I remember watching this special as if it was yesterday and sobbing through the entire thing-esp this part. (I was also crazy for Sammy Davis Jr. and wanted hm to get well so badly)
I never thought of it as the last "Bad era" performance, but you are right and now I'm crying all over again. I'm a little older than Michael and this was also for me the end of a truly lovely more innocent time of my life-I mourn the loss of that period of time for him as well.
I won't ever think of Dangerous, etc. in the same way as the previous QJ/Jacksons/Jackson 5 years since everything turned so horrible for him after that. Even though there are great and beautiful tracks after Bad, I never listen to them with the same joy and love.
I try not to be this way, but listening to the later albums trigger something in me that ignites the rage and hatred that I felt then and now for the people that destroyed Michael.