Was there ever a plan for a ‘Thriller Tour’?

[mj_frenzy]

Speaking of Victory Tour & Thriller songs, is there any sources/proof that Thriller was planned to be performed? Wikipedia, in terms of Michael Jackson Tours, is unreliable & has absolutely no sources. Anyone have a source?

I dont have any solid source, however Ive heard that MJ didnt like how it sounded live yet/didnt want to perform it with his brothers. How accurate that is im not sure.

I’m too lazy to find the exact quote, but Making Michael by Mike Smallcombe says Thriller was planned as part of Victory, but his family didn’t allow it because it went against his Jehovah’s Witness upbringing. Which is why by the time the Bad tour started in 1987, he stopped being a Jehovah’s Witness not only to perform Thriller but because of more creative freedom.

Time restraints. Michael Bush made an all black Thriller jacket, as well as a Bad jacket but they were cut because of timing.

Why would the brothers care about that since most of them were not JWs at the time and Papa Joe never was one? The Torture video could be considered occult just like Thriller was and Jermaine had a song on his 1984 solo album called Escape From The Planet Of The Ant Men. I think it was likely the JW elders themselves, since Mike was planning to destroy the Thriller video because of them. John Landis talked him out of it and put the disclaimer at the beginning.

It has been documented that Michael Jackson did not plan to perform the ‘Thriller’ song on the Victory Tour because of his Jehovah's Witnesses’ strict beliefs that he had to adhere to at that time.

During the Victory Tour, Michael Jackson also used to invite certain Jehovah's Witnesses’ elders in order to see for themselves that he did not perform anything on stage that would go against the beliefs of that religion (such as, sexually suggestive moves, occult-related visual themes, etc).

Michael Jackson also feared that leaders/elders of that religion would also start to boycott the Victory concerts, especially after their heavy protests in various cities against the release of his ‘Thriller’ video.

Michael Jackson certainly did not want to add an additional, serious problem to all these very serious problems that had already affected the Victory Tour (ticket issues, financial issues, health issues, etc).

 

[wonderouzmj]

It has been documented that Michael Jackson did not plan to perform the ‘Thriller’ song on the Victory Tour because of his Jehovah's Witnesses’ strict beliefs that he had to adhere to at that time.

During the Victory Tour, Michael Jackson also used to invite certain Jehovah's Witnesses’ elders in order to see for themselves that he did not perform anything on stage that would go against the beliefs of that religion (such as, sexually suggestive moves, occult-related visual themes, etc).

Michael Jackson also feared that leaders/elders of that religion would also start to boycott the Victory concerts, especially after their heavy protests in various cities against the release of his ‘Thriller’ video.

Michael Jackson certainly did not want to add an additional, serious problem to all these very serious problems that had already affected the Victory Tour (ticket issues, financial issues, health issues, etc).

Man....times were different in 1983....no j.h wouldnt ever dare block mj today lol

 

[DuranDuran]

JW

Man....times were different in 1983....no j.h wouldnt ever dare block mj today lol

It's unlikely that a religion is going to all of a sudden change their doctrine for one person. The JWs would probably consider the idea of Michael Jackson being more important than another Witness as idol worship. Prince joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 2000s and then he stopped using profanity and when he performed in concert he either changed the lyrics to older songs or stopped performing them altogether.

 

[Cindy Sil Jackson]

You guys are forgetting one aspect that I consider super important. Michael didn't wanted to go on Victory Tour. So, even though he performed some of Thriller songs in that tour, he didn't wanted to tour with his brothers. I think he didn't consider that tour, the Thriller tour, because of that. It was something he didn't planned to do.

Right you are. Michael was interested in doing other things and didn't want to tour at all. The money/love problems his brothers were having were the reason why the tour was brought to life. Joe saw the opportunity when Motown 25's smash hit skyrocketed Michael's success. Michael was sick and tired of them all for pushing him to do the tour, even using his mother, who is no saint in all this. Every single member of the Jacksons (with the exception of the girls) had their share of the profits. It should have been named the "Greedy Tour" instead of Victory. Everything was about money and that's why they wanted Pepsi in the deal. We all know what sadly happened due to that... But Michael faced the tour the only way he knew since he was 5, being a real pro.

