Confirmed HIStory Tour release for 2021?

[ChrisC]

So how confirmed is this. I know Branca said its in the works (paraphrasing)? but.... im still waiting to see thriller 3D and s couple other things that were being worked on.

Not remotely confirmed. The last time we have Branca on record about it he said it wasn't getting a release because it didn't represent Michael at his best, but that the footage would be used in future Estate projects, like a HIStory documentary for example.

 

[wonderouzmj]

Even fellow fans have better footage of tours man like cmon estate
https://youtu.be/LXO5CJLzFxY
https://youtu.be/vrt_3KNB3Sw

 

[JichaelMackson]

Stevie Wonder appeared during the November 9, 1979 show in Uniondale during The Jacksons' set.

News report at the time claimed Michael lip-synced "Don't Stop" during the July 28, 1981 show in Lakeland, but it's probably wrong.

Also the Patti Austin thing, Superfest, correct? It's "Stuff Like That", not "It's The Falling In love"

Oh "stuff like that" is a song? I totally misread it as if MJ sang lots of stuff live lol
Stevie Wonder appeared, meaning? Different songs performed? duet?
lip synced in 1981 :-( I hope that's false. Would be very disappointed.

MJ play backing in concerts really puts a dent in his aura imo. It's inexcusable. If you can't sing a song live then don't sing it.
I would love to hear MJ's reaction and insight on the matter, as a perfectionist and true stage animal this is plain weird.

 

[DuranDuran]

Stuff Like That

Oh "stuff like that" is a song?

It's from a 1978 Quincy Jones album and was a R&B hit single.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

Not remotely confirmed. The last time we have Branca on record about it he said it wasn't getting a release because it didn't represent Michael at his best, but that the footage would be used in future Estate projects, like a HIStory documentary for example.

Yeah I was thinking that was the last time I saw him speak about it so was surprised it came up again.

 

[kai]

Agreed.



I don't know about that. I believe that they mixed in more live vocals at the end of Smooth Criminal on the Wembley DVD than the public actually heard at the concert. Again, this is just an opinion but I feel like the first three ''I don't know's'' were not heard by the audience (as they never were on any other Bad Tour concert) (4:04). Plus, Michael gives the usual hand signal (for them to stop the playback) after the three ''I don't know's'' (4:09).
They also added a live ''hoo'' at 3:18.
You be the judge!

Since i own "July 16 1988" Audience Recording Tape (audio) i can confirm that exactly the first 3 "I don't knows" where edited live. The audience heard the studio version from the album.

 

[dethorro]

Since i own "July 16 1988" Audience Recording Tape (audio) i can confirm that exactly the first 3 "I don't knows" where edited live. The audience heard the studio version from the album.

Awesome! Thanks for the info Kai!
It sounds like they also muted the studio acapella on the ''Annie are you okay'' lines and used the live vocals from Michael's mic feed.
I wonder if Michael actually sang full out during the whole song although I highly doubt it.

Side question:
It seems to me like they also tried to give MITM more of a live feel because after the huge spin it looks like they muted the ''...if you close your...'' line because Michael's mic was too far away from his mouth.
Is this true? Did the audience hear that line or not?

from 3:05

 

[KOPV]

^ Remastering and improving footage is one thing but how are fans getting footage that has a different screen ratio than what's been provided? You can see more of the top/bottom.. This would tell me they are not just working on available footage but have versions that we have not seen.

 

[wonderouzmj]

^ Remastering and improving footage is one thing but how are fans getting footage that has a different screen ratio than what's been provided? You can see more of the top/bottom.. This would tell me they are not just working on available footage but have versions that we have not seen.

Lol thats because on the Wembley dvd the ratio is different from Spike Lee's documentary. He tends to zoom in really close on everything. I have no clue why. & now that i think about it, i wonder why he mixed up bad hd footage with sd footage instead of just making the entire bad short on blu ray. It's clear as day one is from the negatives & the others YouTube

 

[Seldervi]

Oh "stuff like that" is a song? I totally misread it as if MJ sang lots of stuff live lol
Stevie Wonder appeared, meaning? Different songs performed? duet?
lip synced in 1981 :-( I hope that's false. Would be very disappointed.

MJ play backing in concerts really puts a dent in his aura imo. It's inexcusable. If you can't sing a song live then don't sing it.
I would love to hear MJ's reaction and insight on the matter, as a perfectionist and true stage animal this is plain weird.

No Different songs, Stevie only "appeared" during the set, don't know what he did.

Lip-Syncing is most likely false but we weren't there, so we can't really confirm it.

