George Michael performing more like the showman he is

Last time we saw George Michael hereabouts, during his last major tour 17 years ago, his stardom was already fading. And that was before his celebrated arrests, for lewd conduct in a restroom at a Beverly Hills park 10 years ago and for pot possession a couple of times after that in his native London.

At that disastrous Tacoma Dome show in 1991, he sang mostly cover songs, without much style or care, for an embarrassingly small audience.

But let's hope the George Michael who brings his big comeback tour, dubbed "25 Live," to KeyArena Wednesday night will be more like the stylish pop superstar who performed two excellent sold-out shows in the T-Dome 20 years ago, in the fall of 1988. Back then, he sang and danced like a true star, so much so that he virtually wiped out his wimpy image as half of the disco pop duo Wham!

Reviews of the first couple of shows on the North American leg of the current tour, which kicked off last week in San Diego, indicate that Michael, 44, is back in top form.

Now long out of the closet — being arrested for soliciting another man, as he did at the Beverly Hills restroom, will do that for you — he's apparently comfortable enough with himself and his pop legacy to get back to what he is: a gifted performer with some fine original songs.

He's still working hard to get back his audience — which is why bargain $25 tickets to his show were briefly offered last week. He's invested a lot of money in the show, which includes more than a dozen musicians and singers, a huge, multilevel stage, three video screens, three costume changes and lots of special lighting effects.

He's been doing about 20 songs in the show, which is made up of two sets divided by an intermission. He gets the fans moving to his dance-club hits, like "Faith," "Too Funky" and "Outside" (a response to his bathroom bust, performed in a policeman's uniform), then gets them to sit back and listen to some of his less frenetic numbers, like "Praying for Time," "Careless Whisper" and "Freedom 90" (recast as a gay anthem).

Back in the day, his audiences were 90 percent women. Now, reportedly, they're mostly men. So he still has some work to do, winning back those women who adored him in the '80s. With his talent, he can do it, and maybe win some new fans at the same time.

After all that has happened to him, he could have burned out or self-destructed. But he survived. It's not too late for him to get back on the path of success, which he strayed from so many years ago.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312

or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com