Make Your Own Michael Jackson Setlist/Show

fraroc04

Proud Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2016
Messages
177
Points
28
Before I begin this thread, I'd like to explain that I have no problem with the proposed setlist that was to be played for TII. This is just my personal idealized MJ show that would be perfect in my own view. The purpose of this thread really isn't to wonder what This Is It could have been, but rather, what would the perfect Michael Jackson show be for you? What kind of stage effects should be used and what songs should be played?

This is going to by my perfect idealized MJ show and what I would have liked to seen with This Is It...

Setlist:

1. Concert Intro
2. Scream
3. The Drill/They Don't Care About Us
4. Medley: HIStory/D.S
5. Human Nature
6. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
7. Stranger In Moscow
8. The Way You Make Me Feel
9. A. This Time Around (First time performed live)/ B. Dirty Diana
10. Smooth Criminal
11. You Are Not Alone
12. She's Out Of My Life
13. Jackson 5 Medley: I Want You Back/The Love You Save/Ben
14. Bad
15. Video Intermission
16. Thriller
17. 2009 Leg: Working Day And Night/ 2010 Leg: Morphine (first time performed live)
18. Beat It
19. 2009 Leg: Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)/ 2010 Leg: Dangerous
20. Black Or White
21. Earth Song
22. We Are The World
23. Billie Jean

ENCORE

24. Off The Wall
25. Rock With You
26. Man In The Mirror


Stage Effects/Costumes:

The concert intro is a dramatic re-enactment of the HIStory trailer video on stage, Michael appears on stage wearing a full military combat uniform consisting of a camouflage jumpsuit and body armor after a gigantic fireworks display. Michael wears the full outfit for Scream, The Drill/TCDAU, the HIStory/D.S Medley, and Human Nature.

For WBSS, he wears the camo jumpsuit without the body armor

For Stranger In Moscow, he wears the camoflauge jacket open. Sometimes he'll take the jacket off halfway through the song and just wear the camo pants and his white t-shirt.

The Way You Make Me Feel starts with an act that is similar to the music video. The act consists of the dancers acting like douchebags at a Jersey Shore-like party setting. A beautiful blonde woman in a crop top and short-shorts shows up and the dancers start to sexually harass her. At this point, Michael appears onstage, wearing his signature blue TWYMMF shirt with the camo pants and yells “HEY!!!” and the dancers leave the girl alone. Michael then approaches the woman and after a short pause….”YOU KNOCK ME OFF OF MY FEET, MY BABY!! HOOOOOOOOO!!!” And the song begins.

For This Time Around, Michael will still wear the TWYMMF shirt untucked and one of the backup singers will perform the rap part.

Smooth Criminal will begin with the "My footsteps broke the silence of the pre-dawn hours..." Bad/Dangerous tour intro and in this song, Michael will wear his signature white Smooth Criminal blazer and fedora along with the camo pants. A massive fireworks display will be set off during the lean, similar to the Immortal World Tour.

For both YANA and SOOML, Michael wears a simple black button down shirt. For SOOML, Michael will pick a girl in the audience to bring onstage.

For the J5 Medley, Michael puts away his headset microphone and replaces it with a handheld microphone. He is wearing a black leather jacket and as usual, he addresses the audience that he wants to do some old songs the old fashioned way.

For Bad, the dancers all wear biker-style clothing and Michael keeps on the leather jacket from the last song.

The video intermission is a horror themed 3D intro which is an appropriate segue into the next song, which is Thriller.

Thriller is the last song where Michael wears the camouflage pants from the military costume and the jacket he wears for thriller is a different color scheme than any of the other tours. Black with white stripes instead of the Dangerous and History white with black stripes. Michael performs a disappearing act where he gets burned at the stake (a la Joan of Arc)

For Working Day And Night, Michael is wearing a golden outfit that's similar to what he wore for the Victory tour. The song consists of long instrumental sections and a second disappearing act where the dancers tackle Michael to the ground, and put him inside of a wooden crate that rises up to the lighting rig as the dancers point to it. The song ends with an explosion as the crate falls to the stage and opens up revealing that Michael is gone! A second explosion occurs as the spotlight centers on Michael Jackson on the hydraulic lift screaming HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Which is a direct segue into Beat it.

