25 Live was a concert tour by English singer-songwriter George Michael. The tour was the most commercially successful tour of 2006–2007 in Europe, grossing over $200 million, with positive reviews from music critics. The 106 tour shows were performed in 41 countries and seen by 1.3 million fans across the globe.
Background 25 Live was Michael's first tour in over 15 years. The tour, running for 50 dates, began in Barcelona on 23 September and was intended to end at Wembley Arena in London in December, but—due to great feedback from fans—continued into 2007 providing more gigs throughout Europe, concluding in Belfast. The tour is described as "a celebration of his 25-year career in music", and was accompanied by a greatest hits album, released in late 2006. The news of the tour came amid increased media speculation about Michael's personal life, in particular, his drug use and sex life. After the success of the autumn leg, new shows were added for summer 2007, in large arenas and stadiums. Pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor was announced as the supporting act for six of the eight UK shows. She did not open the show at Wembley Stadium as Michael was the first artist ever to play in the new stadium.
On 25 March 2008, a third leg of the 25 Live tour was announced for North America. This leg included 21 dates in the United States and Canada. This was Michael's first tour of North America in 17 years. The tour coincided with the release of his new greatest hits album on 1 April 2008.
Final shows On 11 June 2008, two dates were added, titled "The Final Two", taking place at Earls Court in London on 24 and 25 August 2008. These concerts were filmed for a DVD release entitled Live in London.
On 30 August 2008, Michael performed one more last show at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. This special performance, entitled "The Final One", allowed Michael to say "thank you" to his loyal fans, not only in Scandinavia, but also across Europe. Tickets for the show reportedly sold out in 54 minutes.
On 25 October 2008, it was announced that Michael would perform another last concert, this time to be held at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on 1 December 2008. American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys was announced as the support act. The show marked Michael's first concert in the Middle East. The event also helped to launch and was part of UAE's National Day festivities, "complete with obligatory fireworks and a laser display".
Australian leg
Australian dates were added in November 2009, involving stops in Perth, Sydney, and later Melbourne in February/March 2010.
Commercial reception Ticket sales in Europe were brisk. Within two hours of initial sales, 240,000 tickets were snatched up by eager fans. First to sell out were UK shows in London's Wembley Arena and Earls Court as well as Birmingham's NEC Arena and Manchester MEN Arena. The Manchester show sold out within minutes, and the two 25 Live dates added to the venue were sold out by lunchtime. To meet demand, 14 gigs were added to the tour, including three additional shows in London alone. Michael's dates around Europe were met with equally extraordinary enthusiasm. In Norway, the Oslo show at the Oslo Spektrum sold out in an hour and a half. In Copenhagen, 49,000 tickets sold out at the Parken Stadium in just three hours. The first Rotterdam concert at Rotterdam Ahoy arena sold out in a mere six minutes, and the second saw tickets vanish in 16 minutes. In fact, a third Rotterdam show was added by popular demand that also sold out in 16 minutes. This unprecedented response has stood out as the fastest sell of tickets ever experienced by Barrie Marshall, whose London-based promotion firm, Marshall Arts Limited, has been promoting shows for 30 years.
In North America, although ticket sales weren't fast as they were in Europe, every venue was sold out in time for the concert. For a period of 25 hours during the week leading up to the Los Angeles show on 25 June 2008, tickets were sold for a promotional price of $25 (down from $95) in celebration of Michael's birthday, 25 June 1963.
All the tickets for the Final Two shows in London and the Final One show in Denmark were sold out in 2 hours.
Critical reception The tour received positive reviews, with praise for the set list and overall production of the show.
