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Michael's most surprising setlist choices and omissions

SoCav

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Michael was not the kind of artist who mixed up his concert setlists during a tour, instead focusing on perfecting what he felt was the best possible show to present to his fans. He also tended to focus on his biggest hit/most recognizable songs alongside a selection of his latest material, deeper cuts rarely made it onto the setlist. With this in mind it's interesting to look at his setlist choices over the years. What do you think are some of the most surprising picks, as well as some of the most surprising omissions?

Victory Tour
Michael of course was not solely in charge of the setlist here. So with that in mind:
Most surprising choices
  • Things I Do For You - I really like this track and it's cool to see it in the setlist. It is surprising that it was chosen as one of the only two songs played from the Destiny album though.
  • The Jermaine Medley - I know Jermaine was reasonably successful as a solo artist at the time, but the inclusion of tracks like Let's Get Serious and You Like Me, Don't You? is surprising to say the least.
Most surprising omissions
  • A lot of Thriller material. This album was so huge that it's very surprising that only 4 songs from it were played, especially when you consider some of the other songs that were chosen. I think the title track is probably the most surprising omission, but PYT could have also easily been slotted in as a dance track, and The Lady in My Life could have replaced She's Out Of My Life.
Bad Tour
The first leg is of course surprising overall because it was so similar to the Victory Tour setlist with a few additions, but I'll only focus on the 2nd leg setlist:
Most surprising choices
  • Heartbreak Hotel - This was the only Jacksons song included in the setlist. Michael wrote it by himself, but it's still surprising that he picked it over more recognizable self-penned tracks (e.g. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough).
Most surprising omissions
Of course I personally would have loved to have heard other tracks from the Bad album performed here, but if you are going to pick 7 of the 10 songs on the album to play, he probably picked the most logical ones. Overall, I think this setlist includes a nice percentage of the album he was touring behind (70%) supplemented with a pretty good balance between Thriller/OTW tracks, and a shout out to Jacksons and J5 material.

Dangerous Tour
Most surprising choices
  • Working Day and Night - I like this song a lot but given that Don't Stop Till You Get Enough and Rock With You are both more recognizable tracks from the Off The Wall album, it was surprising to see it survive in the setlist until the Dangerous Tour.
  • She's Out of My Life - Same here. By this time Michael had recorded several other ballads, so it's surprising to see SOOML last this long.
Most surprising omissions
  • Remember The Time - This was a very well-known track and when considering it's short film, it's incredibly easy to imagine it being performed live. Michael did rehearse it of course, but it never made the final setlist. In general, I think he could have easily performed more songs from the album. He only played 5 Dangerous tracks overall (only 4 during the first leg). It's surprising because the album did very well (and of course just a shame as I would have loved to have heard more Dangerous material live).
HIStory Tour
Most surprising choices
  • Come Together - Quite surprising to see a track that he recorded years earlier, and which seemed a bit of an odd inclusion on the HIStory album itself, make an appearance here.
  • D.S. - Although it was part of the album that Michael was touring behind, this song is one of the tracks that probably stands out the least on the album (though it stands out when you know what's behind it of course). Given the subject matter, I also would not have expected him to pull it out, but that's probably exactly why he did it.
  • In The Closet - it did not appear on the Dangerous Tour, so to see it make even the briefest of appearance during a medley here was quite surprising. Same goes for the even more brief snippet of She Drives Me Wild of course.
Most surprising omissions
I don't think there were particularly surprising omissions here. Compared to the Dangerous Tour, he played more tracks from his latest album (8 out of 15 of HIStory, plus 1 off of BotDF).