For Beat It, Michael starts the song on the hydraulic lift wearing his classic outfit of black pants, his red Beat It jacket, and a torn up black duster coat waving in the wind. For my imaginary show, I imagine the lift to be built into the stage itself and span the entire length of the stage. Also the lift is a telescoping lift that can extend in length as well as height, similar to what Trans Siberian Orchestra uses, as shown by this pic

EP-131129410.jpg


The lift goes up all the way, then descends a little bit before turning over the audience. If the timing of the lift is right, Michael will stay on the lift until the "They're out to get you better leave while you can" line when he returns on stage. The song ends with a large building crescendo and crazy freestyle dance moves by MJ.

For Shake Your Body, the song begins with an extended intro showcasing the dancer's skills, some are breakdancing, some are doing crazy acrobatic maneuvers, some are doing ballet moves. Michael appears onstage still wearing the Beat It jacket and the song begins. Like the Victory and Bad tours, the song consists of extended instrumental parts where MJ moonwalks and does side slides. Snippets of DSTYGE are also included.

For Black Or White, the classic Black Or White intro video is shown on the big screen before the song begins. Michael's outfit consists of a white button down shirt and the body armor from the military outfit (the warrior jacket that was designed for MJ for TII I'm sorry, looks WAY too heavy for a song that takes a lot of physical exertion from Michael) During the "I am tired of this devil" part, the lead guitarist gets onto the hydraulic lift that rises her (I always envision a female guitarist, whether it's Orianthi or Jennifer Batten) up and then down during the rap part. For the ending of the song, the guitarist does a Paul Stanely-like guitar smashing act as Michael runs around the stage screaming "HOOO!" The song ends abruptly....and a forest appears on the giant screen, signaling the beginning of Earth Song

For Earth Song, The stage is decorated in a manner that represents a war torn no man’s land. Michael appears on stage wearing a tattered black hoodie and his headset microphone. After the second verse, a bunch of actors dressed up like environmental activists stage a protest on stage. After the part in the song where the pitch becomes higher (just before the What About Us part), a SWAT team appears onstage and pretends to beat them up, arrest them, and even shoot them to death. In the midst of the chaos, Michael hops onto the hydraulic lift which goes up all the way and begins to turn over the audience. During the “what about apathy, I didn’t even do” line, the lift telescopes outward, raising Michael higher above the audience. The lift reaches its full length and height during the “what about elephants, have we lost their trust” line. The lift begins to telescope back into itself and descend back to the stage around the “what about babies, what about the days” line. If the timing is right, Michael should disembark the lift right after the "do we give a damn" line.

For the act after Earth Song, a gigantic armored police assault van appears on stage. Officers surround Michael Jackson with their guns pointed at him, one officer goes as far as to grab Michael by the hair and shove the barrel of the gun in the side of his head……Suddenly, a little girl appears, with a flower…..The officer looks at her, puts the gun down, accepts the flower from the little girl….and collapses to the ground and cries. Michael goes up to him, stands him up and gives him a hug, the officer hugs him back….At this point, Michael gives a short speech about the environment and injustice in the world...And ends it with a call to arms to make the world a better place….Which directly segues into the most famous charity single ever recorded, We Are The World.

For We Are The World, Michael sings the entire first verse and chorus of the song before leaving the stage. At this point, the officer (who is one of the backing singers) begins to take over, passing the microphone to the other singers for the different lines of the song. Michael appears back onstage for the “when you’re down and out and there seems no hope at all” wearing his sparkly jacket, the Billie Jean glove and using a hand held microphone…For the rest of the song, Michael and all of his singers sing together….After the song is over, the scenery changes back to the standard stage….A familiar drum beat plays, signaling the beginning of Billie Jean...

For Billie Jean,The song begins with Michael doing the familiar dance sequence in front of a flashing strobe light. The performance follows the same suit as other performances of the song with three moonwalks and an extended dance sequence and beat box.)

For Off The Wall and Rock With You, Michael is wearing the black and gold Dangerous tour military jacket. A giant disco ball appears in the lighting rig as the dancers and backup singers do an act that recreates the Triumph era of Michael Jackson/The Jacksons.

For the final song, Man In The Mirror, Michael wears a black western-style fringe leather jacket. The ending of the show consists of an elaborate outro where the gigantic discoball lowers to the stage and opens up in half. Michael takes off the jacket and steps into the discoball and waves goodbye to his fans...The disco ball closes and with a giant pyrotechnics display, begins to rise to the lighting rig with Michael inside...At that point, the show ends.