 

[Robbsaber01]

Since i own "July 16 1988" Audience Recording Tape (audio) i can confirm that exactly the first 3 "I don't knows" where edited live. The audience heard the studio version from the album.

Interesting. Are there any other major differences between the two? So if the crowd heard playback but MJs vocals were recorded does this mean the multitracks picked them up? This would confirm what some say about MJ singing live but playback was heard by the audience.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

No Different songs, Stevie only "appeared" during the set, don't know what he did.

Lip-Syncing is most likely false but we weren't there, so we can't really confirm it.

MJ performed so well back then that they thought it was playback. That's what happened.

 

[Seldervi]

MJ performed so well back then that they thought it was playback. That's what happened.

100% what I believe, Michael's vocals were almost PEAK back then. It's an interesting thought, thinking about if he had lip-synced back then

 

[Nite Line]

I can't be the only one that wants more concert footage of the 70s?
I've seen "music and me " and "one day in your life" live in Mexico 1975 and for me it's a treasure as both are in my top 10 MJ songs. That spontaneous Michael was all gone since the Victory tour. I wish Thriller never was as big as it was.

So in the Patti Austin thread it is proven he also sang "it's the falling in love" live. He also did "walk right now" a couple of times in the early 80s and "we're almost there" in the late 70s. I'd take footage over that above anything else... I'm pretty sure there must be more songs out there he did live that just was forgotten in time

I completely agree. Michael was at his best as a live vocalist in the 1970s and early 1980s. After that, his live vocals started to decline.

I would love nothing more than a live album of Michael from the 1970s. Recently I have been listening to his live performance of the song Destiny from the tour of the same name. He sounds absolutely heavenly and I would love nothing more than a live Destiny Tour album.

Each to their own, but I prefer Michael the singer over Michael the dancer. I have zero interest in a release of any History tour concert. I rather watch/listen to a performance where Michael is singing live but barely dancing over Michael lip-syncing and pulling off amazing dance moves.

 

[michaelsson]

is it crack?

 

[Seldervi]

I would love nothing more than a live album of Michael from the 1970s. Recently I have been listening to his live performance of the song Destiny from the tour of the same name. He sounds absolutely heavenly and I would love nothing more than a live Destiny Tour album.

If there's any 70's shows I would want to see, I have 2 picks

1973 - The Forum: Wonderful Outfits, features music from "Skywriter" (which was dropped from "In Japan"), & also would complete the trilogy of the Forum shows (we have 1970 & 1972, 1973 is the only one we don't have)

1974 - Africa: Expanded setlist feat. songs from G.I.T. & also features some older songs they'd prev. dropped from the setlist ("Feelin' Alright" for example)

 

[Snek]

I personally love the HIStory shows for their own merits. The spectacle is the absolute best out of all his shows. The dancing, band, costumes, stage, props, effects and set piece moments are what make the shows great. I don’t watch the shows for live singing I watch because they’re mega flashy and entertaining. Michael was still a god when it came to dancing, and at a live performance it was his greatest strength.

MJ’s voice was shot, I remember hearing somewhere he wanted to sing more songs live but it just wasn’t working for him. Seoul, Tunisia, Munich and many more dates sound like he’s either really ill, straining badly, or both. The wisest thing to do was lip-sync apart from certain moments and for Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ and the Jackson 5 Medley. WBSS doesn’t even sound that great on his best days in this tour, but he still had a few great vocal moments throughout.

That being said I do think it’s unwise to release the Munich show as it is particularly bad in the vocal department. He also had much better dancing in other shows, especially early on in the tour. I’d love to see one of those in HD.

 

[Michaels Lover]

I personally love the HIStory shows for their own merits. The spectacle is the absolute best out of all his shows. The dancing, band, costumes, stage, props, effects and set piece moments are what make the shows great. I don’t watch the shows for live singing I watch because they’re mega flashy and entertaining. Michael was still a god when it came to dancing, and at a live performance it was his greatest strength.

I agree 100%. BIG HIStory tour fan myself

 

[ChrisC]

I personally love the HIStory shows for their own merits. The spectacle is the absolute best out of all his shows. The dancing, band, costumes, stage, props, effects and set piece moments are what make the shows great. I don’t watch the shows for live singing I watch because they’re mega flashy and entertaining. Michael was still a god when it came to dancing, and at a live performance it was his greatest strength.

So style over substance.

 

[Snek]

So style over substance.

I personally think that the section from the beginning of Black or White to the end of Heal the World is very moving. Michael has a clear anti-war pro-equality message and it came across beautifully on this tour. Also the inclusion of HIStory songs and particularly the opening medley make this tour worth watching.

