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Fronted by the notorious Boy George, this concert was recorded at the pinnacle of the group's success, when Culture Club's album 'Colour by Numbers' was the number one record in every market on earth - and just two years prior to the group's disbandment thanks to George's heroin addiction, this release has Culture Club performing fifteen white-hot hits: "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," "Karma Chameleon," "Take Control," "Mister Man," "Victims," "Miss Me Blind," "Time (Clock of the Heart)," "Church of the Poison Mind," "Love Twist," "Black Money," "It's a Miracle," and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya".
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The following are a couple of newspaper reports covering the arrival of The Culture Club at the Sydney Airport on June 29th, 1984.
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They've got a crush on 'Boy' - The Herald Sun Friday 29, 1984
SYDNEY, Fri. — British pop sensation Boy George, was "quite frightened" by a riotous welcome when he touched down in Sydney today.
And the superstar was critical of the way airport authorities managed his arrival,
I don't think they wanted to make any provisions for the fans," he said.
I'd like to stop to talk to my fans, but it just wasn't possible."
More than 400 Culture Club Cans screamed when Boy George emerged from the airport terminal just after 9 a.m.
As police cleared a path for the pop star, many fans were knocked to the ground."I just held on to the police and they got me through," George said "I lost a lot of hair. I didn't really enjoy it, it was very hectic."
"There was too much pushing and shoving. Maybe they were jUst a little too eager"
Boy George, born George "O'Dowd", said he was looking forward to his Australian concerts and would be providing fans with a few surprises as well as his hit songs.
After the 20-hour flight from Japan, he was tired.
"Now all I'm looking forward to is a good sleep," he said
Earlier, Boy George got his first look at Australia when his Quantas flight from Tokyo touched down at Brisbane on its way to Sydney.
He clutched a toy koala as he slipped almost unnoticed into the Brisbane airport'terminal.
Wearing an Oriental top, colorful beads and what looked like striped pyjama trousers, the Culture Cub cult hero was greeted by just 20 fans.
Inside the terminal he enjoyed a cool drink and spoke of his sexuality.
"People say I'm sexy, but I don't think so — everybody has a bit of sexuality, but I don't try to make myself look sexy at all"
And Boy George had a message for Culture Club groupies — don't bother.
"I don't leave the name of our hotel for any of our girl fans or anything like that"
Culture Club will play five concerts in Melbourne from July 4 at the Entertainment Centre.
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Boy George Upset - The Herald Sun, Sunday July 1st, 1984
Boy George is upset at not having said "hello" to many of his Australian fans.
His disappointment stems from his arrival in Sydney on Friday (June 29th), when police were forced to form a flying wedge to drag the singer to his vand through a crowd of screaming fans.
Boy George said yesterday "It wasn't very well organised. All I could see were hands and a policeman's back. It would have been nice to say 'Hi' to people who'd waited all day".
He said making people wait then not giving them a chnace to talk to him was like "dagling a carrot in front of them. I hate that. If I come out I like to speak with people".Officials at Sydney Airport yesterday strongly criticised the way in which the singer's arrival was organised, without barriers.
There was no other way," one official said, "If they hadn't done that he would have been crushed. He literally had to hang on to a policeman and go".
But George's disappointment for his fans didn't undermine his cool. "When you go to America you feel tense the whole time but I feel very relaxed here", said Boy George.
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I found this simulcast recording in amongst my cassette tapes the other day , quite by accident. I'd actually forgotten that I had recorded this EON-FM concert simulcast nearly 30 years ago, and didn't really expect it to be listenable. How wrong was I - the tape had not shown any sign of deteriation or speed issues that sometimes occurs with aged cassette tapes. The only short coming however (pun intended) is that I had stupidly used a 90min tape (45 min per side) to record the concert which would have run for at least 1 hour. Because I had recorded another simulcast concert on the other side of the tape, this recording did not capture the full concert and stops abruptly at the start of "Time (Clock of the Heart)". Thankfully, most of their bigger hits are present and in particular, my favourite track "Victims".
I've created some artwork for CD using newspaper articles and photos I found while researching this concert. In particular, I would like to acknowledge two websites that I found very useful in putting this post together - cyberchameleon and lyrically speaking
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The post consists of a cassette tape rip in MP3 format (320kps) without track breaks (to retain the concert atmosphere). All featured newspaper articles and photos are included along with others not displayed here.
Although the Culture Club is not one of my preferred bands, I still acknowledge that their music had a huge influence on the new wave scene that took place in the early eighties and their 'Colour By Numbers' album was probably one of the biggest releases of the decade.
If your'e not interested in this post then that's OK - 'It really won't hurt me' !
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Tracklisting
01. Take Control
02. Mister Man
03. I’ll Tumble 4 Ya
04. It’s a Miracle
05. Karma Chameleon06. Black Money
07. Love Twist
08. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
09. Church of the Poison Mind
10. Victims
11. Time (Clock of the Heart) - Incomplete
Tracks missing
12. Miss Me Blind
13. White Boy
14. That’s the Way (I’m Only Trying to Help You)
15. Melting Pot
Band Members:
Boy George - Vocals
Roy Hay - Guitar
Mickey Craig - Bass
Jon Moss - Drums, Percussion
Helen Terry - Backing vocals
Phil Pickett - Keyboards
Steve Grainger - Sax
Terry Bailey - Trumpet
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Culture Club Link (131Mb)
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