For Dirty Diana, Michael wears a white button down shirt dancing with two highly skilled pole dancers onstage (similar to what was planned for TII)

For Morphine, Michael will wear an all-white outfit consisting of a straitjacket with broken straps to give the illusion that Michael ripped through the straitjacket with his own strength. The dissapearing act consists of the dancers dressed as psych ward orderlies trying to force Michael Jackson to put on a second straitjacket. As all the dancers surround and tackle him...He suddenly makes a mad dash to backstage, leaving the orderlies scratching their heads wondering where MJ is...Suddenly Morphine ends and the spotlight centers to Michael screaming "HOOOO!" on the hydraulic lift, singling the beginning to Beat It.

For Dangerous, the song is performed in the same fashion that the 1999 MJ and Friends shows were with an attractive girl wearing a spiky jumpsuit and the dancers and Michael doing the whole Dangerous act.



WHEW...that was a long post! BTW you don't need to go into as much detail as I did. I really went all out with this lol!
 
Last edited:
I think that certain songs were never meant to be performed live (for example, ‘This Time Around’, ‘Morphine’, ’Speed Demon’, ‘Heartbreaker’). But, these songs could have been used as great interludes/bridges between different songs building in this way a more coherent & appealing audio experience, especially in that rather intimate environment.

Also, I wish certain love ballads (‘Liberian Girl’, ‘Whatever Happens’, for example) had been performed fully live with the aid of only a handheld microphone, in other words, in a very minimalist way (no gaudy costumes, no effects, no spins).

Additionally, I wish MJ had decided to make a lot of vocal & dance improvisations, like he did for example, during the second half of the ‘Shake Your Body [Down To The Ground]’ live performance during the Victory Tour.

Moreover, I expected from MJ to perform his rock hit ‘Give In To Me’ in a very similar way like the video clip performance. To be honest, the fact that he never sang that song live was a missed opportunity for an entertainer of his caliber.

One thing that I did not like at all at that time was all that on stage costliness (jewelry, for example) that surrounded his major comeback. I found it rather unnecessary (even for a King of Pop) &, in my opinion, it could have distracted from his music.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

1. Wanna Be Startin Somethin
2. Jam
3. They Don't Care About Us
4. Another Part Of Me
5. I Just Can't Stop Loving You
6. Jackson 5 Medley
7. Rock With You
8. Thriller (With Threatened outro)
9. Human Nature (Sometimes replaced with Stranger In Moscow)
10. Smooth Criminal
11. Will You Be There (Sometimes replaced with Who Is It)

*Break*

12. Working Day And Night
13. Beat It
14. Blood On The Dance Floor
15. Billie Jean
16. The Way You Make Me Feel

*Panther dance video clip*

17. BAD
18. Black Or White
19. Earth Song
20. Man In The Mirror
 
Last edited:
mj_frenzy;4129484 said:
I think that certain songs were never meant to be performed live (for example, ‘This Time Around’, ‘Morphine’, ’Speed Demon’, ‘Heartbreaker’).
that wasn't the question though...it was which songs would you have loved to hear/see live? if it was up to you? have you never thought about or imagined what the performance of this or that song would be like live? nvm, what they were "meant to be" or not to be, just use your imagination :cheeky:
 
Last edited:
mj_frenzy;4129484 said:
I think that certain songs were never meant to be performed live (for example, ‘This Time Around’, ‘Morphine’, ’Speed Demon’, ‘Heartbreaker’). But, these songs could have been used as great interludes/bridges between different songs building in this way a more coherent & appealing audio experience, especially in that rather intimate environment.

Also, I wish certain love ballads (‘Liberian Girl’, ‘Whatever Happens’, for example) had been performed fully live with the aid of only a handheld microphone, in other words, in a very minimalist way (no gaudy costumes, no effects, no spins).

Additionally, I wish MJ had decided to make a lot of vocal & dance improvisations, like he did for example, during the second half of the ‘Shake Your Body [Down To The Ground]’ live performance during the Victory Tour.

Moreover, I expected from MJ to perform his rock hit ‘Give In To Me’ in a very similar way like the video clip performance. To be honest, the fact that he never sang that song live was a missed opportunity for an entertainer of his caliber.

