George Michael will be the first artist to play a concert at the new Wembley Stadium on 9 June 2007 as part of his British and European Stadium tour.

The tour will kick start in Aarhus Stadium in Denmark on the 18 May and will visit Manchester, Glasgow, Plymouth and Norwich as well as France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Holland and Hungary.

The brand new 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium is set to be one of the greatest entertainment venues in the world, hosting some of the biggest and most exciting global events in the sports and music calendar.

Wembley Stadium has always featured prominently in Michael’s career. He has played many of his most memorable concerts there, including Live Aid in 1985, Wham’s farewell concert with Andrew Ridgeley in 1986, the Nelson Mandela concert in 1988, the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992 and Net Aid in 1999.

Michael had no hesitation when the opportunity came along to play the first music concert at the new Wembley Stadium.

Alex Horne, Managing Director of Wembley Stadium, said: “It's fantastic news that George Michael is to play Wembley Stadium’s opening concert. He's no stranger to this great stage having performed at the old stadium both with Wham! at Live Aid and also as a solo artist, so this is a fitting first gig in the new stadium.

I'm sure this will be a very hot ticket and we are looking forward to putting the stadium back on the world map as a major music destination…"

This announcement follows an extraordinary year for George Michael when in September 2006 he embarked on his sell-out ‘25 Live’ European tour – his first in 15 years – and released his number one album, ‘Twenty Five’.

George Michael is one of the world’s most successful male artists, selling over 85 million records globally and encompassing 11 British No.1 singles, eight British No.1 albums and six US No.1 singles.

Tickets for all UK dates will go on sale on Thursday 8 March 2007 at 10am and can be purchased by calling the national ticket hotlines: 0870 380 0148, 0871 230 5463 and 0871 424 1434 or online at www.seetickets.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk