Why didn't Michael include ABC as part of J5 Medley on his tours?

Dart_Jack

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After all, ABC is arguably a more recognizable song in the world than The Love You Save, which is nonetheless present in the medley.
 
Because it wasn't part of the Victory tour setlist anymore?
 
to be honest with you i like the love you save than abc. i know they basically have the same melody but the love you save is better in my opinion.
 
IIRC the music director for This Is It asked Michael if he would perform the song and Michael said no because he felt he was too old to perform ABC, so he might have felt that way for his other tours too. And I think the reason why he performed it on the 30th anniversary shows was probably because he was out voted by the rest of his brothers.
 
IIRC the music director for This Is It asked Michael if he would perform the song and Michael said no because he felt he was too old to perform ABC, so he might have felt that way for his other tours too. And I think the reason why he performed it on the 30th anniversary shows was probably because he was out voted by the rest of his brothers.

Yes, that was probably the reason. Michael probably felt that performing ABC in his 30s and 40s would look incredibly silly.
 
i don't think that's true. michael claim he did J5 songs because to show were he came from. if he didn't want do them anymore he could of at least do his later songs like dancing machine etc as an teenager that would been great. seeing michael doing the robot in his later years would been awesome.
 
And I think the reason why he performed it on the 30th anniversary shows was probably because he was out voted by the rest of his brothers.
That was all staged.;)

And, it actually was about performing NCSG, LGS or IWYB.
 
My feeling is that they were already too old to sing ABC when it was released. It's an OK song, but I can do without it. I guess it's succesful because it's easy to remember. (I should have put that in the unpopular opinion thread.) Recently, I had this thought that the ABC album was "childier" and had a less "powerful" sound than "Diana Ross presents".
 
J5 was popular around adults too so it wasn't just for the kids to enjoy. yes J5 was for the kids but adults enjoy them too. to be honest not all J5 songs don't sound like it for kids some of them sounds kind of grown up and as of michael voice made adults like them more. they was always J5 until they left Motown and change their name to the jacksons. which i had no problem with because with them having the name jacksons made them feel more grown up in my opinion.
 
I wish Michael could have mixed up the J5 medley a little more. Looking Through The Windows would have been great to hear
 
I wish Michael could have mixed up the J5 medley a little more. Looking Through The Windows would have been great to hear

Or he could have included some of the Jacksons songs such as Can You Feel It, Lovely One etc. Instead, he performed the same boring medley for all of his solo tours.
 
Sometimes I think MJ played it a little too safe. Would have been great if he changed the tours more, had performed one-of concerts with songs that had never been performed before etc. - I don't know why he didn't take more chances.

The set-list of the 1987 concerts are nearly the same as Victory tour. Could have mixed things up a bit more.

I would have loved to hear MJ sing NCSG as an adult. - Imagine if he had changed the J5-medley on the HIStory tour and performed the Motown 25 medley. - no playback of course.
 
@Hess: MJ said (I don't remember the source) that he would have liked to do different things in his shows but that most people where paying to see the most popular songs.
I guess I would have like if he playing like 1 changing J5 song every now and then, I guess my first pick would have been "If I have to move a mountain" (regardless of songs popularities).
 
I wish Michael had performed Ben. this was also dropped after triumph.
 
I wish Michael could have mixed up the J5 medley a little more. Looking Through The Windows would have been great to hear

It's a lesser known cut but 'Show you the way to go' would've been cool!
 
analogue;4318556 said:
IIRC the music director for This Is It asked Michael if he would perform the song and Michael said no because he felt he was too old to perform ABC, so he might have felt that way for his other tours too. And I think the reason why he performed it on the 30th anniversary shows was probably because he was out voted by the rest of his brothers.

Nite Line;4318560 said:
Yes, that was probably the reason. Michael probably felt that performing ABC in his 30s and 40s would look incredibly silly.

I cannot see why his older age has to be the reason for that, considering that even when he was older (in his 30s, or, in his 40s) he publicly kept projecting a very childlike image (like, buying large amounts of toys from various toy stores in the cities where he performed during his solo tours).

