Culture Club

Saturday, August 8 at Sands Steel Stage at PNC Plaza
Price: Tickets: $79 / $69 / $59 / Steel Terrace: $189

6:30pm: Gates
8:30pm: Culture Club

There is not a country in the world that doesn’t know the names of Boy George and Culture Club. Grammy Award winners Culture Club sold in excess of 100 million singles and over 50 million albums, and were one of the biggest pop bands of the 1980s. They achieved seven straight Top 10 hits in the UK, nine Top 10 singles in the USA and nine Top 20 singles in Australia. They had No 1 singles in over a dozen countries and multi-platinum album sales across the world and were first group since The Beatles to have three Top Ten hits in America from a debut album. They were also the first group in music history to have an album certified diamond in Canada. The band consisted of Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Jon Moss (drums and percussion) and flamboyant front man Boy George (lead vocals.)

Culture Club signed a deal with Virgin Records in early 1982 and with the release of Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, in September of that year, the band were catapulted into the charts. The song went to No. 1 in the UK and became an international smash hit, peaking at No. 1 in over a dozen countries.

This achievement was quickly compounded with the follow-up single Time (Clock of the Heart), which became another massive hit in the US and UK, and I’ll Tumble 4 Ya repeating that huge success in the US and in Canada. Kissing to Be Clever sold over two million copies in the USA and another three million worldwide, when it was first released, and went on to be one of the biggest selling albums worldwide propelling Culture Club to international stardom.

By the time their second album Colour By Numbers was released in the autumn of 1983, Culture Club were the most popular pop group in the world. Colour By Numbers spawned the legendary Karma Chameleon a transatlantic No.1, which sold over five million copies worldwide and became the best-selling single of 1983 in the UK. In the US Colour By Numbers spent six consecutive weeks in the top of the Billboard charts.

The album Colour by Numbers, included more hits – Miss Me Blind, It’s a Miracle and Victims, and sold four million copies in the U.S. and another six million worldwide at its time of release. The band also won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

In 1984, the group released its third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire which had pre sales of two million copies worldwide prior to its release. A single, The War Song, was released from the album and was an enormous chart hit in over ten countries. Other incredible hit singles followed including Mistake No. 3 and The Medal Song. At the end of 1984, Culture Club was recruited by Bob Geldof to attend the Band Aid recording for the song Do They Know It’s Christmas? The song would become an international hit, raising millions for famine victims in Africa.

Culture Club’s fourth studio album, 1986’s From Luxury to Heartache featured the first single Move Away which had huge worldwide chart success, but shortly afterwards the band broke up to pursue other interests.

Culture Club reunited in 1998, releasing the two-disc set VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits. The first captures the band live in the VH1 studios performing both old and new material, while the second is a compilation of re-mastered hits. The band also had a smash hit in the UK that year with I Just Wanna Be Loved.

Now for the first time in more than 14 years, all of the original band members Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Jon Moss (drums and percussion) and Boy George (lead vocals) will be performing together again for their fans. They recently announced new North American tour dates for the summer. Their tour starts on July 20th in Denver, Colorado and will have them performing all of their greatest hits and new materials across 12 states this summer. For more details and ticket information, please go to: www.cultureclub.co.uk

The band also entered the recording studio with legendary producer Youth (The Verve, Killing Joke, The Cult, Crowded House, Primal Scream) and have started working on a highly anticipated new album due for release in fall 2015. Be sure to catch the iconic foursome this fall in North America on the following dates.