Total Freedom: Two George Michael Live Releases - One with Wham! - Due This Year

Total Freedom: Two George Michael Live Releases – One with Wham! – Due This Year

September 2, 2026 By Mike Duquette — 1 Comment

If you’ve never caught George Michael in concert, this year will see the release of not one but two peak-era releases showcasing his live skills – an EP of unreleased live cuts with Wham!, and a full concert album from 1988’s tour in support of solo debut Faith.

Both projects are tied to recent or forthcoming film releases. 10 Days in China – The Live EP follows the recent release of Wham! 10 Days in China, unbelievably the third documentary on the duo in the last four years. (The first, a self-titled, career-spanning documentary, bowed on Netflix in 2023, foll0wed a year later by an hourlong BBC documentary on the making of “Last Christmas.”) This in-depth feature looked at George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s 1985 visit to China for a pair of concerts – an occasion almost entirely unprecedented for British pop artists. (Much of the footage was captured by British director Lindsay Anderson for a shelved documentary that was salvaged into the vintage video release Wham! in China – Foreign Skies; it’s here augmented by new interviews with Ridgeley, then-manager Simon Napier-Bell and local artists inspired by seeing the duo.)

While a version of B-side “Blue (Armed with Love)” from the duo’s Beijing appearance was released on Music from the Edge of Heaven, a collection of tracks issued in America after the duo’s 1986 split, these four versions of the band’s hits “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Everything She Wants,” “Freedom” and “Careless Whisper” – two recorded in Beijing, two recorded days later in Guangzhou – are heard here for the first time ever, newly mixed and mastered for this release. 10 Days in China – The Live EP is available December 4 on CD and multiple vinyl formats, including color and picture disc variants.

Just before 10 Days in China – The Live EP is released, Michael’s estate will also release The Faith Tour, the first full-length live release from the singer/songwriter’s first solo tour in 1988. Recorded over two nights at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy at the end of May 1988, the album features a hits-packed set featuring the many hits from Faith (“I Want Your Sex,” “Faith,” “Father Figure,” “One More Try,” “Monkey”), takes on the Wham! favorites “Everything She Wants,” “Careless Whisper,” and “I’m Your Man,” and covers of Stevie Wonder (“Love’s in Need of Love Today”), Labelle (“Lady Marmalade”) and Wild Cherry (“Play That Funky Music”). Chris Porter has mixed the audio for this release.

Like 10 Days in China, The Faith Tour will also accompany a film release of the same name. Captured on 35 millimeter film from the same shows on the album, the project is newly restored by co-directors David Austin (Michael’s longtime friend and creative collaborator) and Andy Morahan (who directed most of Wham! and Michael’s best-known music videos). Its theatrical release will be preceded by the new short Finding Faith; directed by Mary McCartney (Paul’s daughter), it combines behind-the-scenes footage from the “Faith” video, archival interview audio from Michael, and unseen photos taken by Herb Ritts.

The Faith Tour album will also be available in multiple formats, including several 2LP color variants (which lack two tracks from the other formats) and a box set including the complete program on CD and vinyl with a 155-page hardcover book. The album will be released November 6, concurrently with the European release of the concert film. (It hits theaters in America on December 11.) You can pre-order each title below (as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases) and hear a track from The Faith Tour as well.

Wham!, 10 Days in China – The Live EP (Epic/Sony Music (U.K.), 2026)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
12″ (black): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
12″ (blue): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Exclusives: Red Vinyl (indie retail) / Picture Disc (official store)

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
Everything She Wants
Freedom
Careless Whisper

Tracks 1 and 3 recorded live at Worker’s Gymnasium, Beijing, China – 4/7/1985
Tracks 2 and 4 recorded live at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Guangzhou, China – 4/10/1985
All tracks previously unreleased

George Michael, The Faith Tour (Columbia/Legacy, 2026)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP (black): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP (clear): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Official Store exclusives: 2CD/3LP box set / 2LP (blue marble vinyl) / 2LP (picture disc)

CD 1

Freedom (Opening)
I Want Your Sex
Hard Day
Love’s in Need of Love Today
Everything She Wants
Father Figure
I’m Your Man
A Different Corner
Faith

CD 2

Monkey
Hand to Mouth *
Play That Funky Music *
One More Try
I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)
Careless Whisper
Lady Marmalade
I Want Your Sex (Parts 1 and 2)
Freedom (Finale)

All tracks recorded live at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris, France – 5/30 and 5/31/1988
All tracks previously unreleased. * excluded from 2LP

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Pop, Rock

Tags:

George Michael, Wham!

Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.