Ridgeley Recalls Wham's Pioneering 1985 China Tour
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- Wham! became the first western pop act to tour China in 1985, with Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael leading the trip four decades before this retrospective.
- Ridgeley recalled that audiences at the China gigs were silent, a stark contrast to the energetic western concert responses Wham! typically drew.
- Ridgeley described embassy receptions during the tour as awkward, framing the diplomatic side of the visit as uncomfortable.
- Filmmaker Lindsay Anderson was hired as director for the China project — a decision Ridgeley called 'bloody ludicrous' in hindsight.
- Ridgeley summed up the entire 1985 China trip as 'surreal,' underscoring how unusual the venture was for a British pop duo at the time.
Why it matters: Wham!'s 1985 visit was a diplomatic-pop culture crossover — the first western pop act ever to play China — making Ridgeley's candid, self-deprecating回忆 (memories) a rare insider account of a Cold War-era cultural thaw moment that bridged embassy politics and MTV-era stardom.
