Wham! their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities. For several years after becoming a solo artist, Michael spoke negatively, in public, about his time with Wham, partly because of the negativity of intense media coverage on Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about some of the videos and songs from the Wham repertoire, especially the video from "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", and the songs from Fantastic. However, his perspective on the era softened somewhat in the
Wham! on stage for a few songs at the encore of his performance at the Rock in Rio event at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On 21 November 2009, there was a Wham-themed night on television's "The X Factor" in the UK. Michael later appeared on the show's final episode, performing a duet of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with finalist and eventual winner Joe McElderry. In 2012, Michael said that there was no truth in speculation that he and Ridgeley were set for a Wham reunion to mark the 30th anniversary of the group's