Was Stranger in Moscow ever performed fully live?

Thriller_MJ

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One of things I hate about HIStory tour is how this song was 100% playback, is there any rehearsal footage or soundchecks or anything where Michael did it live.
 
Michael's 90s songs were almost always lip synced 99% of the times. However, they were exceptions for example:

1) Gone Too Soon - Only performed live once and it was fully live.
2) Black or White - Michael sang live over the playback in shows at Wembley 92 and Munich 92.
3) Heal The World - Michael sang it live at 98 Bahamas Hotel opening, although we don't have a full video or audio of the performance.
4) Scream - Part of it was sung live during the History Tour show in Brunei 96.
5) Dangerous - Part of it was sung live during a History Tour show in Ostend 97.

There might be other examples, but there are the only ones that I know of.

Sadly, SIM was always lip-synced. What makes it even more ridiculous is that even the backing singers are lip-syncing to...... Michael's vocals. WTF lol!
 
Was SIM rehearsed for This Is It?

Apparently it was. - MJ could choose between SM and Human Nature if I have gotten it right.

Not sure if there is any video of MJ rehearsing SM - and not sure if he sang live... One can dream.
 
Michael's 90s songs were almost always lip synced 99% of the times. However, they were exceptions for example:

1) Gone Too Soon - Only performed live once and it was fully live.
2) Black or White - Michael sang live over the playback in shows at Wembley 92 and Munich 92.
3) Heal The World - Michael sang it live at 98 Bahamas Hotel opening, although we don't have a full video or audio of the performance.
4) Scream - Part of it was sung live during the History Tour show in Brunei 96.
5) Dangerous - Part of it was sung live during a History Tour show in Ostend 97.

There might be other examples, but there are the only ones that I know of.

Sadly, SIM was always lip-synced. What makes it even more ridiculous is that even the backing singers are lip-syncing to...... Michael's vocals. WTF lol!

Will You Be There was also live on the NAACP awards in 94.
 
Hess;4283849 said:
Apparently it was. - MJ could choose between SM and Human Nature if I have gotten it right.

Not sure if there is any video of MJ rehearsing SM - and not sure if he sang live... One can dream.

As Michael Durham Prince revealed, Michael Jackson re-recorded in the studio his vocals of ‘Stranger In Moscow’ and he was going to lip-sync those newly recorded vocals while performing the song in his ‘This Is It’ shows.

Themidwestcowboy;4283868 said:
Will You Be There was also live on the NAACP awards in 94.

He also sang fully live few lines of ‘Dangerous’ in 2002 at the American Bandstand's 50th Anniversary Celebration (towards the end of the song, and right before taking his jacket and his fedora off, you can hear him sing fully live those few lines out of breath).

There is also the ‘In The Closet’ part which he always sang fully live during the HIStory Tour.

He also sang fully live few lines from ‘You Rock My World’ while performing the song during the 2001 MSG shows.

Although it cannot be technically described as a performance, Michael Jackson also sang fully live few lines of ‘The Lost Children’ song, while he was exiting a shopping centre in Berlin (on November 19th, 2002).
 
Poor HIStory tour backing vocalists 😂 I would love to hear their thoughts on having to lip sync to a backing track. They look like they’re giving it their all as well! Wonder what the logic was behind that move.
 
Snek;4284122 said:
Poor HIStory tour backing vocalists �� I would love to hear their thoughts on having to lip sync to a backing track. They look like they’re giving it their all as well! Wonder what the logic was behind that move.

I don’t think they were lip syncing. I definitely think that they were singing but had their mic turned off because I think it was in Kuala Lumpur in the beginning of Stranger In Moscow you can actually hear them singing for real then it cuts off to playback.

The difference is like night and day
[video=youtube;poq79kq-0FA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poq79kq-0FA[/video]
 
Last edited:
mj_frenzy;4283929 said:
As Michael Durham Prince revealed, Michael Jackson re-recorded in the studio his vocals of ‘Stranger In Moscow’ and he was going to lip-sync those newly recorded vocals while performing the song in his ‘This Is It’ shows.



