Read The Star-Ledger/NJ.com’s article about Boy George & Culture Club, coming to MPAC July 31!
Boy George returns as ‘joyful, cynical and optimistic’
When Boy George and Culture Club take the stage at the Mayo Performing Arts Center July 31, fans can expect to hear ’80s favorites like “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” and “Time (Clock of the Heart).”
But while the songs are the same, the singer bringing them to life — and the messages behind them — are very different
“Songs change weirdly. You might write a song at 20 and perform it at 50, and it’s about something else,” said Boy George, during an interview with NJ Advance Media. “Like ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?’ I don’t feel like a victim now, I don’t feel full of woe. I feel joyful and cynical and optimistic, so when I perform that song now, it’s very different. It’s still very recognizable — the song’s in my DNA — but it’s very different.”
Since the original lineup reunited in 2014, Culture Club has become a touring fixture. After the Mayo performance, the band will then take a few days off before appearing in two more Garden State shows: Aug. 3 on the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park and Aug. 4 at the Tropicana Casino & Resort in Atlantic City.
The tour comes on the eve of the release of the band’s first studio album in 20 years, “Tribes” — or so the band says. The long-awaited recording has been reported to be only months away from release for more than four years.
In 2014, Culture Club released the single “More Than Silence,” which showcased a more rock and roll sound and a huskier-sounding Boy George. The band’s set list contains quite a few of those new songs, including “Let Somebody Love You” and “What Does Sorry Mean?”
“The music is still biographical in some senses, but it’s not as literal as the earlier music. There’s a lot of fantasy,” Boy George said. “We definitely got our mojo back with this new record. It sounds fresh, funky, like all of our influences were thrown into a big pot together.”
In its heyday, Culture Club was almost as well known for Boy George’s over-the-top style as its music. While the singer says he still cares about what he wears — “I never want to walk out wearing something that prompts people to ask, ‘Who are you wearing?’ If you have to explain your outfit, you’ve failed,” he said — he puts the band’s music front and center, as he always has.
“Culture Club is about music. It’s about the songs and the messages of the songs,” he said, noting, “I don’t feel anchored to nostalgia. It feels more like a choice, a free choice.”
While the relationships between the four band members were tabloid-fodder decades ago, Boy George said time has mellowed them.
“I love those guys. They’re annoying, and I’m sure they’ll say the same about me, but you aim for a democracy and you always fall short,” he said. “You just have to let people be as they are.”
BOY GEORGE AND CULTURE CLUB
Mayo Performing Arts Center
100 South St., Morristown.
Tickets: $79-149, available online at https://www.mayoarts.org. July 31 at 8 p.m.
