I saw the M Rated
'WHAM! 10 DAYS IN CHINA' earlier this week and this UK documentary film is Directed by Mike Christie who has over forty Directing credits specialising in films, TV series and documentaries about action sports, music and arts. This 90-minute film consists of 'newly restored footage' and personal interviews with Andrew Ridgeley, 'members of the touring party', and fans. This film has had just a little bit of troubled history in that George Michael and Director Andy Morahan took over to re-edit the original film from the one filmed by Director Lindsay Anderson titled
'If You Were There' after he was dismissed because the group considered his cut of the film to concentrate more on life in the Communist led country rather than the duo themselves. The re-edited film was retitled
'Wham! in China : Foreign Skies' which Premiered at Wham!'s farewell concert on 28th June 1986. After public screening of Anderson's cut was blocked by Michael and his estate,
'If You Were There' was finally screened publicly at the BFI Southbank in May 2024, with the co-operation of George Michael Entertainment and Ridgeley. This film was released worldwide this week before being broadcast in the UK on BBC Two and BBC Music, and has generated positive critical reviews.
In 1985, Wham! performed in China as part of their 1984/85 tour, The Big Tour. The duo, which consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, became the first Western pop group to visit the country. Their manager Simon Napier-Bell, had hatched a plan for how the duo could potentially break into the elusive US market, without the need to travel the country for months on end playing small venues to crowds of people who didn't know them from Adam. After about eighteen months of negotiations with Communist Party authorities, his patience and resilience paid off with his securing the Wham lads two gigs, in Beijing and Guangzhou, with various publicity appearance in between time and a a photo call with various western media journalists on the Great Wall.
It's fair to say the boys hated all the media attention, especially Andrew, while George was a little more accepting. And who can blame them? Here they were, two young twenty-something year olds thrust into a strange land and being expected to act diplomatically, answer political questions, and be accepting of the cultural differences in a land that was only just beginning to open up to western influences. Running alongside the media circus, they also had film Producer Martin Lewis propose a fly-on-the-wall documentary, to be helmed by noted Director Lindsay Anderson who had previously Directed
'This Sporting Life' in 1963,
'if . . .' in 1968,
'O Lucky Man!' in 1973 and
'Britannia Hospital' in 1982. Anderson accepted, but ultimately kept on leaning towards a more culture-clash theme to the film, while the music people just wanted a glorified promotional film. Anderson was fired after the tour, having been bad tempered and cynical the whole time, and making no secret of his dislike for the music of Wham! - he was sixty-two years of age at the time however!
The duo performed concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou on 7th and 10th April respectively. The two concerts couldn't have been more polar opposite in terms of the reception from the audience. The first at the Peoples Gymnasium in Beijing on 7th April was played out in front of a crowd of some 13,000 people. The gathered audience largely remained seated the whole time; were seemingly non-plussed about how they were expected to interact with the music and George, Andrew, their backing vocalists Pepsi and Shirley and the other band members; and when they clapped their hands they did so out of time to the music and with their hands in their laps. After this very stilted reception George commented 'the first feeling was of failure, there was no way we could communicate. And when we actually found out what had gone on [with people being told not to dance] I was just furious. Obviously, I felt responsibility at the time to represent my generation from the west in a good light and pop music in a good light'.
The next day the boys had to front up to the British Ambassador's residence in Beijing for a bit of hob nobbing with the social elite, which again made the lads feel ill at ease, but again for the sake of the gathered press and photo journalists they made the best of it. The day after was a rest day, in which the boys are seen playing a game of football against a team of locals, with Andrew proving that he's quite adept at the game while George was a lost cause. Later that day the other band members and crew flew out to Guangzhou leaving George and Andrew in Beijing to fly out early the next day. George and Andrew stayed behind for an interview with CBS News Reporter Phyllis George, which was beamed across to all the major news channels in the USA later that same day, giving them instant exposure and putting them on a trajectory to break the American market as was George's desire all along.
The concert in Guangzhou on 10th April was much more in line with what the boys had been used to from their western audiences. Guangzhou is much closer to the border with Hong Kong than Beijing is, and as such Guangzhou had already begun to open up to western culture some two or so years earlier, and was also on the receiving end of TV and radio channels broadcast from Hong Kong, which had a far more western influence. This audience were up and dancing, arms raised above heads clapping in time with the music, and singing along, and even the police security were taking part. George, Andrew, the band and the crew were on a high after that gig. Four months after the boys left China they were playing to packed out arenas in the USA and had truly made their mark on American soil, as was the intention of Simon Napier-Bell when he set up these two gigs, over ten days in China.
And so I saw
'WHAM! 10 Days in China' at my local independent cinema, and the film was preceded by a George Michael and Wham tribute band who played a 45 minute set and got the packed out theatre dancing and singing along in the aisles - great fun! If like me you are a product of the 1980's and grew up in the UK during the Margaret Thatcher years, on a diet of bands like WHAM!, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Tears for Fears, Heaven 17, ABC, Simple Minds, Human League and others of that ilk, then this film is a nostalgic trip down memory lane to a time that was much more simple and easy going, less complicated and less stressful. It was a time of great music that still resonates to this day, and whose influence still has a place in 2026. Whether you're a fan of WHAM! and/or the late great George Michael then this film is a must see, and even if you're not then go see it for the interesting and informative insight into the power of music and its ability to unite across cultural divides.
'WHAM! 10 Days in China' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