This Is It
Most surprising choices
  • The Drill - this was the only entirely new piece created for the concerts and thus surprising for that fact alone. Musically it's surprising too, especially the samples of the obscure Mind is the Magic. Wish we could learn more about the backstory of this piece.
  • Rock With You - For some reason I just did not expect this song to return to the setlist. It's a famous track of course, but one free of theatrics. Given that Michael focused more on this from the Dangerous Tour onwards, I found it a surprising but awesome choice.
  • Stranger in Moscow - Another famous track, but another one that I was not expecting. Would have been amazing.
In general the idea of determining on the day of the show whether he felt like performing Human Nature or Stranger in Moscow (which Michael Bearden said was the plan), was completely novel to Michael. I think it would have been amazing if he had done this more throughout his career (just imagine the songs we could have had live performances of).
 
This is It - Threatened. I had absolutely no idea that was coming and nearly jumped out of my seat in the Cinema. Incredibly cool thing to see.
 
dam2040 said:
This is It - Threatened. I had absolutely no idea that was coming and nearly jumped out of my seat in the Cinema. Incredibly cool thing to see.
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Totally, can't believe I forgot that one. Was completely unexpected and man, did the band make it sound great.
 
SoCav said:
A lot of Thriller material. This album was so huge that it's very surprising that only 4 songs from it were played, especially when you consider some of the other songs that were chosen. I think the title track is probably the most surprising omission, but PYT could have also easily been slotted in as a dance track, and The Lady in My Life could have replaced She's Out Of My Life.
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It was said at the time he didn't perform Thriller because of the Jehovah Witnesses. Remember it's also been said Mike wanted to destroy the video, but was talked into putting up the disclaimer.
 
This Is It - Speechless

I was happy to see he included WYBT and Threatened
 
Was Michael going to perform Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) for This Is It, or was it just going to be used as an instrumental interlude? Cause that being included in the setlist was a surprise
 
I think both DSTYGE and Shake Your Body were supposed to be an instrumental interlude with the dancers doing their thing (like we saw in the film). Does anyone remember for sure?
 
I'm surprised that Beat It was cut from the 93 leg of the Dangerous Tour. That's one of Michael's most popular hits
 
I think unless it was a song like Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean or Thriller then he chose songs for the shows based mostly on what actually worked, or what he envisioned working. I am guessing with Remember The Time he decided it wouldn't work live and you can see that from the rehearsals.

Man In The Mirror being dropped for the HIStory Tour was surprising, it was still pretty good in the Royal Brunei concert. Beat It being dropped from the 2nd leg of the Dangerous Tour is also surprising.

I guess some songs he either thought they wouldn't work live, or he decided later on they didn't work. He dropped Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel pretty quickly from the Dangerous Tour after the European leg also but they returned for the Tokyo shows.

The HIStory Tour could of been something completely different from Michael if the set list was chosen better, he struggled to sing live and dance at the same time at that point.

One thing I do wish is that the set list was better for the 1st leg of the Bad Tour, his vocals got worse as the Bad Tour went on in the 2nd leg so it would of been great to hear him perform TWYMMF and Man In The Mirror during the 1st leg when his voice was in its best condition. That would of been incredible.
 
L.T.D;4087402 said:
I think unless it was a song like Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean or Thriller then he chose songs for the shows based mostly on what actually worked, or what he envisioned working.
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Yeah, I think it was probably a combination between what he thought would work and what he thought the public wanted to see/hear. I think he seldom picked songs solely for himself, simply because he felt like playing them, so that's why the less obvious choices like Heartbreak Hotel on the Bad Tour and D.S. on the HIStory Tour are quite intriguing imo.

I think the fact that he had so many iconic routines coupled with his desire to give the public what he thought they wanted sometimes held him back from making some more unorthodox artistic choices during his live shows. Remember how he said that his favourite song to perform was Billie Jean, “but only when I don’t have to do it the same way. The audience wants a certain thing. I have to do the moonwalk in that spot. I’d like to do a different version.”

I also remember reading a report by a fan, in (I think) an old fanzine. That fan told a story of Michael chatting to a group of fans late in the evening from his hotel room window after he heard them sing Got To Be There. Apparently Michael was very surprised that they were singing that song. He said he loved that song and wished he could perform it, but that he thought fans wouldn't be familiar with it. My memory of the exact story is hazy, but it was something like this.

