George Michael Once Said People Mistook Him For This Man, And He Is At Manchester Opera House Tonight

So there is a George Michael show on at the Opera House in Manchester tonight, Thursday 1 October, and before anybody rolls their eyes at the word tribute, there is a story attached to this one that is worth knowing first.

Back in 2014, George Michael was asked in an interview whether he was ever mistaken for somebody else. And his answer was that he was “often mistaken for being Robert Lamberti”, the George Michael lookalike. Which is a joke, obviously, but it is a joke George Michael made about a specific man, by name, and that man is the one on stage tonight.

Who Rob Lamberti Actually Is

Now, if you are wondering where you might have seen him, there are a few places.

He is from Lincolnshire, and he was a live finalist on Stars in Their Eyes. Then in 2017 he was on the BBC’s Even Better Than the Real Thing, which is the show that got him properly known, because word of the performances went round social media and he ended up with the title of the UK’s number one George Michael tribute artist off the back of it. And he also turns up in the Steve Coogan film Greed, if you have seen that and could not work out why the face was familiar.

The one that surprises people most, though, is that he has actually worked on behalf of George Michael for Sony Music, promoting the album 25 Live. So this is not somebody who just bought the sunglasses.

The Band Is The Bit Most Listings Skip

Here is the thing that should honestly be at the top of every poster and is not. Some of George Michael’s own musicians play in Rob’s band.

That changes what you are paying for. A lot of tribute shows are one singer and a backing track, and the voice has to carry everything. This one has people on stage who played these songs with the man who wrote them, so the arrangements are going to sound the way they did on the real tours, and that is a different night out altogether.

What You Are Going To Hear

The show runs from Wham! right the way through to the different eras of the solo career, so Careless Whisper, Faith, I’m Your Man, Club Tropicana and a lot more besides. It runs about 2 hours 20 minutes, which is a proper length for a show, not a short set with an interval padding it out.

And the reviews going round are strong. West End Wilma, the theatre blog, called it nothing short of perfection, and the Southern Daily Echo reported the whole audience up on their feet dancing from the stalls right up to the balcony.

To be fair, a George Michael crowd was always going to get up for Club Tropicana. But the balcony as well is something.

He Was Only In Manchester In June

If this feels like he has only just been here, he has. He played the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on 12 June 2026, so tonight is a quick return, which is what the venue means when it says he returns to Manchester.

And tonight is also the opening night of a UK run covering 3 venues that goes all the way through to 17 April 2027. After Manchester he goes to Dublin, at the 3Olympia Theatre on 16 and 17 October, and Dublin is already down to single seats only on both nights. So if the Irish dates are anything to go by, tonight is not one to leave until the afternoon to sort out.

The Room Is Worth Seeing As Well

The Opera House is one of the biggest theatres in Manchester at 1,920 seats, and it has had a funny old life. It opened on Boxing Day 1912 as The New Theatre, got renamed the Opera House in 1920, was used as a cinema during the war and then as a bingo hall, and only went back to being a theatre in 1984. Since then it has had Phantom of the Opera and Barnum through the doors.

So a George Michael night in a room that used to do bingo. It fits, really.

Before Setting Off

• Show: Rob Lamberti Presents Perfectly George
• Venue: Opera House Manchester, Quay Street
• Date: tonight, Thursday 1 October 2026
• Running time: about 2 hours 20 minutes
• Tickets: ATG Tickets is the official agent, from around £40 including fees

The other dates on this run start at 19:30, and tonight should be the same, but check the ticket rather than going off that. And if you are buying on a resale site, compare the face value on ATG first, because resale is listed noticeably higher.

Worth getting there early, mostly so you are sat down for the first song. If it is Wham!, the room will be up before you have found your row.