Wham! never released a live album during their pop reign, but Andrew Ridgeley is about to put that right 40 years after they split.
The band recently issued the new movie Wham! 10 Days In China, documenting the band’s ground-breaking trip to the Far East in 1984, with never-seen-before footage of the duo in their pomp. It includes some incredible live performances which has pop fans pining for more, and now a selection of them will be released for the first time, on a special live EP in December.
Four No1 Hits on the Live EP
10 Days in China – The Live EP features four songs that all went to No1 in the UK and/or the USA, with two (‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ and ‘Freedom’) from the first concert in Beijing.
Ridgeley reckons there could be more: "I certainly hope so. There is certainly a live album in the Wham! recordings. And hopefully we will be able to produce something at some point. But they're notoriously difficult to get away by all accounts. So it may be a labour of love, but I think it sounded great."
Emotional 'Careless Whisper' Performance
Going over the old footage reminded Andrew what a great band Wham! were live. Particularly emotional is an extended live version of Careless Whisper with a saxophone solo by Dave Baptiste, while George Michael breaks down his vocal part dramatically.
Andrew recalled: "That was quite painful song to play it like that, 8.5 minutes long. It moved me when I heard it. It brilliantly sets up George's vocal so beautifully, and his voice, alone, and exposed like that. You know, it is, it was a thing of beauty. We performed it many, many times and it was nearly always good. But that particular performance, as I said, it moved me."
The film also offers validation for Ridgeley as a guitarist as he was often disregarded as George’s good-looking mate in the band.
Reflecting on the Live Show
"I loved it," he said revisiting the performances. "There’s something about the live show - when I was a kid, going to concerts and then buying the live albums - if you were there, it has a particular poignancy. Most of the Wham! records were really good records. But there's probably one or two that actually would have benefitted from being recorded more in the live context than in the studio context. They were refined and actually probably sometimes better for having been played live."
The film is particularly effective at telling the story of young Chinese fans, now grown up, who recall witnessing Wham! - their first experience of any Western music. The film shows some have gone on to become popstars themselves in China - something that would’ve been impossible in the communist state had Andrew and George not visited China 40 years ago.
Andrew agreed: "In hindsight, being able to understand what it meant to those people for whom it shaped the course of their lives - it gives the whole endeavour genuine substance more than the success that it actually achieved for us as Wham! So was, it was touching and moving to learn those stories from those individuals."
Remembering George Michael
It’s also a chance to revel in their friendship and George Michael’s immense talent. Has it taught Andrew anything new about his late pal watching the footage?
"He doesn't suffer fools gladly," he smiled. "Which I already knew. We went to school together, and we did virtually everything together and had done for over a decade. So I can't say that I learnt much new, but my admiration for him, grew, he was on the way to becoming the final incarnation of George Michael. It was a year later that we brought Wham! to a close at Wembley, where he is the absolute apogee of the George Michael incarnation. It was just great to be able to share those things with a lifelong chum."