I do see why the stripping back of live vocals could seem like a waste of time to people. Like I said, I believe his voice was in such bad shape that this was the only way to do it.

 

[ChrisC]

I do see why the stripping back of live vocals could seem like a waste of time to people. Like I said, I believe his voice was in such bad shape that this was the only way to do it.

Plenty of artists delay their tours or cancel them when their voices aren't up to it. They do this out of respect for the audience. They don't just go out and fraudulently perform. It is categorically not the "only way to do it".

 

[Snek]

Plenty of artists delay their tours or cancel them when their voices aren't up to it. They do this out of respect for the audience. They don't just go out and fraudulently perform. It is categorically not the "only way to do it".

Seems a bit much to call it a fraudulent performance. MJ’s most famous and revered performance, Billie Jean at Motown 25, was lip-synched. No one cared because he carried it with his dance moves. The same principle applies to the History tour. The audience don’t seem to care that he’s miming.

 

[Robbsaber01]

Seems a bit much to call it a fraudulent performance. MJ’s most famous and revered performance, Billie Jean at Motown 25, was lip-synched. No one cared because he carried it with his dance moves. The same principle applies to the History tour. The audience don’t seem to care that he’s miming.

I agree, however to be fair that was one song being lipsynced. History tour was 90% playback. Mj should of rested his voice and postponed the tour.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

History tour was 90% playback

More like 96% playback lol

The History tour has been aired all over the world and there are MANY high quality concerts online already. That's why imo it shouldn't be released.

 

[mj_frenzy]

Plenty of artists delay their tours or cancel them when their voices aren't up to it. They do this out of respect for the audience. They don't just go out and fraudulently perform. It is categorically not the "only way to do it".

They do this not only out of respect for the audience, but mainly they do this for monetary reasons.

They want to avoid giving ticket refunds to the audience if they, for one or another reason, lip-synced during their shows.

Especially, when their on-stage performance is not really physically demanding, and the audience expect from them fully, live vocals.

Look, for example, at the audience’s outrage which was caused when the Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti lip-synced during one of his concerts in Modena (1992).

Ticket refunds were the immediate result of Luciano Pavarotti’s lip-sync at that concert (aside from the bad publicity that he suffered at the time because of his exposed lip-sync).

Or, look at the very recent case (in 2019) of the American rock band KISS when ticket refunds were given to certain people who went to see them live.

These people demanded and eventually got their ticket money back because they felt cheated by the lip-sync of KISS in one of the band’s concerts.

But people appear to be more forgiving and lenient towards lip-sync if the artist also dances a lot while performing (and that is the case when it comes to Michael Jackson’s lip-sync during the HIStory Tour).

 

[Galactus123]

Seems a bit much to call it a fraudulent performance. MJ’s most famous and revered performance, Billie Jean at Motown 25, was lip-synched. No one cared because he carried it with his dance moves. The same principle applies to the History tour. The audience don’t seem to care that he’s miming.

Its possible that most people didn't know that the Motown 25 performance was lip-synced at the time.

 

[analogue]

Motown 25 was also a one off televised performance, and not a full on concert.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

That is a false equivalency using a one off televised performance to a live tour comprising of over 80 concerts. A very flawed comparison.

 

[Michaels Lover]

But people appear to be more forgiving and lenient towards lip-sync if the artist also dances a lot while performing (and that is the case when it comes to Michael Jackson’s lip-sync during the HIStory Tour).

Thanks for telling us this groundbreaking fact!

 

[DuranDuran]

Look, for example, at the audience’s outrage which was caused when the Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti lip-synced during one of his concerts in Modena (1992).

Ticket refunds were the immediate result of Luciano Pavarotti’s lip-sync at that concert (aside from the bad publicity that he suffered at the time because of his exposed lip-sync).

Or, look at the very recent case (in 2019) of the American rock band KISS when ticket refunds were given to certain people who went to see them live.

These people demanded and eventually got their ticket money back because they felt cheated by the lip-sync of KISS in one of the band’s concerts.

I think the audiences who go to see acts like Pavarotti & KISS are different than the ones who go to see Janet & Michael Jackson, Madonna, Beyoncé, or Paula Abdul. People didn't go to a Prince or James Brown concert and expect a Milli Vanilli. I think an oldies or classic rock music audience would rather hear a singer whose voice is shot (Bob Dylan, George Clinton) than one who is performing to playback and sounds "perfect". Some older singers have to change the key of songs because they can't sing the higher notes anymore.