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This is George's first US tour since 1991's Cover To Cover Tour
USA TODAY: Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package.
Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
North America Tour Dates
USA Today: Tour dates and stops for George Michael's first U.S. tour in nearly 20 years:
June 17: San Diego/San Diego Sports Arena
June 19: San Jose, Calif./HP Pavilion
June 21: Las Vegas/MGM Grand
June 22: Phoenix/US Airways Center
June 25: Los Angeles/Great Western Forum
July 2: Seattle/Key Arena
July 4: Vancouver/General Motors Place
July 7: St. Paul/Xcel Energy Center
July 9: Chicago/United Center
July 13: Dallas/American Airlines Center
July 14: Houston/Toyota Center
July 17: Toronto/Air Canada Centre
July 18: Montreal/Bell Centre
July 21 and 23: New York/Madison Square Garden
July 26: Philadelphia/Wachovia Center
July 27: Boston/TD Banknorth Garden
July 29: Washington, D.C./Verizon Center
July 31: Atlanta/Philips Arena
Aug. 2: Tampa/St. Pete Times Forum
Aug. 3: Sunrise, Fla./Bank Atlantic Center
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:59 am Post subject: Tickets on sale Tuesday via iTUNES
USA TODAY: Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package.
Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
North America Tour Dates
USA Today: Tour dates and stops for George Michael's first U.S. tour in nearly 20 years:
June 17: San Diego/San Diego Sports Arena
June 19: San Jose, Calif./HP Pavilion
June 21: Las Vegas/MGM Grand
June 22: Phoenix/US Airways Center
June 25: Los Angeles/Great Western Forum
July 2: Seattle/Key Arena
July 4: Vancouver/General Motors Place
July 7: St. Paul/Xcel Energy Center
July 9: Chicago/United Center
July 13: Dallas/American Airlines Center
July 14: Houston/Toyota Center
July 17: Toronto/Air Canada Centre
July 18: Montreal/Bell Centre
July 21 and 23: New York/Madison Square Garden
July 26: Philadelphia/Wachovia Center
July 27: Boston/TD Banknorth Garden
July 29: Washington, D.C./Verizon Center
July 31: Atlanta/Philips Arena
Aug. 2: Tampa/St. Pete Times Forum
Aug. 3: Sunrise, Fla./Bank Atlantic Center[/size]
Michael is so over that celeb fuss
By Will Keck, USA TODAY
George Michael is on a sofa in his favorite pajamas, which are so old, he says, "the bottoms are ripped." 8o He's speaking by phone from London at the start of his Easter weekend.
To prepare for his upcoming U.S. tour, Michael has been dieting and working out with a trainer — carefully, so that he doesn't aggravate his back. He had surgery seven years ago, and he says it came "very close" to paralyzing him. Still dealing with an inwardly arching spinal column, he insists, "I've got to keep this back in check."
MORE: 25 Live reasons for Michael to go on tour
He has toned down his tough look, returning to his '80s clean-cut, pretty-boy glory days. "I still have facial hair," he says. "My hair is much shorter and browner. And I don't dye it."
Once on stage in the USA, he will wear his signature shades and a suit. But no more leather. Ever, stresses Michael, 44. "I don't want to look at other people my age in leather. Why would I put it on?"
Michael doesn't hold back, and he makes no attempt to paint a saintly portrait of himself. At one point, he encourages his interviewer to check out a "crude" video segment on the Internet from one of his U.K. concerts.
He mentions paparazzi are parked outside his home, as always. Sometimes, he will send them tea so "they know they're not getting to me."
But they have. The paps influenced his decision to get rid of a home not far from the site of his infamous 1998 Beverly Hills bathroom bust for committing a "lewd act" in front of an undercover police officer. He now says, "I find it too terrifying to go out in L.A."
Having spent years living down the incident, Michael appeared in December on pal Ricky Gervais' Extras series finale in a sequence mocking his reputation. In the scene, Michael is on a lunch break when he finds Gervais sitting on a bench. "Any action?" Michael asks the gay man sitting next to Gervais, who ends up telling a cop that Michael was in the bushes.
"I loved the script," Michael says. "English people have seen me get through scandals. But the thought that kept going through my head was: Americans would think, 'What are you doing, reminding people of that?' "
But Michael doesn't seem to care what people think. "I have the audience I deserve," he says. "Or at least I have the audience that represents the kind of people that I like."
Pushed to clarify who exactly is his audience today, he lets out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. It's still about 70% women," he says. "And now that I'm out (of the closet), there are a lot of gay men. For some reason, the gays in England don't like me very much, but in all those Latin countries … I'm getting good support because they see me as someone championing them."
And the chances of him giving America a new scandal while out on the road? "I really don't think so," he says. "I'm running out of ideas."
His partner of 12 years, art gallery owner Kenny Goss, is at their Dallas home through midweek, leaving Michael's two Labradors, Meg and Abby, as his only sofa snuggle buddies. "We're apart for a week at the moment, and it's killing me," the singer says.
