NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
If you’ve been following Just One More Concert, you’ll find that we’ve recently been covering quite a number of top 80s bands who have discovered that, not only are their old fans still eager to see them perform live, they have built a new generation of younger fans who love the retro sounds of ska, two-tone, and new wave. This was the case at ArtPark on Wednesday, August 31st, as 80s stalwarts Boy George and the Culture Club hit the Buffalo area with the English Beat opening. Boy George has been releasing music pretty continuously over the last couple of years, especially during the pandemic when there wasn’t much else to do and the creative juices aching too break out. This version of the English Beat (unlike the Beat) featuring lead singer Dave Wakeling released a studio album “Here We Go Love” back in 2018. This evening’s show was sure to be a dancing affair!
The English Beat kicked things off quickly with “Rough Rider” and “Too Nice to Talk To” from way back in 1980. With Wakeling sharing vocals with Antonee First Class, and longtime sax player Matt Morrish and keyboardist Minh Quan providing the hooks, the English Beat went through their top hits plus Wakeling’s hit song “Tenderness” from his General Public days with Ranking Roger. I was surprised that “Save it for Later” was the third song since they normally close their shows with that fan favorite. Having started a bit late, the band’s set was only seven songs but jamming with guitar, keyboards, and bass, it seemed like a longer set than it was.
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When Culture Club guitarist Roy Hay and bassist Mikey Craig descended to steps from the back of the stage to the front, you could see they could not help but grin from ear to ear. Boy George stepped forward as the sounds of their new single “The Next Thing Will Be Amazing” reverberated through the crowd. The band did a great job mixing their hit singles with lesser known tracks. George told a wonderful story about how they thought the slow song that the record company wanted to release as a single would lead to their demise. Happily they were wrong and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” was huge, hitting #1 in the UK and #2 in the US. Their video was also a tremendous hit in the new MTV era. The band really stepped on the gas starting with “Church of the Poison Mind” mixed with a cover of Wham’s “I’m Your Man”. The backup singer handling the female vocals absolutely killed it!!
The show was a dance party from then on out with “Time (Clock of the Heart)” and “Miss Me Blind”. Although two out of the three songs in the encore were covers, it didn’t seem to diminish the mood of the crowd. Closing with T.Rex’s “Get It On” left everyone in high spirits to close out the night.
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