It was the 21st October 1983.
The place?
De Montfort Hall, Leicester in the English Midlands.
I had to look up these material facts because, really, going to that concert by the British Pop Band Wham! did not have any great material influence on my life or outlook. I am not sure why I actually attended apart from being part of a group of friends at College, some of whom had been swept along by the media hype and euphoria of George Michael and the other one, oh yes, Andrew Ridgeley and bought a block of tickets.
It was the Club Fantastic Tour which covered much of the UK playing to small and medium sized audiences and with Leicester sandwiched in between Sheffield and St Austell's, Cornwall. From this rather modest and low key start the band were obviously making an impact in the music charts and were heavily featured in style and fashion magazines as well as publications focused on the teen scene and all that went with that.
Within a couple of years (1985) Wham! were making history by becoming the first western performers to appear in China at the Workers Stadium in Beijing in front of 12,000 curious concert goers.
It was a rare glimpse of western culture for a subdued and oppressed population but the negotiations and logistics behind the tour had been well planned to ensure that it was a good experience for all concerned.
The Manager of Wham!, Simon Napier Bell looked to China as not so much an untapped market in its own right but as a means of obtaining maximum publicity and press coverage by which to break into the considerably more lucrative American circuit. Conventional approaches to venues and promoters in the US was notoriously time consuming and energy sapping for what was a band still relatively unknown outside of Britain and Europe. A high profile stunt would be worth a great deal in any assault on the US.
Every month for a year and a half Napier Bell commuted to China to try to gain the attention of the Ministry of Culture who were the only Communist Department who could green light his plans. Initial entry into China had to be on an illicit Visa which was bought in Hong Kong and as a foreigner he was restricted to staying in the Holiday Inn, the only western hotel in Beijing.
There was a certain amount of blagging on the part of Napier Bell and from his accommodation he used a directory of State Ministries provided by the British Embassy to ring around trying to get an appointment to make a presentation with a sweetener being a luncheon invitation.
Not many officials spoke English and so even the canvassing of 20 Departments was unsuccessful. Messages were left and fortunately on the second visit there was a response. This was from a Junior Minister for Power who arrived on his bicycle in Mao suit at the Hotel keen to discuss issues. Unfortunately, the official had mistook the invitation to be from a Swedish Coal Merchant with massive reserves of fossil fuels to sell to the emerging Chinese Industrial operation. He was however immediately taken with the idea of a Pop Group coming to China as this would be viewed as good intent by the State to appease a growing restlessness and dissent amongst the aspirational young as well as showing some enlightenment in western culture.
The Man from the Power Ministry acted as a go-between in the following months and gradually the number of diners from a wide range of Ministry's increased on successive visits by Wham! Management to 25 to 30. The key Cultural Ministry was still proving elusive but patronage and support for a concert was at last forthcoming some 18 months after first pitching the idea.
Prior to the visit, Chinese youth had little access to the Wham! playlist in the absence of, at that time social media, downloads or file sharing and so a local female singer was employed to make recording covers of the main hits in the native language and these were given out with purchased tickets.
There was a high demand for the Beijing Gig and on the night a rather stunned but expectant audience awaited the arrival on stage of George, Andrew and entourage.
Police on duty in the all seater Workers Stadium discouraged standing although westerners in the crowd were up and dancing wildly to the loud and raucous music. Those in the gig reported being overwhelmed by the sights and sounds but recall the strange feelings associated with something new and exciting. It was indeed the beginning of the opening up of China to the outside world, the start of the remarkable social, economic and industrial revolution that has elevated the nation to its current position and status.
For many and not just those there on the night it was a life and game changer.
I feel a bit embarrassed that my own Wham! experience was less inspiring.
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