Review: Culture Club’s Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne performance

REVIEW: CULTURE Club always had great songs. The band’s first Melbourne show in 16 years saw them reach that point of maturity where they’ve swapped drama for calmer.

Culture Club’s first Melbourne show in 16 years saw them reach that point of maturity where they’ve swapped drama for calmer.

BEHIND the eyeliner and headlines Culture Club always had great songs.

That dramatic but prolific five-year period in the early 80s where they ruled the pop charts created enough enduring hits to see them still filling arenas decades later.

The British band’s first Melbourne show in 16 years, at Rod Laver Arena, saw them reach that point of maturity where they’ve swapped drama for calmer.

Boy George is one of those increasingly rare pop stars simply born to be on stage. He’s irreplaceable, as Culture Club found out when they actually tried to replace him a decade ago.

With his new lived-in, deeper voice, George steers adoring fans down a very colourful musical memory lane, but it’s not purely nostalgia.

“This isn’t a retirement tour, “ he clarified early on. “We’re far too young to retire!”

He may be the star but it’s far from the Boy George show. The chemistry that drove the band (and drove them apart at times) is still on display. Bassist Mikey Craig, drummer Jon Moss and guitarist Roy Hay are clearly relishing still being able to do their jobs at the top level, with many of their 80s contemporaries relegated to budget retro shows with key members missing.

There’s 13 musicians on stage, meaning their arsenal of hits (It’s a Miracle, Church of the Poison Mind, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, Victims, Time, Miss Me Blind, I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Karma Chameleon as well as George’s solo covers Everything I Own and The Crying Game) sound as good as you remember them.

Live shows (and You Tube) are currently the only places to hear comeback album Tribes, and the handful of new tunes aired demonstrate Culture Club’s diverse musical influences, from Sly Stone to Johnny Cash.

Throw in tributes to T-Rex and George’s hero David Bowie and Culture Club continued what they started back in 1981 — reminding you of the communal feel good power of music.

Originally published as Review: Culture Club’s Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne performance