George Michael’s 1988 Paris concert in support of his breakthrough solo album Faith will form the backbone of a new film from Mercury Studios, George Michael: The Faith Tour, which will be released in theaters worldwide later this year. The project will be accompanied by The Faith Tour, an 18-track live album featuring solo and Wham! tracks which was released at the time with only 11 songs. Additional details have yet to be announced.
The Faith Tour was directed by Andy Morahan and David Austin from once-lost footage shot by 14 cameras at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on May 30-31, 1988. Michael was 24 at the time and enjoying massive success with Faith singles such as “I Want Your Sex,” “Father Figure,” “One More Try” and “Monkey.” He became the only British male solo artist to land four No. 1 hits from the same album on the Billboard Hot 100.
“One of the reasons for making sure there is more funk-oriented material on this album, as part of my new career, is to get people to hear the other songs on this album,” Michael told SPIN of Faith in 1987. “The most important songs for me are not the funk songs. There are some songs that transcend anything I could possibly do on some dance level. The stuff I’m most proud of are the ones based around my song-making as opposed to my record-making. My songs are not usually contemporary but are usually something that transcends a contemporary sound. People will hopefully remember them in five or 10 years. I feel this is not a pop album. It has a far more earthier feel to it, more black-based, simpler and more aggressive than anything I’ve done before. I’ve even added a jazz ballad. There’s a strange mix of influences here that gel together.”
The movie will open with an original short film by Mary McCartney and is narrated by an unseen Michael. Previously unseen photos by Herb Ritts and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the “Faith” music video will also be included.
Born Georgios Panayiotou as the son of a Greek-Cypriot restaurateur, Michael was obsessed with music from a young age and formed Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley when he was just 18. One of the biggest stars on earth in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he struggled with with fame and sexuality in the years that followed before dying of natural causes on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53.
Michael was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2023.