One thing that I did not like at all at that time was all that on stage costliness (jewelry, for example) that surrounded his major comeback. I found it rather unnecessary (even for a King of Pop) &, in my opinion, it could have distracted from his music.

I agree...The show that I wrote down in my OP has a more "Traditional MJ" approach to his comback in terms of the staging and the costumes. I have no doubt in my mind that Zaldy is a fantastic fashion designer, but he really went completely overboard with certain things. The Light Man suit, while cool looking, would have been absoluley BLINDING with all those Swarovski crystals covering it and the Black Or White samurai warrior jacket? Zaldy himself said that the jacket weighed TEN POUNDS and it was to be used for a very energetic song where Michael dances a lot. Though I will admit that the Billie Jean light-up clothing was really cool.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

Luckily, most of my favorite songs have been in MJ's setlists, but my dream concert would be something like this:

1. Jam
2. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
3. Drill / They Don't Care About Us
4. Stranger In Moscow
5. Smooth Criminal
6. Don't Walk Away
7. Give In To Me
8. Dirty Diana
9. Billie Jean
10. Beat It
11. Workin' Day and Night
12. Blood On The Dance Floor
13. Dangerous
14. Will You Be There
15. Black Or White
16. Earth Song
17. Man In The Mirror
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

1. Intro/Jam
2. The Drill/They Don't Care About Us/She Drives Me Wild/Why You Wanna Trip On Me
3. Wanna Be Startin' Something
4. Scream/Money
5. Human Nature/Stranger In Moscow
6. Smooth Criminal
- BREAK -
7. Another Part of Me
8. Heartbreak Hotel
9. Rock With You/Off the Wall/Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough
10. Ben/She's Out of My Life/You Are Not Alone
- BREAK -
11. Thriller
12. Dirty Diana
13. Beat It
14. Billie Jean
- BREAK -
15. Dangerous
16. Workin' Day and Night
17. Bad
- BREAK -
18. (THIS CHANGES) [I'll Be There/I Want You Back/Stop the Love You Save/ABC/Dancing Machine/Never Can Say Goodbye
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

I'll try to keep mine contained to just 20 songs

--------Light Man Intro-------------
1.) Unbreakable
2.) WBSS
3.) The Drill/They Don't Care About Us
4.) Stranger In Moscow
5.) Butterflies
6.) Smooth Criminal
7.) The Way You Make Me Feel/You Rock My World
-------Interlude (Music & Me)----------------
8.) J5 Medley (I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save/I'll Be There)
9.) Rock With You
10.) Don't Stop Til You Get Enough/Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
11.) Who Is It/Blood On the Dance Floor
---------Graveyard intro/interlude--------------
12.) Thriller/Threatened (with choreography from Ghosts short film) (Magic Trick segue into...)
13.) Beat It
14.) Dangerous (with the intro of Whatever Happens instead of the snippet from The Good The Bad & The Ugly Theme)
---------Black or White short film intro----------
15.) Black Or White
16.) Billie Jean
17.) You Are Not Alone
18.) Earth Song (with snippets from We've Had Enough)
-----------We Are The World Instrumental interlude------------
19.) Heal The World/Cry
20.) Man In The Mirror
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

not necessarily in that order:
Can You Feel It
Jam
They Don't Care About Us
Ben
Off The Wall
Stranger In Moscow
Stand
Goin Back To Indiana
Get It Together
I'll Be There
The Lost Children
Show You The Way To Go
Billie Jean
Thriller
Beat It
Working Day And Night
I Wanna Be Where You Are
Smooth Criminal
Blame It On The Boogie
Don't Stop Till you Get Enough
Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
Morphine
Dangerous
Privacy
Heartbreak Hotel
Bad
Ghosts
Black Or White
Earth Song
Heal The World
Man In The Mirror
HIStory
 
Last edited:
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

I'd also like to add to my setlist that Smooth Criminal would also sometimes be switched with Heartbreak Hotel and in this case, Michael would wear a solid white jacket and fedora as opposed to the Smooth Criminal jacket and hat with the blue pinstripes. In order to make sure that the audience doesn't get shorted out of all the Michael Jackson moves, Michael and his dancers would perform the lean during the guitar solo of Heartbreak Hotel.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

For me I would use "Wanna be startin something" as opener and end it on Heal the World or Man in the Mirror.