 

[Spaceship]

MJ should have only agreed to tour with his brother if they agreed to follow all his demands. It was understandable that they wanted him to tour with them, but he was only doing them a favor as he didn't need to be there at all. As the biggest star not only in their group, but the entire world, he deserved to have full control of the tour.

It really would have been better if he did a solo Thriller tour instead of Victory. All the men in his immediate family were losers.

 

[83magic]

in 1980/81, michael was telling publications such as ‘jet’ magazine that the ‘triumph’ tour would be his last.

he never wanted to do ‘victory’. on the lost tapes from his memoirs, he said that he had no plans to tour as a solo artist. instead he felt that he could reach more people through film. whether that was motion picture or music video. probably both..

yet he claimed to be a ‘stage addict’ at the time. how do you fulfill that desire without touring? he was also against television (due to his experience with the jacksons variety show), and had to convinced to take part in the motown 25 anniversary. he had the same attitude towards broadway..

that just leaves music videos/feature length movies. the film projects such as the potential ‘peter pan’, would have no connection to ‘thriller’ at all. the music video format was still relatively new at the time. michael couldn’t get his record label to spend the amount of money he wanted for two of his videos (‘billie jean’ & ‘beat it’) let alone the seven, or even nine, that he envisioned.

luckily ‘billie jean’, ‘beat it’ and the ‘motown 25’ performance, made such an impact that the label felt that the album had peaked. they didn’t even feel the need to make a video for ‘thriller’. however once that happened, the album became what it became..

if michael was to tour, it would have been a bonus, not a necessity. he had plenty of songs to choose from as an adult. set lists aren’t just made up of albums. there’s all kinds of outside features and collaborations that could have been modified for solo performances. he would have been perfectly within his rights to include jacksons songs, as he sang lead on the majority of them (excluding ‘victory’), or played a large role in their creation. some are basically solo songs on group albums, such as ‘heartbreak hotel’ and ‘blues away’. still, he wouldn’t need to rely on them because his solo work from ‘off the wall’ onwards eclipsed everything he did with his brothers.

when it comes down to it, I think certain songs work better live than others. be it sound or presentation wise. I think the right choices were made. I personally think that the ‘victory’ set list was the best. I’m glad he finally dropped ‘ben’.

 

[blair]

I have already posted this video, it was an old french tv show, "Les enfants du Rocks", according Frank Dileo, they wanted, after the Victory tour, to make a solo tour in 85 in Europe etc (around 8min12)...:

I have always been skeptical to such plans without his brothers, but I think he would have been better to make a short solo tour in 85 during the Thriller mania, he didn't want to make tours like 83Magic have said since Triumph tour, I think he could have sold this solo concert in video/cable without to deal with his brothers (if it was really a problem) and don't make two long years tours like he have done in the futur, because that clearly destroyed his health and his mood (he hated to do tour).

 

[Spaceship]

The Thriller 40 doc says MJ wanted to do a Thriller tour but his family convinced him to do Victory instead

 

[R1chard]

He had only two adult studio albums by that time (‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller&#8217 which did not give him enough songs to perform them on stage on a solo tour.

This meant that for embarking on a tour he also needed his big hits with the Jackson 5/The Jacksons, which in turn led to the Victory Tour where he performed on stage with his brothers.

You've needlessly inserted a word - "adult". I don't know why you did that. He was such a serious entertainer that by 1983 he already had two greatest hits albums.

"Ain't No Sunshine"
"Ben"
"Got to Be There"
"Happy"
"I Wanna Be Where You Are"
"Morning Glow"
"Music and Me"
"One Day in Your Life"
"Rockin' Robin"
"We're Almost There"
"We've Got a Good Thing Going"
"With a Child's Heart"

So that's about 40 mins already.

You could easily get 25 minutes each from OTW and Thriller, so that's the standard 90 mins, without even including Heartbreak Hotel, Can You Feel It, Things I Do for You, Shake Your Body, Lovely One or the medley.

 

[Spaceship]

that. He was such a serious entertainer that by 1983 he already had two greatest hits albums.

Those were cash-in albums by Motown that nobody gave a shit about

 

[R1chard]

Just like HIStory and BOTDF, I guess. And NO, TII, Essential, TUC, KOP and Immortal.

