I wish Michael would have performed with a full backing band

analogue

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Just imagine Billie Jean with a real string section and The Way You Make Me Feel and Smooth Criminal with real horns. I feel like this was a massive missed opportunity for him. I think he was planning to do this for the One Night Only show in 1995, but I'm not 100% sure.
 
Just imagine Billie Jean with a real string section and The Way You Make Me Feel and Smooth Criminal with real horns. I feel like this was a massive missed opportunity for him. I think he was planning to do this for the One Night Only show in 1995, but I'm not 100% sure.
I was watching bits of the triumph tour & you said the exact same thing i said a while back.i couldnt even imagine. My question is why was he so by the book tho? Like why was everything/tour almost the exact same...u might have a change here or there but why not perform more jackson5/jacksons music as an adult as well...why only the same 3. You would think out of almost 400 solo shows that he wouldve did something a lil different 1night but nope....if im not mistaken its only 3-4 songs on the dangerous tour from the entire 14 tracks of the album....mind blowing. Which brings me to the next question....why was dirty diana & apom only performed for the bad tour
 
Not only did the songs he played got predictable but also the order in which they were played were also predictable. The first song was always Wanna Be Startin Somethin or the first track from the new album at the time (JAM/Scream), then it would be followed up with a ballad like Human Nature or Stranger In Moscow, Then Smooth Criminal, then the J5 Medley, Then Thriller, Billie Jean and Beat It, And then Black Or White, Earth Song, Heal The World and finally Man In The Mirror. The order of the songs were changed a little bit but it was nothing too drastic

Why not open a show with BAD or Don't Stop Til You Get Enough? Why not put Smooth Criminal in the second half of the show and put Black Or White in the first half? Keep the fans guessing as to what song is coming next.
 
Just imagine Billie Jean with a real string section and The Way You Make Me Feel and Smooth Criminal with real horns. I feel like this was a massive missed opportunity for him. I think he was planning to do this for the One Night Only show in 1995, but I'm not 100% sure.

This is exactly what the Triumph tour offers to you, absolutely live quality music, that's why it should be released.
 
analogue;4273399 said:
Not only did the songs he played got predictable but also the order in which they were played were also predictable. The first song was always Wanna Be Startin Somethin or the first track from the new album at the time (JAM/Scream), then it would be followed up with a ballad like Human Nature or Stranger In Moscow, Then Smooth Criminal, then the J5 Medley, Then Thriller, Billie Jean and Beat It, And then Black Or White, Earth Song, Heal The World and finally Man In The Mirror. The order of the songs were changed a little bit but it was nothing too drastic

Why not open a show with BAD or Don't Stop Til You Get Enough? Why not put Smooth Criminal in the second half of the show and put Black Or White in the first half? Keep the fans guessing as to what song is coming next.

Because when it comes generally to tours that are produced and staged on such a large scale (like Michael Jackson’s tours), most of the time the songs but also the order of the songs (that are performed) allow very little changes.

Such large-scale tours involve a lot of technical parameters (which were planned from the tour’s very start) that cannot really change while the tour is in progress.

Look at any artist who performs such big, large-scale concerts and you realize that the changes that take place (of the songs and of their order) are not drastic, but minor.

Also, Michael Jackson wanted to play it safe with his songs and the songs’ order that were performed during his tours.

He knew what his fans that came to his concerts expected to see from him, so he did not want to mess things up by changing the performed songs but also their order.

There was also the theme/cohesion factor in Michael Jackson’s songs and in their order that were performed during his tours.

For example for the Dangerous Tour, ‘She’s Out Of My Life’ comes right after ‘I Just Can't Stop Loving You’, or for the BAD Tour ‘Wanna Be Startin' Somethin’ is a song that only fits to the start of the tour rather than being placed anywhere else in the set list of that tour.

Also, a ballad helps when it is placed right after an energetic song because this allows the performer and his/her backup dancers to take a breath for a while (that applied also to Michael Jackson’s tours).
 
I've always felt that the sole reason Michael's live performances were so consistently phenomenal was because he was such an immaculate, one-of-a-kind showman. If you removed him from the equation, the shows would be decent at best.

Not to say that there wasn't talent to be found; there was. But as a whole, the band itself often couldn't elevate the songs to new levels (which you'd expect from a backing band), the singers sounded terrible together, the dancers were hit or miss, and the set lists were predictable. There were exceptions, but this seemed to be the formula more often than not. The This Is It crew is by far Michael's strongest congregation, but even then they still suffered from the set list and song elevation issues.

I wish Michael had his own version of Justin Timberlake's Tennessee Kids, who are (in my opinion) the strongest backing band I've seen from any artist. No matter what you think of JT, I'd encourage you to check out some videos; they're truly a masterclass in live performance.
 
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I wish Michael had his own version of Justin Timberlake's Tennessee Kids, who are (in my opinion) the strongest backing band I've seen from any artist. No matter what you think of JT, I'd encourage you to check out some videos; they're truly a masterclass in live performance.

You think the Tennesse Kids are better than The Hooligans (Bruno Mars band) ?
 
Sheryl crow ruined the entire bad tour for me...especially Billie Jean during Japan
 
You think the Tennesse Kids are better than The Hooligans (Bruno Mars band) ?

They edge them out just a bit in my opinion. The Hooligans are phenomenal as well, but there's something about the Tennessee Kids that just leaves me in a state of disbelief.
 
I always wonder what songs like Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel or the horn section in Jam would have sounded like with a full band live
 
I think that Michael, yes, was the showman, so having more people would've watered down the show. Y'know? But yeah, it was kind of annoying have the same songs in the same order. He never did an all ballad concert. Idk. Would've liked to see more varied performances from him. Also never really did a pure acoustic concert...that would've been really nice.
 
You know, I believe if he was still here we most likely would've gotten those types of performances here and there. Michael did say he listened to classical music back in the day so I wouldn't be surprised.
 
the synthetic horns on victory and later tours is why I love love love "the jackson's live!" album (even though it had studio dubbed vox)... and some day, when I can get into 2000 watts, maybe I can find soundboards of concerts from this era for the un-dubbed vocal experience!

and re: predictability of setlist, this is a reason I absolutely love the grateful dead... though they'd go thru "eras" of some songs being commonly played or commonly paired with other songs, you'd also have cases where say in 1978 they'd be playing a fairly predictable set then BOOM here's a song they haven't played since 1969! or sometimes, a song they hadn't ever played live!
 
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the synthetic horns on victory and later tours is why I love love love "the jackson's live!" album (even though it had studio dubbed vox)... and some day, when I can get into 2000 watts, maybe I can find soundboards of concerts from this era for the un-dubbed vocal experience!

and re: predictability of setlist, this is a reason I absolutely love the grateful dead... though they'd go thru "eras" of some songs being commonly played or commonly paired with other songs, you'd also have cases where say in 1978 they'd be playing a fairly predictable set then BOOM here's a song they haven't played since 1969! or sometimes, a song they hadn't ever played live!
Your not missing anything from 2000 watts. Trust me! If your looking for things without drama & mods... check out mjhideout. They can be quite childish & beg but at least you get something & something is always better then.........
 
MTV unplugged was always a dream. One night only at the beacon theatre which never happened was supppsed to be with a full one. Or at least in that style
 
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