Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

PAVILION 7:30 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022 BERLIN † –Intermission– CULTURE CLUB 6:00 PM, CAROUSEL STAGE LICENSE TO SAIL DJs † Club MTV † Ravinia debut CULTURE CLUB As new wave began rising to its crest in the UK, George O’Dowd (a.k.a. Boy George) became well known in the London music scene for his extravagant lyrical (and fashion) sense, occasionally singing with the group Bow Wow Wow under a different stage name, Lieutenant Lush. He soon departed to form his own band, recruiting bassist Mikey Craig, drummer Jon Moss, and guitarist Roy Hay, toying with several monikers before land- ing on Culture Club. After a series of demo recordings failed to curry the favor of EMI in early 1982, Culture Club instead found a home on Virgin and Epic Records. Around the same time that the trade press began to recognize Boy George as a glam icon, Culture Club also scored a breakthrough with “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” capturing top or second spots on charts throughout Eu- rope and North America. The group’s debut album, Kissing to Be Clever , was released less than a month later, climbing to numerous top-20 positions. A new single not found on the disc (except for later re-releases), “Time (Clock of the Heart),” helped Culture Club stay on top of playlists into the new year, as did another album track, “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya,” which became a top-10 hit in the US. The release of Color by Numbers almost exactly a year after Kissing solidified Culture Club’s place among the pantheon of “new roman- tics” with the singles “Church of the Poison Mind” and “Karma Chameleon,” another worldwide chart topper. The hit parade kept marching into 1984 with “Miss Me Blind” and “It’s a Miracle.” That fall’s Waking Up with the House on Fire became another international platinum seller with “The War Song,” which kept Culture Club in the top 10 throughout Europe. The group paused for a breath in 1985, returning the following year with From Luxury to Heartache and one more major hit, “Move Away,” before disbanding in 1987. A late-’90s reunion produced “I Just Wanna Be Loved” with the disc Don’t Mind If I Do , and in 2018 Culture Club released its first new music in 20 years on Life , which brought the band to Ravinia for the first time. Tonight is Culture Club’s first return since that two- night stand. BERLIN During the late 1970s, bassist John Crawford and drummer Daniel VanPatten formed the punk band The Toys with guitarist Chris Ruiz-Velasco, but after a short while instead adopted the name Berlin, twice changing up their lead singer before singer-actress Terri Nunn became their cornerstone voice. The revised band name, rather than a literal loca- tional reference, nodded toward the musical inspirations that attracted Nunn to join, com- bining the essences of keyboard-laden Euro- pean new wave and electronica with Craw- ford’s songwriting. After cutting their first single, 1979’s “Matter of Time,” however, Nunn departed to focus on acting; the band added singer Virginia Macolino to record their debut album, 1980’s Information , but labels weren’t as interested without Nunn. Crawford and VanPatten began playing as Fahrenheit, but realizing several of his new songs would bet- ter fit Nunn’s voice than his, they asked her to rejoin—and she agreed. With the additions of keyboardist/guitarist Dave Diamond and guitarist Ric Olsen, Berlin returned in 1982 with Pleasure Victim , featuring the synth-pop single “Sex (I’m A…)” and catching the ear of Geffen Records, which signed the group and reissued the album. Landing at number 30 on Billboard ’s charts, the disc fed their reach with additional hits in “The Metro” and “Mas- querade” and sales climbing to platinum cer- tification over the next decade. Berlin made a bigger splash with 1984’s Love Life , featuring their first top-40 hit, “No More Words,” and popular singles “Now It’s My Turn,” “Dancing in Berlin,” and “Touch.” But 1986 became the band’s banner year, recording the number-one smash-hit theme song to Top Gun , “Take My Breath Away,” which also appeared on their album Count Three & Pray , which saw the group slim down to a trio of Crawford, Nunn, and drummer Rob Brill before disbanding the following year. In the late ’90s, Nunn reformed Berlin and issued Voyeur in 2002. Despite an original-lineup reunion for VH-1, Nunn’s band stayed the course through 2005’s 4play and 2013’s Animal . Crawford, Diamond, and Nunn reconnected in 2015 and began writing together, resulting in 2019’s Transcendance . Strings Attached , an orchestral reimagining of the group’s songs, arrived in 2020. Berlin is making its Ravinia debut. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 28, 2022 40