When George Michael stepped out with Wham! in front of thousands at Beijing’s Workers Gymnasium, he knew he was giving a performance for the history books.
In 1985, Wham! made history as the first Western pop act to visit communist China.
The tour was never short of controversy, so many assumed the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” stars would play it safe and keep things predictable.
But instead of holding back, Wham! doubled down. After 18 months of tough negotiations just to make the boundary-breaking concerts happen, the duo decided to go big — delivering not only the shows themselves but also a handful of unexpected surprises along the way.
Among the surprises was George Michael’s choice to open one of the band’s biggest hits, “Careless Whisper,” with a slower, far more haunting arrangement than fans were used to.
The moment was captured on film during one of Wham!’s two historic concerts in China — and can be seen in the tour footage below.
In this rendition of “Careless Whisper,” the song opened with a solitary saxophone, setting a haunting mood. When George entered with the first verse, his voice was accompanied only by a soft, synth-like keyboard and gentle acoustic guitar
The minimalist arrangement allowed the then-21-year-old’s stunning vocals to take center stage, reverberating through the spellbound stadium. By starting the track in such a stripped-back, emotional way, George perfectly underscored the song’s melancholy lyrics before the familiar full backing kicked in at the chorus and carried the rest of the performance.
The unforgettable moment was captured in the documentary Wham!: Foreign Skies, chronicling the band’s ten-day trip to China.
Wham! performed two groundbreaking shows in China — the first at Beijing’s Workers’ Gymnasium on April 7, 1985, followed by another at Canton’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on April 10.
These appearances came after two concerts in Hong Kong earlier that month and a string of dates across the UK, Europe, the US, Japan, and Australia.
The China visit marked the conclusion of The Big Tour — the group’s second major tour and their last before embarking on their farewell shows the following year.