Hess;4318589 said:
Sometimes I think MJ played it a little too safe. Would have been great if he changed the tours more, had performed one-of concerts with songs that had never been performed before etc. - I don't know why he didn't take more chances.

The set-list of the 1987 concerts are nearly the same as Victory tour. Could have mixed things up a bit more.

Because he knew that his fans came to his concerts in order to watch his biggest hits (rather than new songs).

He even stated in one of his interviews that if he just slightly changed certain dance routines (such as, in ‘Billie Jean’), then this would cheat his fans who came to his concerts.
 
mj_frenzy;4318598 said:
Because he knew that his fans came to his concerts in order to watch his biggest hits (rather than new songs).

He even stated in one of his interviews that if he just slightly changed certain dance routines (such as, in ‘Billie Jean’), then this would cheat his fans who came to his concerts.

I know that's what he said. - And just to do everything as always becuase (some) fans want it is not very ambitious.

Had MJ performed more different songs live I don't think anyone would complain - as long as Billie Jean and Thriller was also performed.

MJ took Beat It out of some DWT concerts. - I don't think people who attended the concerts was disappointed.
 
Hess;4318599 said:
MJ took Beat It out of some DWT concerts. - I don't think people who attended the concerts was disappointed.

He had no choice about that.

Michael Jackson had to remove ‘Beat It’ from the 1993 leg of the Dangerous Tour due to the absence of his lead guitarist Jennifer Batten.

According to my information, the new female guitarist did not live up to his expectations when she played on guitar that song during the tour’s rehearsals right before the start of the 1993 leg of the tour.

So, not being able to find an equally good guitarist as Jennifer Batten, the singer had to remove that song from the 1993 tour’s set list.
 
Still it proves that even the absence of some of his biggest hits was not a huge problem for those who attended the concerts.

So MJ could have (just sometimes) replaced Beat It with Who Is It, RTT, Give into Me etc. etc.

MJ just played it a bit too safe sometimes and did the same things over and over. - He was absolutely not an improviser. :)
 
I think Wanna Be Startin Somethin could have been replaced with Another Part Of Me on some shows, Liberian Girl could have replaced I Just Can't Stop Loving You. Give Into Me could have replaced Black Or White. And One Day In Your Life could have replaced I'll Be There.
 
Yes, that was probably the reason. Michael probably felt that performing ABC in his 30s and 40s would look incredibly silly.

Are you talking about a person who cultivated the image of a child in the body of an adult?
 
This argument that Michael only performed his biggest hits because that’s what fans wanted to hear isn’t a valid reason. If that was the case, why wasn’t Remember The Time performed at the Dangerous Tour, as it was one of the biggest hits from Dangerous. It was a bigger hit than Heal The World, a song Michael performed pretty much always from 1992-2002. Why did Michael continue to perform Working Day & Night until 92 when it wasn’t even a single? Why was Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough not performed (except as a medley on some History shows) on any of his solo tours? It was one his biggest hits.

I don’t buy this reason that Michael didn’t perform the ‘lesser’ songs because fans wanted to hear the biggest hits. I am sure the fans attending the shows would have been just as happy, if not more had he performed Give In To Me instead of Beat It at the dangerous tour.

I have to honest. I think Michael was very lazy, unimaginative and complacent with his set list. His tours could have been so much better, if he decided to switch up his set list or perform a rare song on selective concerts.

I don’t have much interest in any more future releases of concerts from Michael’s solo tours, because once you have seen one show from a tour, you have pretty much seen all of the shows.
 
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Still it proves that even the absence of some of his biggest hits was not a huge problem for those who attended the concerts.

So MJ could have (just sometimes) replaced Beat It with Who Is It, RTT, Give into Me etc. etc.

MJ just played it a bit too safe sometimes and did the same things over and over. - He was absolutely not an improviser. :)

He was an improviser in his early years. J5's gigs don't feel as "mechanical and polished" as Dangerous and HIStory were. The setlist was more random.
 
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