Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 20, 2018

It’s perhaps indicative of the sea change that attitudes about gender roles and sexual identity have undergone that if one George Alan O’Dowd were to be introducing himself these days, he might not have to “specify” his persona as Boy George. When Culture Club first started attracting attention back in the early eighties, one of the band’s most distinctive elements was the androgyny of Boy George, something that was even then, in a post Bowie environment, kind of shocking (at least for some more straight laced — no pun intended — types). As George himself discusses, though, in some introductory comments before the concert itself gets underway, (and not to pun too horribly) it’s not just the culture that’s changed in the years since Culture Club first stormed the charts, it’s George as well. He kind of bemusedly mentions that he may have been a bit of a divo (diva?) back in the day, and that in fact the other band members needed to be “reeducated” (so to speak) as to what he was like now when the band reunited. That sort of confession may actually sound just a little self serving, but George delivers it with a kind of winking self awareness that suggests he’s thinking, “Yeah, I was a handful back then, I’m a little older now, and we’re all the better for it.”

As (supposedly) provocative as some of the presentational aspects of Culture Club’s act was in “days of yore”, their music wasn’t overly envelope pushing, though it featured a rather interesting brew of different influences, including a kind of Motown inflected pop sensibility and a dash of reggae at times. This 2016 performance, culled from their world tour, features the band back in their hometown delighting fans at Wembley Stadium. George’s voice continues to sound great, and he moves through a nice collection of tunes where individual band members get to shine. The band is also augmented by some great sounding (and soulful) backup singers, as well as a nice punchy brass section.

Culture Club's set list for this concert includes:

• 1. Church of the Poison Mind
• 2. It's a Miracle
• 3. I'll Tumble 4 Ya
• 4. Move Away
• 5. Everything I Own
• 6. Black Money
• 7. Time (Clock of the Heart)
• 8. Like I Used To
• 9. Different Man
• 10. Miss Me Blind
• 11. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
• 12. Victimes
• 13. The War Song
• 14. Karma Chameleon
• 15. Bang a Gong (Get It On)

Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Culture Club: Live at Wembley World Tour 2016 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cleopatra and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. This is by and large a great looking presentation, one with some cool (if for me too brief) time lapse black and white elements highlighting some iconic London sights. The concert benefits from a perhaps more consistent use of bright lighting, something that supports nice fine detail levels on things like Boy George's successive array of outfits. Unfortunately, as so often tends to be the case with filmed concerts, some of the lighting choices tend to obscure rather than reveal. Especially prevalent in this regard are several songs kind of bathed in a deep purple, where, because Boy George is also wearing that color, he almost disappears into a miasmatic haze (see screenshot 8). Other "arty" shots also feature things like lighting arrays aimed directly at the camera, with similar results of detail levels falling at least somewhat. The progressive presentation means there aren't any problematic combing artifacts when close-ups of things like hands strumming guitars or drumsticks furiously beating tom heads are on display.

Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Culture Club: Live at Wembley World Tour 2016 features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks (and, as so often seems to be kind of strangely the case with these concert releases, the disc has been authored to default to the stereo track rather than the surround track). The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is rather nicely spacious sounding, with excellent support for the punchy brass interstitials and the nice rhythm work of Roy Hay on guitar, Jon Moss on drums and Mikey Craig on bass. George and the backup vocalists sound excellent and are nicely prioritized in the mix. Best of all (at least to me, who tends to hate such things), the crowd noise never really overwhelms the performance sonics. Fidelity is excellent throughout, and there are no problems of any kind to report.

Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Backstage Interviews (1080p; 5:28) features some pretty brief comments from the band, but does have some fun (if again brief) candid setup and rehearsal footage.


• Interview with Boy George (1080p; 23:55) is a much more in depth affair, with George discussing a lot his history, going back to his childhood and continuing on past Culture Club's heyday.


• Trailer (1080p; 2:10)

Additionally, the DigiPack includes a Bonus CD of the concert, as well as a nicely appointed insert booklet with lots of stills of Boy George and the band.

Culture Club - Live at Wembley Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've always had a soft spot for Culture Club because, along with yours truly, Boy George has had a longstanding interest in Frances Farmer (the old single release of The Medal Song featured a picture of Frances in The Toast of New York). That said, while I had occasionally kept up with Boy George's adventures, notably the musical Taboo, I hadn't really listened to Culture Club in years when I revisited them for this review. This concert is a nice trip through the band's hits, as well as some lesser known material, and it has a certain showbiz savvy that some may find too glossy, but which also proves quite admirably that George continues to have a palpable connection with his fans. Technical merits are first rate, and Culture Club: Live at Wembley World Tour 2016 comes Recommended.