I guess some songs he either thought they wouldn't work live, or he decided later on they didn't work. He dropped Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel pretty quickly from the Dangerous Tour after the European leg also but they returned for the Tokyo shows.
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Good point. I always thought that simply had more to do with potential fatigue than because he thought they wouldn't work. He did not replace them with other songs and as you said, he did add them back in for that run of shows in Tokyo, so it does not seem like he thought they did not fit in the setlist.
 
analogue said:
Was Michael going to perform Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) for This Is It, or was it just going to be used as an instrumental interlude? Cause that being included in the setlist was a surprise
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I'm pretty sure it was going to be instrumental with the backup dancers showing off their moves and then Michael comes near the end. Like in the film.
 
L.T.D said:
I think unless it was a song like Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean or Thriller then he chose songs for the shows based mostly on what actually worked, or what he envisioned working. I am guessing with Remember The Time he decided it wouldn't work live and you can see that from the rehearsals.
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I liked RTT in the rehearsals. IMO it would have worked.
 
I wish that the Dangerous Tour would have included more songs from the Dangerous album. That tour was meant to promote that album and he only performed 5 songs from it.
 
analogue;4087442 said:
I wish that the Dangerous Tour would have included more songs from the Dangerous album. That tour was meant to promote that album and he only performed 5 songs from it.
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I agree, it's a pity. Imagine the possibilities: full performance of In The Closet, Who Is It, and on and on.

Jennifer Batten said in an interview with Charles Thomson that this was because Michael was very busy and had limited rehearsal time:

Batten says Jackson seemed like ‘the same Michael’, if slightly more fatigued. “I noticed that he was busier and I remember that one time he came to rehearsals and just apologised for not having been there the last few days. He said, ‘I was just showered with meetings’ and he just repeated it with emotion, ‘meeting after meeting after meeting’.”

Jackson’s heavy schedule dictated that he was ‘limited in his rehearsal time’, meaning that much of the set list was simply carried over from the Bad Tour. This was ‘kind of disappointing’ says Batten, because ‘we all wanted to play the new stuff’. One of the few new tracks – Remember The Time – was cut from the show after a wardrobe malfunction. “They had Egyptian costumes and the male dancers had these skirt kind of things. The first time we did it one of the dancers’ costumes fell off,” she cackles. “That was a little disturbing to Michael.
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And there's a quote by Janet listed on Wikipedia which is said to come from a Q magazine interview from 1993:
"Michael's show, I loved," said Janet Jackson. "The only thing – and I told him – that I wish he had done was to play more songs from the new album. And I wish he had played 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough'. He goes, 'I know, Jan, and the other brothers told me that, but you know what? I was really pressed for time.' And that's the thing, when you become so busy. So it was pretty much the same show as he's been doing for some time."
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SoCav said:
I agree, it's a pity. Imagine the possibilities: full performance of In The Closet, Who Is It, and on and on.

Jennifer Batten said in an interview with Charles Thomson that this was because Michael was very busy and had limited rehearsal time:


And there's a quote by Janet listed on Wikipedia which is said to come from a Q magazine interview from 1993:
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Hey that's really interesting! Never thought about it like that

Btw does anyone have that Janet interview from 1993?
 
SoCav;4087445 said:
The first time we did it one of the dancers’ costumes fell off,” she cackles. “That was a little disturbing to Michael.
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:hysterical:

Hope he wore underwear.
 
Bad Tour 1987
More songs from the Bad album
Dangerous Tour 1992
More songs from the Dangerous album
Dangerous Tour 1993
I wish he would have replaced WDAN and Beat it with songs from Dangerous, rather than just omit them.
HIStory Tour 1996-97
No Man In The Mirror :eek: liked how many songs where on this tour from the album it was promoting. I just wish he'd have preformed Tabloid Junkie or 2 Bad instead of Come Together.
This Is It
Shocked by seeing Threatened, Speechless, Shake Your Body and Stranger In Moscow. Really pleased he planned to perform though.
 
