one of the moments i´ll never forget was when he sang: "Freedom". The whole audience, including us, were moving our hands in the air and sang along! I really felt free there!! George was so nice to the public, even a woman from the audience threw a letter at him on stage and he read it out loud. It was to congratulate one of her friends who had her birthday. As a result, George made the whole audience sing along happy birthday and he sang along, too. Just Imagine for a second!! George Michael singing happy birthday to you! Another beautiful moment was when he sang "Love is a losing game" in tribute to Amy Winehouse. Photos of her were being displayed in the background while he was singing. We were getting close to the end of the concert but the audience cheered & cheered asking for more! We didn´t want it to come to an end . George came back to the stage twice and he even sang a short gospel song! He´s just a genius! He can sing anything!

Unfortunately I had a crazy O2 employee stopping us from taking good photos or even videos but there are plenty of videos on you tube , here you are the moment when he paid tribute to Amy, this time in Prague but it was the same in Dublin:


Here you are the other highlight of the night, the 80ies mix part:



I could write more and more about it but the conclusion would be the same: George Michael has a naturally & talented voice. If you ever have the chance to see him live, believe me , it´s worth spending every penny. Yes, it is not cheap but it is one of those moments that you will cherish for life.

George I hope you sing and sing for many years to come, you have even inspired my husband now to keep on learning playing violin with your songs. Thanks for a beautiful and unforgettable night.