A set list would go assuming we can usePosthumous tracks as well

Opening - Before MJ comes out the stage is dark and a screen lowers playing a montage of Jackson 5 clips, then Jackson ones and finally videos from Off the Wall and Thriller. This is my fantasy right - Prince is the opening act and he plays a 7 song set including 1999/Lets Go Crazy/ U got the look/Glam Slam/Alphabet Street/ Cream and Black Sweat as a finale and then leaves the stage to say - Ladies and Gentlemen, a true friend of mine and a gifted performer.

MICHAEL JACKSON and the music goes into (Michael emerges wearing black tights, a light singlet and shirt and his fedora, for a hot foot sequence to warm up the stage.

Wanna be startin something
In The closet
Why you trip on me
Slave to the Rhythm
The way you make me feel

Then Michael leaves and emerges in his 1980s red jacket and does the gangster part of the show
Beat it
Bad (Prince comes and duets, do his duckface when MJ sings about his butt being mine)
Smooth Criminal in which he moonwalks (Prince is the evil gangster he is trying to defeat)
Blue Gangsta (Prince falls down)
The dancers gang up on him like tuffs, but it gets dark and Michael runs off to the sounds of
Xscape.

He emerges for the ballads and the love section of the concert
The way you make me feel
Remember the time
Loving You
Rock with you
I just can't stop loving you (Duet with Janet)
Your are not alone
Hold my hand
She's out of my life (His heart is broken by his stage)
Heartbreak Hotel (Where he finds out she was stringing him along all the time)
Walk right now (Jackson brothers emerge for this part)

Then after another break its the crowd pleasing part
Billie Jean
Black or White
Give in to me
Pretty Young Thing
Scream
They don't care about us

Then another conscience part
Man in the mirror
Earth Song
Cry
At this point everyone comes on and there is a finale (Prince, Janet, Jackson bros)

ENCORE
Who is it
Dangerous
Another part of me

FINAL ENCORE

Thriller extended

Michael is covered with flowers, flies over audience in a jet pack and glitter is sprinkled every where.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

Some nice setlist in here.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

For me I would use "Wanna be startin something" as opener and end it on Heal the World or Man in the Mirror.

A set list would go assuming we can usePosthumous tracks as well

Opening - Before MJ comes out the stage is dark and a screen lowers playing a montage of Jackson 5 clips, then Jackson ones and finally videos from Off the Wall and Thriller. This is my fantasy right - Prince is the opening act and he plays a 7 song set including 1999/Lets Go Crazy/ U got the look/Glam Slam/Alphabet Street/ Cream and Black Sweat as a finale and then leaves the stage to say - Ladies and Gentlemen, a true friend of mine and a gifted performer.

MICHAEL JACKSON and the music goes into (Michael emerges wearing black tights, a light singlet and shirt and his fedora, for a hot foot sequence to warm up the stage.

Wanna be startin something
In The closet
Why you trip on me
Slave to the Rhythm
The way you make me feel

Then Michael leaves and emerges in his 1980s red jacket and does the gangster part of the show
Beat it
Bad (Prince comes and duets, do his duckface when MJ sings about his butt being mine)
Smooth Criminal in which he moonwalks (Prince is the evil gangster he is trying to defeat)
Blue Gangsta (Prince falls down)
The dancers gang up on him like tuffs, but it gets dark and Michael runs off to the sounds of
Xscape.

He emerges for the ballads and the love section of the concert
The way you make me feel
Remember the time
Loving You
Rock with you
I just can't stop loving you (Duet with Janet)
Your are not alone
Hold my hand
She's out of my life (His heart is broken by his stage)
Heartbreak Hotel (Where he finds out she was stringing him along all the time)
Walk right now (Jackson brothers emerge for this part)

Then after another break its the crowd pleasing part
Billie Jean
Black or White
Give in to me
Pretty Young Thing
Scream
They don't care about us

Then another conscience part
Man in the mirror
Earth Song
Cry
At this point everyone comes on and there is a finale (Prince, Janet, Jackson bros)

ENCORE
Who is it
Dangerous
Another part of me

FINAL ENCORE

Thriller extended

Michael is covered with flowers, flies over audience in a jet pack and glitter is sprinkled every where.

