George Michael: Doing the '80s time warp again

Concert review |

George Michael's glitzy, high-concept comeback show came off as bigger than the veteran pop singer's actual career.

The huge, flashy extravaganza, which played KeyArena's lower bowl Wednesday night, would have befitted a superstar, which he was, for a minute, about 20 years ago.

He's a nostalgia act now, a relic of the disco era. His show was like visiting a huge disco dance club, circa 1984. In fact, the tour is called "LIVE 25," celebrating his up-and-down, quarter century in show business. Except for the impressive, computer-enhanced special effects, the show felt like it belonged in the '80s — like Studio 54 without the giant coke spoon.

That seemed to be fine with the lively, adoring audience, who danced up a storm all through the show (two hourlong sets, divided by an encore). The event had a partylike atmosphere, although Michael probably didn't feel too much like celebrating when he saw all the empty seats.

The huge stage featured a long, tall, gigantic center section shaped like a ski jump. Michael did most of his singing on the end of it. Bright, fast-moving, Day-Glo light patterns and impressive visuals were projected onto its undulating lines, creating a futuristic, space-age lightshow.

Two smaller, similarly-shaped sections were on either side, and also had visuals projected onto them. When they moved toward the edges of the stage, you could see the top-notch band behind them, performing on several levels. Sometimes, groups of musicians came down and played with Michael on the stage.

He was backed by six soulful singers who also interacted with him quite a lot. They did some beautiful harmonies together.

Not all the songs were disco. There were some nice ballads, including "Father Figure," "Kissing A Fool" and "Careless Whisper." He sang a cover of the Police's "Roxanne," accompanied by a film of real prostitutes in Amsterdam's red-light district. But the crowd mostly loved the thump-thump disco beat of songs like "I'm Your Man," "Too Funky" and "Flawless (Go to the City)."

Arriving through a doorway on the ski jump, Michael opened the show with "Waiting (Reprise)."

"Here I am," he sang, "it is too late to try again?" The concert seemed to offer an answer: Maybe it is.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com