a while back, randy and I got tix to see boy George & the culture club at the fair. I remember when we went to the empty fairgrounds to buy them, thinking that the concert was such a long way away…but then it snuck up on me, suddenly it was august the 10th, how did that happen?
it was a bit hot Friday evening but cooled as the sun went down. I enjoyed a delicious wine slushy from the IL wine place; they seem to move it around a lot, but I finally asked at the info booth, and the woman directed me to the exposition building. it looked like there were way less wineries there than ever before, but luckily the people selling wine slushies were still doing business.
after some freshly-fried Culler’s fries, we headed into the concert. the opening act was the Thompson twins, but there’s only one twin now. i’m not sure if he’s billed as “the Thompson twin,” and also don’t know where his twin got to. three young women backed him up, a drummer, guitar and keyboard. but at one point the guitar and keyboard women were trying to get people to clap along, and they were clapping their hands over their heads…but the keyboard kept going on its own. hmm.
I honestly didn’t remember much about the Thompson twins, and the songs all sort of sounded alike. I told kevin about that, and he said that he used to really like the Thompson twins, but not so much a boy George fan. but i haven’t been able to lure him to the fair with me in quite a few years, so we won’t worry about our opposing views of groups….
during that first set I had a few minutes of WHAT AM I DOING HERE WHEN I COULD BE HOME WITH KEVIN WATCHING OUR NEW FAVORITE SHOW, “ELEMENTARY??!!!”
but then i decided to just relax. i bought a mango-rita, something I’ve never tried before, and it was also refreshing.
and when Boy George took the stage, he and the band were awesome.
I can’t remember what they started with, but I think it was a david bowie cover. a little later they did “everything I own,” originally written and performed by David Gates & Bread. this is funny, because just a couple of days before bev had been telling me about listening to some Bread albums, and how much she loved their music. I just read that david gates wrote this song about his dad, who died when david was young.
boy George first recorded his version of the song in march 1987, after being arrested for heroin. it was #1 on the UK singles chart for two weeks, and it helped boost his career after the drug bust. wow, reading a little about his life on Wikipedia – the guy has been through quite a bit.
they waited til the encore to play the iconic “karma chameleon.”
i’d go see the band again, that’s for sure. a good time was had by all.
ok then,
mrs. Monday afternoon hughes.