Boy George at the Leicester Square Theatre

Boy George is in the middle of his 'Up Close And Personal' residency at the Leicester Square Theatre (the site of the London run for 'Taboo') and we were very close indeed last night, in the middle of the fifth row with a great view of the Boy and his usual band and singers.

It was a show of two halves, two hours with an interval, a mix of old, new, borrowed and blue songs although, sadly, not the new 'White Xmas' single (but, then again, it is after Christmas now). He didn't have a big costume change at half time, but he did change hats from a pink one to an orangy one. George was looking good, smiling, joking and moving round the stage, and was in good voice too. George and the band were all decked out in his B-Rude clothes with scarabs and skulls (as Chris pointed out, the skull on George's shirt sported an Aladdin Sane lightning flash).

Old and borrowed songs included 'Blue Moon, 'Summertime', 'This Little Light Of Mine' and 'Down By The Riverside', with a selection of new songs that all sounded good, including 'Light' (for a dead friend), 'More Girls Just Like You' (one of the 'White Xmas' b-sides and available for download) and 'Pentonville Blues', a reference to his recent stay in prison (and a blue song).

The big response was for the old Culture Club songs that included 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me', 'Karma Chameleon' ("the famous one" as he called it) plus 'Victims' and a couple of others. There was also a big welcome to his solo works including 'Everything I Own', 'Il Adore', 'The Deal' (that led into Dylan's 'Knocking On Heaven's Door'), 'Unfinished Business', and, from 'Taboo', 'Stranger In This World' and 'Petrified'. The encore was, of course, 'Bow Down Mister' a great song and as euphoric as ever.

I don't think he's doing the same setlist every night since 'Summertime' seemed to be an ad lib but it was a great selection of songs to show off his range, his back catalogue and his voice. And to set some seeds for a potential new album. He was open about how poor 2009 had been for him with his spell in prison and was happy to look forward to 2010. Like many of us, I suspect.

It was a great show and great to be so close to the stage for a change, a lovely break from Christmas festivities and nice to be in town with so little traffic. Thanks for a great Christmas treat George, and here's looking forward to a new record in 2010.