Set lists
First leg "Waiting (Reprise)" "Flawless (Go to the City)" "Fastlove" "Father Figure" "Star People '97" "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "Praying for Time" "Too Funky" "You Have Been Loved" "Everything She Wants" "My Mother Had a Brother" "Shoot the Dog" Break "Faith" "Spinning the Wheel" "Jesus to a Child" "An Easier Affair" "A Different Corner" "Amazing" "I'm Your Man" "Outside" Encore "Careless Whisper" "Freedom! '90"
Second leg "Waiting (Reprise)" "Flawless (Go to the City)" "Fastlove" "Precious Box" "Father Figure" "Everything She Wants" "Ticking" "Praying for Time" "Too Funky" "Star People '97" "Shoot the Dog" Break "Faith" "Spinning the Wheel" "An Easier Affair" "Jesus to a Child" "Amazing" "I'm Your Man" "Outside" Encore "Careless Whisper" "Freedom! '90"
Third leg "Waiting (Reprise)" "Fastlove" "I'm Your Man" "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "Father Figure" "Hard Day" "Everything She Wants" "One More Try" "A Different Corner" "An Easier Affair" "Too Funky" "Star People '97" Break "Faith" "Feeling Good" "Roxanne" "Spinning the Wheel" "Kissing a Fool" "Amazing" "Flawless (Go to the City)" "Outside" "Praying for Time" Encore "Careless Whisper" "Freedom! '90"
The Final Two "Waiting (Reprise)" "Fastlove" "I'm Your Man" "Father Figure" "Hard Day" "Everything She Wants" "One More Try" "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "An Easier Affair" "Too Funky" "Star People '97" Break "Faith" "Spinning the Wheel" "Feeling Good" "Roxanne" "Amazing" "Flawless (Go to the City)" "Outside" Encore "A Different Corner" "Careless Whisper" "Freedom! '90"
The Final One "Waiting (Reprise)" "Fastlove" "I'm Your Man" "Father Figure" "You Have Been Loved" "Everything She Wants" "Precious Box" "One More Try" "Jesus to a Child" "An Easier Affair" "Too Funky" "Shoot the Dog" Break "Faith" "Spinning the Wheel" "Feeling Good" "Kissing a Fool" "Roxanne" "Amazing" "Flawless (Go to the City)" "Outside" Encore "Careless Whisper" "Freedom! '90"
Additional notes During the 17 December 2006 show at Wembley Arena, Michael exclusively performed "Last Christmas". A recording of the performance was later included on the 2024 reissue of the single, marking the 40th anniversary since its release in 1984.
Tour dates + List of European concerts Date(2006) City Country Venue Opening act Attendance(Tickets sold / available) Revenue 23 September BarcelonaSpain Palau Sant Jordi rowspan="46" 19,836 / 19,836 $2,062,948 26 September Madrid Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid 14,590 / 14,590 $1,517,364 29 September ToulouseFrance Zénith de Toulouse 6,192 / 6,192 $643,692 30 September Toulon Zénith Oméga 6,487 / 6,487 $674,638 2 October Lyon Halle Tony Garnier 8,082 / 8,082 $840,531 5 October MilanItalyMediolanum Forum22,936 / 22,936$2,385,346 6 October 9 October ParisFrancePalais omnisports de Paris Bercy30,106 / 30,106$3,522,408 10 October 13 October Amnéville Galaxie Amnéville 12,659 / 12,659 $1,569,174 14 October StuttgartGermany Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 9,124 / 9,124 $1,040,136 16 October Leipzig Arena Leipzig 11,047 / 11,047 $1,358,788 17 October Oberhausen König Pilsener Arena 14,000 / 14,000 $1,453,036 20 October Gothenburg Sweden Scandinavium 13,825 / 13,825 $1,492,102 21 October Oslo Norway Oslo Spektrum 12,264 / 12,264 $1,287,726 22 October Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Globe Arena 16,511 / 16,511 $1,717,142 25 October Frankfurt Germany Festhalle Frankfurt 12,275 / 13,034 $1,264,359 26 October Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion 13,000 / 13,000 $1,376,050 29 October Munich Germany Olympiahalle29,472 / 29,472 $3,166,412 30 October 1 November RotterdamNetherlandsSportpaleis van Ahoy59,412 / 59,412$6,416,499 2 November 4 November 6 November BerlinGermany Velodrom 