Because Goss doesn't enjoy the touring, Michael plans to jet to their Dallas home as often as he can between U.S. dates. "That was one of the reasons I didn't commit to America until I'd done the European dates," says Michael, who also detests hotel living.
But he and Goss have no plans to wed, as did Elton John and David Furnish. "It's really not broken, so I'm not going to fix it," he says. "I don't see any reason to have an official form of ownership."
---
A swarming paparazzi presence coupled with a nasty legal spat with Sony Music nearly scared him away for good, but George Michael hasn't completely lost his faith in America. This summer, the British bad boy returns for his first U.S. tour in 17 years.
After performing more than 80 shows in Europe, Michael kicks off the U.S. leg of his 25 Live tour in San Diego on June 17 before heading to 19 other cities. The arena tour will showcase songs from his album Twenty-Five, out April 1 and featuring duets with Mary J. Blige and Paul McCartney.
MORE: Michael is so over the fuss
Why return now? Michael, 44, calls it a "rounding off" of his career's first phase. "I don't want to do anything on this scale again," he says. "No more stadiums. I'd like to be the Tony Bennett for my generation."
Disturbed by the increasing trend of downloadable music rendering CDs obsolete and talent shows such as American Idol taking the passion out of pop music, Michael says, "it's the end of a certain era, and I'm not sure how much I really want to be a part of what's next. So, it's a kind of a way of saying thank you to everybody before I move on."
But this is not a farewell tour for the Grammy winner who shot to stardom in the '80s with the band Wham! and crashed when he was arrested for lewd conduct in a Beverly Hills public bathroom in 1998.
Hoping to release more music in the future, Michael suspects he will offer it up to fans gratis to allow for artistic freedom. "There are other ways I can express the things I want to. And pop music stopped being a place to express much lyrically awhile back."
On Thursday, he plays himself in his first major U.S. acting role in ABC's Eli Stone (10 p.m. ET/PT), a series in which he has appeared in brief cameos.
He also is developing British TV programs and has received an advance from HarperCollins to write an autobiography, in which he would discuss the depression he suffered in the '90s.
Critical of his own work, Michael believes his U.K. tour was "too much of a party to represent what I've done."
That means hits Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) and I Want Your Sex are out. "I'm too old," he says. "But they'll get Careless Whisper, which I don't particularly enjoy singing."
As he prepares to head stateside, "there are some improvements I can really make to the show. If I have anything to do with it, they're going to see the best show of their lives."
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package. Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
[URL="http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-03-23-george-mi"]http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-03-23-george-mi chael-side_N.htm[/URL]
USA TODAY: Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package.
Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
North America Tour Dates
USA Today: Tour dates and stops for George Michael's first U.S. tour in nearly 20 years:
June 17: San Diego/San Diego Sports Arena
June 19: San Jose, Calif./HP Pavilion
June 21: Las Vegas/MGM Grand
June 22: Phoenix/US Airways Center
June 25: Los Angeles/Great Western Forum
July 2: Seattle/Key Arena
July 4: Vancouver/General Motors Place
July 7: St. Paul/Xcel Energy Center
July 9: Chicago/United Center
July 13: Dallas/American Airlines Center
July 14: Houston/Toyota Center
July 17: Toronto/Air Canada Centre
July 18: Montreal/Bell Centre
July 21 and 23: New York/Madison Square Garden
July 26: Philadelphia/Wachovia Center
July 27: Boston/TD Banknorth Garden
July 29: Washington, D.C./Verizon Center
July 31: Atlanta/Philips Arena
Aug. 2: Tampa/St. Pete Times Forum
Aug. 3: Sunrise, Fla./Bank Atlantic Center
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:59 am Post subject: Tickets on sale Tuesday via iTUNES USA TODAY: Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package. Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
North America Tour Dates
USA Today: Tour dates and stops for George Michael's first U.S. tour in nearly 20 years:
June 17: San Diego/San Diego Sports Arena
June 19: San Jose, Calif./HP Pavilion
June 21: Las Vegas/MGM Grand
June 22: Phoenix/US Airways Center
June 25: Los Angeles/Great Western Forum
July 2: Seattle/Key Arena
July 4: Vancouver/General Motors Place
July 7: St. Paul/Xcel Energy Center
July 9: Chicago/United Center
July 13: Dallas/American Airlines Center
July 14: Houston/Toyota Center
July 17: Toronto/Air Canada Centre
July 18: Montreal/Bell Centre
July 21 and 23: New York/Madison Square Garden
July 26: Philadelphia/Wachovia Center
July 27: Boston/TD Banknorth Garden
July 29: Washington, D.C./Verizon Center
July 31: Atlanta/Philips Arena
Aug. 2: Tampa/St. Pete Times Forum
Aug. 3: Sunrise, Fla./Bank Atlantic Center[/size]
Michael is so over that celeb fuss
By Will Keck, USA TODAY
George Michael is on a sofa in his favorite pajamas, which are so old, he says, "the bottoms are ripped." 8o He's speaking by phone from London at the start of his Easter weekend.