But the fact remains, Thriller was album number 6.

 

[Spaceship]

MJ actually worked on History and Blood

Not any of those other albums you mentioned lol

 

[83magic]

concerts didn’t need to be that long. janet’s ‘rhythm nation’ show had 14 songs in its set-list. there’s more than enough material for michael to choose from between ‘off the wall’ & ‘thriller’ if there was to be a tour.

 

[Fuzball]

concerts didn’t need to be that long. janet’s ‘rhythm nation’ show had 14 songs in its set-list. there’s more than enough material for michael to choose from between ‘off the wall’ & ‘thriller’ if there was to be a tour.

Would have been basically 1st leg of BWT minus ijcsly & bad. He could have also added SoS to the setlist.

 

[Spaceship]

"State of Shock" is pointless without Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury.

 

[Fuzball]

"State of Shock" is pointless without Mick Jagger or Freddie Mercury.

With that logic Michael should have never performed Scream.

 

[Fuzball]

Btw, I forgot, SoS was rehearsed for HWT.

 

[BlackAnon]

Michael had no plans to tour for Thriller and its short film was to be his last bit of promotion since he wanted to focus on film and visual pieces. If Michael had it his way, we wouldn't have seen him tour until 1987

 

[Spaceship]

With that logic Michael should have never performed Scream.

He didn't need to.

 

[Spaceship]

Michael had no plans to tour for Thriller and its short film was to be his last bit of promotion since he wanted to focus on film and visual pieces.

He was still recording new songs lol

MJ never seriously planned to switch over to movies.

 

[BlackAnon]

He was still recording new songs lol

MJ never seriously planned to switch over to movies.

Recording music, yeah but he wasn't trying to tour or even do another album. He mentioned wanting to take a step back from music and put his focus on films

 

[Spaceship]

Recording music, yeah but he wasn't trying to tour or even do another album. He mentioned wanting to take a step back from music and put his focus on films

Did he say that in the unauthorized interview at Hayvenhurst in 1983?

But nah I'm pretty sure he always planned another album after Thriller. MJ was interested in films, but his music videos were films to him; that's why he called them short films. No album means he's less likely to do another make another short film

 

[Spaceship]

Some fans criticize MJ for not wanting to perform songs from Victory on the tour, but his logic made sense. He didn't want to perform newly released songs because the public wasn't familiar with them. This is why the first leg of the Bad tour featured almost no songs from the Bad album.

"State of Shock" was popular at the time and MJ could have performed that, but without Mick Jagger, it would've been unnecessary. It wouldn't have hurt to perform "Torture", but it wasn't necessary, either, seeing as "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" was performed as the MJ-Jermaine duet. "Torture" wasn't even all that popular, so it wasn't any real loss. "Be Not Always" is boring, and nobody cares about the rest of the album with the the other brothers singing lead.

 

[Moonwalker50]

I was thinking about this....do you guys think that Michael would have toured for ‘Thriller’ if the ‘Victory Tour’ didn’t happen?

Did Michael even want to tour or was the promotion campaign supposed to stop completely after the ‘Thriller’ short film?

Michael wanted to give thriller a tour but Joe had other plans,besides Katherine wanted to all of her boys on stage together,i also think that he went solo way before 84 he would've gave off the wall a tour

 

[Moonwalker50]

I was thinking about this....do you guys think that Michael would have toured for ‘Thriller’ if the ‘Victory Tour’ didn’t happen?

Did Michael even want to tour or was the promotion campaign supposed to stop completely after the ‘Thriller’ short film?

 

[Moonwalker50]

Some fans criticize MJ for not wanting to perform songs from Victory on the tour, but his logic made sense. He didn't want to perform newly released songs because the public wasn't familiar with them. This is why the first leg of the Bad tour featured almost no songs from the Bad album.

"State of Shock" was popular at the time and MJ could have performed that, but without Mick Jagger, it would've been unnecessary. It wouldn't have hurt to perform "Torture", but it wasn't necessary, either, seeing as "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" was performed as the MJ-Jermaine duet. "Torture" wasn't even all that popular, so it wasn't any real loss. "Be Not Always" is boring, and nobody cares about the rest of the album with the the other brothers singing lead.

Aye! don't come for be not always,that's my go to song when I'm upset