Bad Tour- It was a pretty good set. Nice to see songs like Rock With You and Lovely One get some live performance moments. I would have added Don't Stop Till You Get Enough.

Dangerous Tour- Remember The Time, In The Closet and Give Into Me should have been in the tour....Dangerous as well.

HIStory Tour- 2Bad should have been in there. No Man IN The Mirror didn't make any sense. And of course the big issue...not enough live singing

This Is It- Would have loved to find out what new songs Michael was planning to eventually sing (if any). Some more tracks from Invincible would have been great.
 
I just re-watched "The Musical Experience" extra from This Is It, and I noticed that Kenny made a big deal of how Michael didn't want to take You Are Not Alone out of the setlist, yet they did not put it in the movie. Seems like they would have pit that song in the movie since Michael was so adamant about it.
 
Victory Tour - I was very disappointed that PYT, or Baby Be Mine wasn't performed live. Jermaine's medley makes me very mad, because I don't really like him as a singer.

Bad Tour - There was no DSTYGE, OR I Can't Help It.

Dangerous Tour - No Remember the Time, that is what pisses me off the most.

HIStory Tour - What makes me very angry is that he didn't perform TMITM or 2 Bad.
 
I understand Michael was a workaholic but it'd had been awesome if had performed In The Closet, Who Is It and Remember The Time at least for the Dangeous instead of many songs from previous tours like WDAN, SOOML, etc. For HIStory, I agree with 2Bad and also Smile.
 
I don't like that NONE of the VICTORY songs made it on the tour.
I mean, i would think at LEAST one song. State of Shock or Torture would have been great!
I would have loved to see Jermaine and MJ sing Torture together live. It would have fit in perfectly after MJ and Jermaine did Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming.

Also, cutting Remember The Time from Dangerous tour was a bad choice. Not reviving it for History Tour was another bad choice.
 
TheManinTheMirror said:
Victory Tour - I was very disappointed that PYT, or Baby Be Mine wasn't performed live. Jermaine's medley makes me very mad, because I don't really like him as a singer.

HIStory Tour - What makes me very angry is that he didn't perform TMITM or 2 Bad.
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lets be real, Jermaines medley was basically an interlude for Michael to take a sip of water and change.
I mean, he did have legitimate hits then, so it's not like they were some obscure songs. But, whatever.
If it wasn't Jermaine, it would have just been the band doing instrumental stuff.


Also, 2Bad should have been there instead of D.S.

Also, it makes me sad when I see Jennifer Batten pretend to play the guitar on a lot of that tour (on top of backup singers pretending to sing and Mj singing part time).
 
For the Dangerous Tour, Gone Too Soon could have replaced She's Out Of My Life
 
respect77 said:
:hysterical:

Hope he wore underwear.
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ndlxxu.jpg


TheManinTheMirror said:
HIStory Tour - What makes me very angry is that he didn't perform TMITM or 2 Bad.
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Hmm, Man in the Mirror is one of my favourite songs and I also think it made for his best concert ending, but I can understand why he wanted to end the show with HIStory during that tour. Yeah, 2 Bad could have been very cool live.
 
Dangerous Tour:

I think that “She Is Out Of My Life” tied perfectly after the sudden “disappearance” of the woman at the end of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving’ You” (acting, at the same time, as an excuse, for a girl on stage).

Also, MJ should have performed live “Give In To Me” so as to give his concert a wild, rock aura as well (like he did with “Dirty Diana” during BAD Tour).
 
respect77 said:
I liked RTT in the rehearsals. IMO it would have worked.
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I liked it in the rehearsals but I saw too much room for error in the routine to perform it every night of a tour. It would of been great as a one off on an award show as he intended for the Soul Train Awards in 1993. I think he probably saw it the same.
 
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