To prepare for his upcoming U.S. tour, Michael has been dieting and working out with a trainer — carefully, so that he doesn't aggravate his back. He had surgery seven years ago, and he says it came "very close" to paralyzing him. Still dealing with an inwardly arching spinal column, he insists, "I've got to keep this back in check."
MORE: 25 Live reasons for Michael to go on tour
He has toned down his tough look, returning to his '80s clean-cut, pretty-boy glory days. "I still have facial hair," he says. "My hair is much shorter and browner. And I don't dye it."
Once on stage in the USA, he will wear his signature shades and a suit. But no more leather. Ever, stresses Michael, 44. "I don't want to look at other people my age in leather. Why would I put it on?"
Michael doesn't hold back, and he makes no attempt to paint a saintly portrait of himself. At one point, he encourages his interviewer to check out a "crude" video segment on the Internet from one of his U.K. concerts.
He mentions paparazzi are parked outside his home, as always. Sometimes, he will send them tea so "they know they're not getting to me."
But they have. The paps influenced his decision to get rid of a home not far from the site of his infamous 1998 Beverly Hills bathroom bust for committing a "lewd act" in front of an undercover police officer. He now says, "I find it too terrifying to go out in L.A."
Having spent years living down the incident, Michael appeared in December on pal Ricky Gervais' Extras series finale in a sequence mocking his reputation. In the scene, Michael is on a lunch break when he finds Gervais sitting on a bench. "Any action?" Michael asks the gay man sitting next to Gervais, who ends up telling a cop that Michael was in the bushes.
"I loved the script," Michael says. "English people have seen me get through scandals. But the thought that kept going through my head was: Americans would think, 'What are you doing, reminding people of that?' "
But Michael doesn't seem to care what people think. "I have the audience I deserve," he says. "Or at least I have the audience that represents the kind of people that I like."
Pushed to clarify who exactly is his audience today, he lets out a heavy sigh. "I don't know. It's still about 70% women," he says. "And now that I'm out (of the closet), there are a lot of gay men. For some reason, the gays in England don't like me very much, but in all those Latin countries … I'm getting good support because they see me as someone championing them."
And the chances of him giving America a new scandal while out on the road? "I really don't think so," he says. "I'm running out of ideas."
His partner of 12 years, art gallery owner Kenny Goss, is at their Dallas home through midweek, leaving Michael's two Labradors, Meg and Abby, as his only sofa snuggle buddies. "We're apart for a week at the moment, and it's killing me," the singer says.
Because Goss doesn't enjoy the touring, Michael plans to jet to their Dallas home as often as he can between U.S. dates. "That was one of the reasons I didn't commit to America until I'd done the European dates," says Michael, who also detests hotel living.
But he and Goss have no plans to wed, as did Elton John and David Furnish. "It's really not broken, so I'm not going to fix it," he says. "I don't see any reason to have an official form of ownership."
---
A swarming paparazzi presence coupled with a nasty legal spat with Sony Music nearly scared him away for good, but George Michael hasn't completely lost his faith in America. This summer, the British bad boy returns for his first U.S. tour in 17 years.
After performing more than 80 shows in Europe, Michael kicks off the U.S. leg of his 25 Live tour in San Diego on June 17 before heading to 19 other cities. The arena tour will showcase songs from his album Twenty-Five, out April 1 and featuring duets with Mary J. Blige and Paul McCartney.
MORE: Michael is so over the fuss
Why return now? Michael, 44, calls it a "rounding off" of his career's first phase. "I don't want to do anything on this scale again," he says. "No more stadiums. I'd like to be the Tony Bennett for my generation."
Disturbed by the increasing trend of downloadable music rendering CDs obsolete and talent shows such as American Idol taking the passion out of pop music, Michael says, "it's the end of a certain era, and I'm not sure how much I really want to be a part of what's next. So, it's a kind of a way of saying thank you to everybody before I move on."
But this is not a farewell tour for the Grammy winner who shot to stardom in the '80s with the band Wham! and crashed when he was arrested for lewd conduct in a Beverly Hills public bathroom in 1998.
Hoping to release more music in the future, Michael suspects he will offer it up to fans gratis to allow for artistic freedom. "There are other ways I can express the things I want to. And pop music stopped being a place to express much lyrically awhile back."
On Thursday, he plays himself in his first major U.S. acting role in ABC's Eli Stone (10 p.m. ET/PT), a series in which he has appeared in brief cameos.
He also is developing British TV programs and has received an advance from HarperCollins to write an autobiography, in which he would discuss the depression he suffered in the '90s.
Critical of his own work, Michael believes his U.K. tour was "too much of a party to represent what I've done."
That means hits Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) and I Want Your Sex are out. "I'm too old," he says. "But they'll get Careless Whisper, which I don't particularly enjoy singing."
As he prepares to head stateside, "there are some improvements I can really make to the show. If I have anything to do with it, they're going to see the best show of their lives."
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday exclusively via an iTunes package. Tour tickets will be available elsewhere beginning the weekend of April 5.
[URL="http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-03-23-george-mi"]http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-03-23-george-mi chael-side_N.htm[/URL]
I guess I won't get to see him this tour, then.