Not sure singing a sexy love song with his sister would do much for his image.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

I'd also like to add to my setlist that Smooth Criminal would also sometimes be switched with Heartbreak Hotel and in this case, Michael would wear a solid white jacket and fedora as opposed to the Smooth Criminal jacket and hat with the blue pinstripes. In order to make sure that the audience doesn't get shorted out of all the Michael Jackson moves, Michael and his dancers would perform the lean during the guitar solo of Heartbreak Hotel.

Removing Smooth Criminal from any Michael Jackson concert is a serious crime
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

Not sure singing a sexy love song with his sister would do much for his image.
I certainly agree with that. There's enough flack on the Say Say Say video on YouTube ragging about the brief glimpse of LaToya as the love interest-

What is a "singlet"?
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

I certainly agree with that. There's enough flack on the Say Say Say video on YouTube ragging about the brief glimpse of LaToya as the love interest-

What is a "singlet"?

Oh yeah! Forget about the raised eyebrow after Say Say Say!

A singlet is a vest a la In The Closet video (his sexiest)
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

Realistically for This Is It in real life, It would be half live, half lip synced like on the Dangerous tour, so this is how I see my setlist performed.

1. Concert Intro (No vocals, it's an intro!)

2. Scream (Lip synced)

3. The Drill/They Don't Care About Us (Lip synced except for military cadences)

4. Medley: HIStory/D.S (Lip synced)

5. Human Nature (fully live)

6. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (fully live)

7. Stranger In Moscow (Lip synced except for ad-libs twoards the end)

8. The Way You Make Me Feel (Lip synced except for ad libs)

9. A. This Time Around (Lip synced)

B. Dirty Diana (fully live)

10. Smooth Criminal (lip synced except for final "You've been hit by, you've been struck by a smooth criminal" line.)

11. You Are Not Alone (lip synced except for ad-libs twoards the end)

12. She's Out Of My Life (fully live)

13. Jackson 5 Medley: I Want You Back/The Love You Save/Ben (fully live)

14. Bad (lip synced except for ad-libs twoards the end)

15. Video Intermission (again, no vocals at all)

16. Thriller (lip synced)

17.

A. Working Day And Night (fully live)

B. Morphine (lip synced)

18. Beat It (fully live)

19.

A. Shake Your Body (fully live)

B. Dangerous (lip synced)

20. Black Or White (lip synced until AFTER the rap part, then it becomes live)

21. Earth Song (lip synced)

22. We Are The World (fully live)

23. Billie Jean (fully live)

ENCORE

24. Off The Wall (fully live)

25. Rock With You (fully live)

26. Man In The Mirror (Lip synched until the before the "Lord I'm gonna make a change, it's gonna feel real good shamona" then it's live)
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

^ Why on earth would you want songs lip-synced as opposed to live???
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

^ Why on earth would you want songs lip-synced as opposed to live???

I'm just going with what would realistically be the case.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

I'm just going with what would realistically be the case.
yeah, but wasn't the idea to make it how YOU would like it? not how it would be in reality?

OP:
Before I begin this thread, I'd like to explain that I have no problem with the proposed setlist that was to be played for TII. This is just my personal idealized MJ show that would be perfect in my own view. The purpose of this thread really isn't to wonder what This Is It could have been, but rather, what would the perfect Michael Jackson show be for you? What kind of stage effects should be used and what songs should be played?
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

yeah, but wasn't the idea to make it how YOU would like it? not how it would be in reality?

OP:
Before I begin this thread, I'd like to explain that I have no problem with the proposed setlist that was to be played for TII. This is just my personal idealized MJ show that would be perfect in my own view. The purpose of this thread really isn't to wonder what This Is It could have been, but rather, what would the perfect Michael Jackson show be for you? What kind of stage effects should be used and what songs should be played?

My dream TII setlist is essentially taking all the other tours in consideration and saying "What would Michael do?" Would I like to see songs like TWYMMF and MITM performed fully live? It would be cool, but he never did those songs fully live, even on the Bad tour! It was always lip synced with live ad-libs.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

My dream TII setlist is essentially taking all the other tours in consideration and saying "What would Michael do?" Would I like to see songs like TWYMMF and MITM performed fully live? It would be cool, but he never did those songs fully live, even on the Bad tour! It was always lip synced with live ad-libs.