7,026 / 7,026 $955,530 7 November Hamburg Color Line Arena 9,275 / 9,275 $1,317,053 9 November Mannheim SAP Arena 9,673 / 9,673 $1,102,726 11 November Copenhagen Denmark Parken Stadium 46,918 / 46,918 $6,052,422 13 November Cologne Germany Kölnarena 12,124 / 12,124 $1,757,920 14 November Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis 16,231 / 16,235 $1,227,164 17 November ManchesterEnglandManchester Evening News Arena65,292 / 65,292$9,271,547 18 November 21 November 22 November Glasgow Scotland SECC Arena 26,145 / 26,145 $3,294,273 25 November LondonEnglandEarls Court36,228 / 36,228$3,840,169 26 November 28 November 2 December BirminghamNEC Arena50,523 / 50,523$6,669,042 3 December 4 December 7 December DublinIrelandPoint Theatre25,020 / 25,020$3,123,926 8 December 11 December LondonEnglandWembley Arena41,180 / 41,180$5,806,283 12 December 14 December 15 December 17 December
+ List of European concerts Date(2007) City Country Venue Opening act Attendance(Tickets sold / available) Revenue 12 May Coimbra Portugal Estádio Cidade de Coimbra rowspan="7" 39,639 / 39,639 $4,439,568 18 May AarhusDenmarkAtletion44,966 / 44,966$2,080,026 19 May 23 May Budapest Hungary Ferenc Puskás Stadium 52,047 / 52,047 $2,133,947 25 May Bratislava Slovakia Inter Football Stadium 6,875 / 15,801 $855,295 28 May Sofia Bulgaria Lokomotiv Stadium 25,003 / 25,003 $1,125,184 31 May Bucharest Romania Arena Națională 13,902 / 13,902 $2,432,846 6 June Dublin Ireland RDS Arena Sophie Ellis-Bextor 64,154 / 64,154 $7,698,459 9 June LondonEnglandWembley Stadium rowspan="2" 172,458 / 172,458$24,490,995 10 June 12 June Norwich Carrow Road Sophie Ellis-Bextor 54,275 / 54,275 $7,869,385 15 June Manchester City of Manchester Stadium 60,195 / 60,195 $8,728,294 17 June Glasgow Scotland Hampden Park 53,024 / 53,024 $7,751,504 19 June Plymouth England Home Park 38,402 / 38,402 $5,491,886 22 June Saint-Denis France Stade de France rowspan="17" 63,583 / 63,583 $9,473,837 23 June Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis 14,230 / 14,230 $2,020,550 26 June Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam Arena 55,384 / 55,384 $8,085,064 29 June Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Globe Arena 1 July Helsinki Finland Hartwall Arena 5 July MoscowRussiaOlympisky 6 July 9 July Kyiv Ukraine Olympic Stadium 11 July Warsaw Poland Służewiec 35,000 13 July Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle 17 July PaduaItaly Stadio Plebiscito 19 July Lucca Stadio Porta Elisa 21 July Rome Stadio Olimpico 26 July Athens Greece OAKA Olympic Stadium 40,000 5,340,316 1 August DublinIrelandPoint Theatre 2 August 4 August Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
+ List of North American concerts Date(2008) City Country Venue Opening act Attendance(Tickets sold / available) Revenue 17 June San DiegoUnited States San Diego Sports Arena rowspan="22" 19 June San Jose HP Pavilion 21 June Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena 22 June Phoenix US Airways Center 25 June Inglewood The Forum 27 June Anaheim Honda Center 2 July Seattle KeyArena 4 July Vancouver Canada General Motors Place 12,000 / 15,000 7 July Saint PaulUnited States Xcel Energy Center 7,504 / 12,999 9 July Chicago United Center 10,061 / 13,500 $1,375,690 13 July Dallas American Airlines Center 14 July Houston Toyota Center 7,965 / 9,221 $779,810 17 July TorontoCanada Air Canada Centre 14,802 / 14,802 $2,115,255 18 July Montreal Bell Centre 9,865 / 9,865 $1,454,257 21 July New York City United StatesMadison Square Garden 23 July 26 July Philadelphia Wachovia Center 27 July Boston TD Banknorth Garden 10,325 / 14,000 29 July Washington, D.C. Verizon Center 8,331 / 13,000 $1,055,827 31 July Atlanta Philips Arena 2 August Tampa St. Pete Times Forum 8,925 / 13,911 $948,764 3 August Sunrise Bank Atlantic Center