He also sang fully live few lines of ‘Dangerous’ in 2002 at the American Bandstand's 50th Anniversary Celebration (towards the end of the song, and right before taking his jacket and his fedora off, you can hear him sing fully live those few lines out of breath).

There is also the ‘In The Closet’ part which he always sang fully live during the HIStory Tour.

He also sang fully live few lines from ‘You Rock My World’ while performing the song during the 2001 MSG shows.

Although it cannot be technically described as a performance, Michael Jackson also sang fully live few lines of ‘The Lost Children’ song, while he was exiting a shopping centre in Berlin (on November 19th, 2002).

He said they started recording WBSS and SIM, but implied they stopped pretty quickly once MJ decided he wanted to sing as live as he could during the TII concerts, so there is very likely not a completed re recording of those songs.
 
Themidwestcowboy;4284135 said:
I don’t think they were lip syncing. I definitely think that they were singing but had their mic turned off because I think it was in Kuala Lumpur in the beginning of Stranger In Moscow you can actually hear them singing for real then it cuts off to playback.

The difference is like night and day
[video=youtube;poq79kq-0FA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poq79kq-0FA[/video]

They’re very good!
 
If only he did it live at the HIStory tour, it would have been one of his classic performances. Purely dancing wise this was breathtaking, imagine MJ performing this for example live at the world music awards or any other tv show, it could have been one of those special tv moments.

Guess we have to hope for studio recording footage
 
If only he did it live at the HIStory tour, it would have been one of his classic performances. Purely dancing wise this was breathtaking, imagine MJ performing this for example live at the world music awards or any other tv show, it could have been one of those special tv moments.

Guess we have to hope for studio recording footage

For me, Michael's presentation of the song on the HIStory tour does the song a complete disservice.
 
For me, Michael's presentation of the song on the HIStory tour does the song a complete disservice.

Why is that? I find the robotic lonely movements very fitting with the theme of the song. Alienated from the world. Not only that I find it amazing that he is able to dance to a slow song, I find it very expressive.
Not that I watch it though it's just a play back tune, completely worthless.
 
Why is that? I find the robotic lonely movements very fitting with the theme of the song. Alienated from the world. Not only that I find it amazing that he is able to dance to a slow song, I find it very expressive.
Not that I watch it though it's just a play back tune, completely worthless.

I agree - I actually think the performance fits the lyrics fine.

The performance where MJ falls on his knees is great. - Oh had it only been sung live... It would have been amazing!
 
A question for those who knows. I am not a singer og knows anything about the voice etc.

BUT - MJ always sang Human Nature live. - Vocally is SiM more difficult to sing live? Or could he have pulled it of during This Is It. I mean Human Nature is breathtaking. Perfect vocal delivery. - If he sang SiM live just as good it could have been one of my favorite live performances...
 
A question for those who knows. I am not a singer og knows anything about the voice etc.

BUT - MJ always sang Human Nature live. - Vocally is SiM more difficult to sing live? Or could he have pulled it of during This Is It. I mean Human Nature is breathtaking. Perfect vocal delivery. - If he sang SiM live just as good it could have been one of my favorite live performances...

SIM is indeed more difficult to sing...especially while doing all the robot dance moves. The hardest part of the song is the ''We're talking danger...'' bit in which Michael has to hit multiple B4s in chest/mixed voice (not head voice or falsetto). These notes can be difficult to hit (as clean as he does on the studio version)...especially live.
In Human Nature, Michael sings the verses a bit lower (sometimes even hitting notes such as Bb2).
There aren't really any high belted notes like in SIM (the long high note on ''AHH WHHHYYY?'' is sung in head voice.)
In my opinion he should have performed SIM with live vocals on the verses and chorus and lip-synched the ad-libs at the end.
 
Usually the pitch for the songs MJ sung live was lowered to help his voice cope better. Same could have been done for Stranger In Moscow if he decided to sing that song live. On Munich 1992 he tried to sing Wanna Be Startin Somethin and Beat It in their original pitch, and you can tell he struggled with that.
 
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