Culture Club, Tony Hadley and Heaven 17 – live at The 02 Arena.

Words: Kahmel Farahani

Tonight  the 02 Arena in London is something of an 80s disco night. With Heaven 17, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Culture Club on the bill, it’s hard to imagine a more upbeat and danceable soundtrack to the holidays.

Heaven 17

Heaven 17 are on first, at the ungodly early slot of 18.30. Drawing heavily from their 1981 debut album Penthouse and Pavement, the duo of Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware do a fine job of getting the front rows dancing and songs like the title track and disco hit Temptation go over well with the early crowd here.

Tony Hadley

If Heaven 17 played a fun throwback of a set, Tony Hadley is a totally different calibre. The erstwhile Spandau Ballet frontman sounds nothing short of incredible. If anything he sounds even better than he did on that now famous day at Live Aid in 1985!

“This is my favourite Spandau Ballet song – in this world and especially at this time of year,  we all need some more love. Merry Christmas and here’s to you” says a smiling Hadley before a superb rendition of  Through The Barricades which starts off solo and builds to a jaw dropping climax. Hadley’s vocals are not just ageless , they are borderline stunning. Thanking everyone from the other bands and the front of house to the catering,  Hadley is a class act and he ends his all too brief set with the duble whammy of Spandau classics True and Gold.

Culture Club

Climbing his way out of a red phone box and walking down the stairs on stage, Boy George certainly hasn’t lost his taste for the theatrical, even after 40 years. “Good evening London” drawls Boy George.  “We’ve got people here from the UK and the USA to Russia. I felt so lucky to absorbed the different musical cultures in London as a kid, hence why we formed the Culture Club!”

Tonight’s show takes the form of a chronological telling of Culture Club’s rise up the charts and their first two albums.

“We started the show inside a red phone box – anyone else spend their teenagers years  outside a red phone box? It was great if you found the number you could get people to call you in your own private office! “I’m just a Bowie kid from south east London”

“Some of you are old enough to remember Live Aid! And some of you younger people….I’ve got shoes older than you!”

Songs like I’ll Tumble 4 Ya and You Know I’m Not Crazy follow. Tonight Culture Club has an impressively large band backing them up, including three backing singers, a 2nd guitar and a horn section.

Blending genres was always the core of the early Culture Club  sound and the slow dance pop reggae gave the band their first major hit. As Boy George tells the crowd tonight:

“When things were really going to Hell and virgin records was getting nervous,  we had to release our thing single. I thought it was too slow and to personal – they released this next  song, and they got very fucking lucky! “Then we went to America! But in a very London way. People were asking “why are you dressed like that? I just went I don’t know- if feel like it. Same answer now really!”

The Colour By Numbers half of the show starts off with the easy pop gospel of Church Of The Poison Mind and follows the rest of the album, all be it  out of original running order. “We were trying to find a hit and just kept trying” Boy George tells the audience, “repetition is the back bone of success – remember that!”.

The jazz flavour of Changing Every Day is an underrated gem. Dedicated to his own mother and all the mothers in the room tonight,  “That’s The Way” is a perfectly beautiful,  soul ballad. In a gig full of sparkles, colour and dance, it’s this stripped down song of bare emotion that truly steals the show.

Their encore starts with a rather lovely and heartfelt thank you from bassist Mikey Craig and guitarist Roy Hay. “I’ve feel blessed and privileged to be able to play some of these songs for you tonight,  some of which we haven’t played in 40 years!” says a jubilant  Craig. It’s followed by a glam rock celebration in a tribute to T Rex.

“We met so many amazing people over the years,  but one I always wanted to meet was Marc Bolan” says Boy George. “Keep a little bit of Marc Bolan in your heart, always !” The band bust into a funky cover of T Rex’s Bang A Gong (Get It On).

The band take their final bow before the time comes for the last song of the night, and it’s not much of a surprise that they saved their biggest song for last. “I think there’s a song we missed, no?” Asks a mischievous Boy George. Karma Chameleon is the perfect way to end a night of  sing-alongs and dancing in the aisles. A brilliant Christmas gig with all the hooks, choruses and a fair amount of sparkles on the side.