The Way You Make Me Feel was sung live at New York 1988 and Kansas City 1988.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

1. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin
2. Heartbreak Hotel
3. Another Part Of Me
4. Scream
5. They Don't Care About Us
6. Stranger in Moscow
7. Smooth Criminal
8. Jackson 5 Medley
9. Rock with You
10. Human Nature
11. Dirty Diana
12. Thriller
14. Beat It
15. Billie Jean
16. Black or White
17. Bad
18. The Way You Make Me Feel
19. Man in the Mirror

Dangerous would be great but I don't know where to put it.
 
Last edited:
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

1. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin
2. Heartbreak Hotel
3. Another Part Of Me
4. Scream
5. They Don't Care About Us
6. Stranger in Moscow
7. Smooth Criminal
8. Jackson 5 Medley
9. Rock with You
10. Human Nature
11. Dirty Diana
12. Thriller
14. Beat It
15. Billie Jean
16. Black or White
17. Bad
18. The Way You Make Me Feel
19. Man in the Mirror

Dangerous would be great but I don't know where to put it.

just put it somewhere? can't have a MJ concert without Dangerous :D
 
My Setlist would be:

00. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa
01. Light Man/Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (3D Screen) (Fans)
02. Speechless (Audience)
03. Jam (Basketball)
04. The Drill/They Don't Care About Us (Army)
05. Stranger In Moscow
06. Glilda 3D/Smooth Criminal (3D Screen & Aerialists)
07. The Way You Make Me Feel
08. The Jackson 5 Medley – I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save/Never Can Say Goodbye/I’ll Be There (Dancers)
09. Rock With You
10. Baby Be Mine
11. I Just Can't Stop Loving You (Barbecue)
12. Dangerous (Brain Scan & Straight Jacket)
13. Black Or White (Speakers)
14. Who Is It (Interlude) (3D Screen)
15. Bad Tour Medley – Leave Me Alone/Come Together/Speed Demon
16. Dirty Diana/Beat It (Bed)
17. Graveyard 3D/Thriller (3D Screen & Ghosts)
18. Earth Song (3D Screen)
19. We Are The World/Heal the World (Inflatable Globe)
20. You Are Not Alone
21. Billie Jean
22. Bad
23. Will You Be There
24. This Is It
25. Man In The Mirror/MJ Air (3D Screen)
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

Every time I do one of these it's different hahaha. So let's see...

1. Jam/Scream/TDCAU
2. WBSS
3. Human Nature
4. Smooth Criminal
5. You Are Not Alone: fully live
6. The Way You Make Me Feel
7. Dirty Diana
8. J5 Medley: add shake your body and never can say goodbye in there somewhere.
9. Thriller/Threatened: stage rises Dangerous Tour style
10. Billie Jean: stage lowers dangerous tour style
Interlude: perhaps off the wall songs playing
11. Come Together: video style that ends with him somehow on the crane for Beat it lol.
12. Beat It: TII style with the burning jacket idea
14. Remember The Time: it's a crime this never made a tour
15. Black or White
16. Heal The World: dangerous tour style with rising stage
17. Man in the Mirror: with rocket man

Annnnnd, I'll just leave it at that before I continue to over think it hahaha.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

This is not a full list but some I'd have to say are musts for me..

Wanna Be Startin Somethin
Human Nature
Stranger In Moscow
Billie Jean
Man In The Mirror
Dirty Diana
Another Part of Me
Smooth Criminal
Beat It
The Way You Make Me Feel
Rock With You
Will you Be There


OK... I'm just listing songs, it's not even in the order I'd want.. I'll say this, THIS IS IT was pretty damn close to what I would have wanted...

I'd want This is it, with Another Part Of me.. I like the girl with the flame bed idea for Dirty Diana, but Id want MJ to perform the crap out of that, not just be hidden/taken over by this girl.. ummmm - and the man in the mirror outfit.. no, not for Man In the Mirror.. shoulders for Wanna Be Startin Somethin was too excessive too. looked like the NYC landscape on his shoulders lol Black Or White Jacket was really cool, just don't know how much that would weigh him down
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

^ Why on earth would you want songs lip-synced as opposed to live???

Personally, I'd have songs on my setlist that would be playback opposed to live too.
Some songs Michael sings live don't sound great to me and the playback would enhance it.
 
Re: Make your own Michael Jackson setlist/show

live vs. lip-sync for me... it all depends on how well he'd sing it live.. there have been times on that Billie Jean sounded good live and others that he's too out of breath to think vocals.. naturally I want live, but if the voice is not there, I'll take lip
 
Back
Top