The Big Tour was the second

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

musical duo

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

, launched in support of their multi-platinum second studio album ''

Make It Big ''Make It Big'' is the second and final studio album from British pop duo Wham!, released in 1984. In comparison to their earlier work, Wham! (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley) had more control over the album's production and Michael would a ...

'' with over six million units sold in the US alone. The tour spanned 4 months between December 1984 and April 1985, comprising 39 shows across the UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, United States,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Wham! made history in China and achieved worldwide publicity by being the first Western pop act to visit the country.

Overview

The Big Tour opened at

Whitley Bay Ice Rink Whitley Bay Ice Rink is an ice rink located in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, England and is the home of the Whitley Warriors ice hockey team. An additional team played out of the ice rink, the Newcastle Vipers, who are now disbanded. It is one of tw ...

on 4 December with an audience of around 5,500. The venue was small due to no other venues being available in the north east, they were booked for two more shows between concerts in Glasgow, Dublin and Leeds. Just as the UK portion of the tour was in its stride, George Michael hurt his back during a performance and the band had to cancel five consecutive shows which were put back until February and March. They continued the UK leg with shows in

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

during the Christmas period to around 50,000 fans during which “

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...

” reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. The new year began the tour in Japan performing in the

Fukuoka Sunpalace is a hotel and concert hall complex in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. The hall has a seating capacity of 2,316, and has hosted international bands and performers such as A-ha, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, Roxette, Rainbow, Bon Jovi, Ringo S ...

with other dates in Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama. In Australia, five shows followed in Melbourne and Sydney before continuing in the United States, with a sellout concert at the Palladium in front of 4,400 in February 1985. Wham! returned to the United Kingdom with earlier dates having been rescheduled. Following a month break, the tour resumed in Hong Kong on 2 April 1985. The 10-day visit to China was the first by a Western pop group. The excursion was a publicity scheme devised by

Simon Napier-Bell Simon Robert Napier-Bell (born 22 April 1939) is an English record producer, music manager, author and journalist. At different times, he has managed artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Japan, London, Ultravox, Bon ...

(one of their two managers—

Jazz Summers Gordon "Jazz" Summers (15 March 1944 – 14 August 2015) was a British music manager. He managed acts such as Snow Patrol, the Verve, Scissor Sisters and Klaxons. With Simon Napier-Bell, he co-managed Wham! and is credited with having enabled the ...

being the other). It began with a concert at the Peoples' Gymnasium in Beijing (then Peking) in front of 13,000 people. They also played a concert in front of 5,000 in Canton. The two concerts were played without compensation. Wham!'s visit to China attracted huge media attention across the world. Napier-Bell later admitted that he sabotaged the efforts of British rock band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

to be the first to play in China. He made two brochures for the Chinese authorities – one featuring Wham! fans as pleasant middle-class youngsters, and one portraying Queen lead singer

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

in typically flamboyant poses. The Chinese opted for Wham!.

Recordings

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

was shot over two weeks in April and edited over summer and autumn 1985 in London. The whole China visit was documented by British film director

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for h ...

and producer Martin Lewis in their film '' Wham! in China: Foreign Skies'' released in 1986. The first ever public viewing of ''Foreign Skies'' was shown on large video

screens Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...

on Saturday 28 June 1986 at the farewell show "

The Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Support acts

*DJ

Gary Crowley Gary Crowley (born 8 October 1961), is an English broadcaster, TV presenter and DJ.Burrell, Ian (2009), ''The Independent'', 9 November 2009, retrieved 2 November 2010 While still at school (Rutherford School, Marylebone, London) in the late 1970s ...

Pepsi & Shirlie Pepsi & Shirlie are an English pop duo group formed in London in 1985, which released two albums, ''All Right Now'' in 1987 and ''Change'' in 1991. Their debut single "Heartache" reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. Career The act comprised ...

*DJ Neil Fincham

Set list

Japan # "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" # "Club Tropicana" # "Blue" # "Heartbeat" # "Credit Card Baby" # "If You Were There" # "Like a Baby" # "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)" # "Freedom" # "Careless Whisper" # "Young Guns (Go for It!)" ;Encore # "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" # "

" Beijing, China #"Bad Boys" #"Club Tropicana" #"Blue" #"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" #"A Ray of Sunshine" #"Young Guns (Go for It!)" #"Careless Whisper" #"Everything She Wants" #"Like a Baby" #"If You Were There" #"Love Machine"

Tour dates

Tour dates as printed in the official Big Tour 1984-85 tour programme.

Box office score data

Personnel

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham!. Early life Ridgeley was born in Windlesham, Surrey, England, to parents ...

List of Tour Personnel from tour programme *

- Crowd DJ (Guest Star) *

Tommy Eyre Tommy Eyre (5 June 1949 – 23 May 2001) was an English session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Greg Lake, B.B. King, John ...

- M.D. & Keyboards *Trevor Murrell - Drums *

Deon Estus Jeffery Deon Estus (July 4, 1956 – October 11, 2021) was an American musician and singer, best known as the bass player of Wham! and as the bassist on George Michael's first two solo projects. Estus' single "Heaven Help Me", with additional ...

- Bass *Hugh Burns - Guitars *Mark Fisher - Keyboards *Danny Cummings - Percussion *Paul Spong - Trumpet *Dave 'Baps' Baptiste - Saxophone *Raul D'Oliviera - Trumpet *Leroy Osbourne - Vocals *Janey Hallett - Vocals *Janet Mooney - Vocals *

Shirlie Holliman Shirlie Kemp (née Holliman; born 18 April 1962) is an English singer, who found fame in the 1980s with Wham! and as part of the duo Pepsi & Shirlie. Early years Shirlie Holliman was child four of five born to Arthur and Margaret Holliman and ...

- Dancer *

Pepsi DeMacque Helen "Pepsi" DeMacque-Crockett (born 10 December 1958) is a British pop singer, best known as a member of the Pepsi & Shirlie duo in the 1980s. Early years Helen ‘Pepsi’ DeMacque was born in London after her parents emigrated to Britain in ...

- Dancer *

- Management *

- Management *Jake Duncan - Tour Manager *Ken Watts - Production Manager *Dave Davis - Guitars & Keyboards *Dick Jones - Drums & Percussion *Tony Blanc - Sound Engineer *John Roden - Monitor Engineer *John 'Judge' Loudon - Lighting Engineer *Ross Balfour - Staging *Russell Sparks - Staging *Lesley Morrall - Wardrobe *Melanie Panayiotou - Wardrobe *Yioda Panayiotou - Make-up & Hairdressing *Dave Moulder - Personal Security *Ronnie Franklin - Personal Security *Connie Filippello - Press & P.R. * Mike Putland - Photographer *Mr & Mrs. Panos *Mrs. Jenny Ridgeley *Mrs. Tommy Eyre *Ms. Debbie Sweeny

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Tour, The George Michael concert tours 1984 concert tours 1985 concert tours