George Michael has had to cancel this evening’s concert in the Czech capital after a truck carrying special equipment for use in the show crashed on the way to the city. The truck was traveling through Romania but it’s not been possible to recover the gear in time for this evening’s performance. George, who was not involved in the accident, is said to be very disappointed about not being able to perform tonight. There’s no word as yet as to when the show will be rescheduled.

George Michael appeared at Brent Magistrates’ Court in London yesterday to plead guilty to a charge of driving while unfit through drugs. According to this Daily Mail article he admitted that “I did something very stupid and have been very ashamed since doing it.”

George was arrested last October after police were called following reports that a car was causing an obstruction at a junction in Cricklewood, North London. When the police arrived they found George slumped at the wheel of a Mercedes. Sentencing on the case was deferred until May 30.

In the meantime, fans can still get tickets for George Michael’s European Tour which is slated to start on 18 May.

Blue’s Antony Costa met up with his idol George Michael backstage on a BBC show last week. Blue were there to take part in our webchat and promote forthcoming single, ‘U Make Me Wanna’, while George was to perform his anti-war song, ‘The Grave’.

“I was chuffed to meet him,” Ant told reporters. “We had a good chat and he told me he was a fan of the band. I’d love to get him down to the studio and record some tracks with him in the future. Who knows? That would be great.”

With the dismal chart performance of his controversial ‘Shoot The Dog’ single still fresh in his mind, George Michael looks like he could do with all the friends he can get, especially as the tabloids have declared his career over!

Luckily, Atomic Kitten and Sugababes are on hand to provide some much-needed support, despite the fact they prefer his earlier work.

“He’s just getting himself into trouble, isn’t he?” Atomic Kitten Liz McLarnon admitted, regarding the satirical track, which last week debuted in the charts at a lowly No. 12 “But at the end of the day it’s up to him. Free speech and all that.”

However, bandmate Jenny Frost admitted that ‘Shoot The Dog’ is nowhere near as good any of his previous material. “I still love George Michael ok” she confessed, adding “But I’m still in my ‘Father Figure’ phase. That and ‘Fast Love’ are my two favourite George songs.”

However, it isn’t just the ladies from Atomic Kitten who wish that George should go back to writing tunes like ‘Praying For Time’, so too do the Sugababes.

“I think George Michael has written a load of good songs” Heidi admitted “I think at the moment he might be bored writing good songs since he’s written so many. I think he’s just having a bit of laugh!”.

BBC Radio 1 have decided not to playlist George Michael’s new single, which I think is brilliant, named ‘Shoot The Dog’. London’s Capital Radio and Heart FM have also snubbed the single making its chances of hitting the Top 20 very slim.

George’s controversial single attacks the relationship between PM Tony Blair and US President George Bush. American audiences have seen it as an attack on America and radio stations across the US have refused to play the single although it is not scheduled for a US release.

The chosen singles on Radio 1’s A List are played at least 30 times a week. Songs on the B list are aired at least 15 times with C list records being played at least 5 times a week. So far, Radio 1 has played George’s track just 2 times.

Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman said “George is trying to be too trendy. He should go back to songs like Careless Whisper.”

38 year-old George Michael had a go at Oasis the other day, saying “The critics made one member of Oasis feel like they were the whole of Oasis and he promptly wrecked the best band we’d had in 20 years. The best album is the first album, even the second album, the massive album, was not as good an album as the first album. And he gradually got rid of the band.”

George added further that Oasis’s latest single, ‘The Hindu Times’ was fine, but just not what he would’ve expected from them. Besides that, the ‘Freeek’ vocalist slagged Oasis more by saying “Noel said that most of his gay friends thought I was disgusting. Yeah right! I can really imagine Noel hanging out with a load of nellies around at his house every night, slamming the gays.”Turning his attention to the entire ‘Pop Idol’ phenomenon, “I don’t think Pop Idol has much to do with the music industry,’ said George. “It’s just Saturday night TV entertainment. It’s killing the music industry. The singles market is dying in this country and we’re not exporting any stars around the world. 8 million people called in to vote for Pop Idol, which is about interactivity, not music ok. We should turn all that people power into something positive, maybe give exposure to bands who can’t be heard right now.”

He even conceded that his new single ‘Freeek’ would be outshined by Gareth’s ‘Unchained Melody’, saying “Gareth’s single will be huge, obviously. When I was watching Pop Idol, I never thought it would become this huge mega-event and so it never occurred to me to change the release date of my single”.

George, who apparently is having a fabulous relationship with Kenny Goss, said he was not that surprised that Will had announced he was gay. “It didn’t come as a surprise to me but I’m majorly impressed that he did it. It was fairly obvious though.”

Denying that he had fallen out with former pal, Geri Halliwell, George, who is working to put on a live show next year, said “Geri is a lovely girl and a remarkable person but it’s difficult to be friends with someone who courts the press all the time. I don’t mean that in a bad way. She’s a victim of that process in a way but I love privacy so it’s difficult to be with her. I was drawn to her initially after the Spice Girls split. We’d both recently lost a parent and she was good company to be with.”

George’s ‘Freeek’ is already available in your trusty music outlet and defending the controversial video with its saucy antics, he mentioned, “It’s meant to be tongue in cheek and fun. I’m not advocating that kids go out and become perverts or anything. I do think that people are very suspicious of the sexual opinions of anyone who is openly gay and the flak I’ve received conceals a certain amount of homophobia in the press”.

Having lost out to Will on Pop Idol, Gareth Gates, 17, is also putting his heart and soul to start his life as a pop star. Just like Will, Simon Cowell provided Gareth with a recording contract too and come 18th of March 2002, get set for the nail biting chart action to take place.

Gareth is soon going to release his single, the tearjerker of a song ‘Unchained Melody’, and might face fierce chart battle with his idol, George Michael.

The ex-Wham superstar is about to officially release his brand new single ‘Freeek’. The video for the comeback song is said to have cost a stonking 1 million pounds and is said to be the most expensive music video ever made. Sporting a futuristic theme and shot in Los Angeles, George plays an action hero in the elaborate video. George has signed a contract with Universal Records stating he is with them for this single only but if he’s pleased with their work, then he would sign on with them for his next album.If you want to sample George’s new single that has rather racy lyrics, then head on down to his official website:

www.georgemichael.net.

So if Gareth does decide to bring forward his single’s release date, then apparently he’s up against Ali G and Shaggy. If he decides to release ‘Unchained Melody’ a week later, he’ll be up against Robbie Williams.