I was there
I travelled from Ireland the day before, slept out on the street the night before.
Only 500 people were allowed in. Honestly looking back from actaully being there, it was crap.
The night before was very stressful. No one knew how many they would let in or what the procedure would be. All the staff who were asked, from store staff to night time security all just said wait until morning.
We counted the people in front of us in the queue, and figure out we were around 150 in the queue. If 200 were let we would just about make it, if only 100 then we wouldnt make the cut.
About 7am that morning staff started handing out cloakroom tickets, phew we got a ticket, now what?
At 9am there was movement, ok so now we all enter the store, buy the album, get our laminated pass on a chain and then.... exit the store. Once every had their laminated passes we all had to requeue to enter the store.
At about 11am we were back in the queue inside the shop. They lined us up in single file along the ground floor and lower ground floor and then locked the doors. They had screens on in the store and we could watch Michaels appearance outside and on TRL.
Then once he started the signing event we moved slowly slowly along. The album was playing in a loop and the screens alternated between the signing and music videos
It was sometime after 3pm when we finally got to meet Michael. We were about 4 hours queuing in the store at this stage, and for most of that time we only saw Michael on the screens. We only had snacks and soda in our bags, no other food, in fact I dont even remember going to the toilet, it was just endless queuing.
As we approached the area where Michael was we were told not to give him anything, he would only sign the album booklet, nothing else. We were told to open the album and take out the booklet. As we approached the table one security guard took the booklet from us and handed it to Michael. He signed it and unless you made an effort to talk to him or do something, the security guard just pulled you away from him. Quick, fast and very like a factory line, give him the book to sign, he signs, then next person.
Thats why he looks bored, thats why when people DID something, he came alive. So many people there were casual fans or autograph hunters and dealers. They did not care about talking to him or care about him.
In the queue the night before, me and my friends were discussing the CRY video which had just been released a few days before. So many people in the queue around us did not know that this song was on Invincible, in fact they had never hear ANY of the songs on the album or any recent Michael songs. They didnt know about the September concerts. Alot of them did this on a regular basis, as Virgin Megastore in Times Square had cd signings about once a week.
After Michael signed the album booklet you were literally dragged away from him and you had to immediately exit the building. That was it, done. Me and my friends were so disapointed, yes we got to meet him, yes we got an autograph, but we didnt really care about the autograph, we just wanted to see him, talk to him, thank him for looking after us after the Terror attacks, and so much more.
As the cd signing was on the lower floor, you couldnt even see him from outside the store. We waited near the exit for his car to leave, but the car came out of the building fast and no one had a chance to see him again.
We were so disapointed with the short time we had and how impersonal the whole experience was that we wanted to meet him again and have a better experience. So the next day we went to his hotel.
It was cold and we waited all day but finally we did see him and this time was so much fun and we had a much better experience.
One thing we couldnt understand though, Times Square shut down, almost 2000 people queued around the block, 500 people took part in the cd signing event, yet 10 Europeans and 1 American fan were outside his hotel the next day, wanting nothing more than to give him gifts and make him smile.
It made us realise that very few really truly cared about Michael the person, that most people saw him as a commodity, a product, a puppet on a string, something that can be used. They wanted the autograph but had no interest in the person writing the autograph.