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Key of Beat It on June 30 Rotterdam Dangerous Tour

GlenXoseph

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Hey guys, hope you're all doing well :)

So we all know that MJ performed WBSS and Beat It in original key in the first concert in Dangerous Tour, then changed them both to 2 keys lower, then changed them both down another 1 key which is 3 keys lower than original.

We have the footage of MJ performing WBSS on June 30, which we can clearly hear him sing it in original pitch. And we also have the amateur footage of July 1, which he performed both songs in -2 pitch. But we don't have a footage of MJ performing Beat It on June 30.

In an old version of Wikipedia "Dangerous World Tour" page, some editor wrote:
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (Played in the original key on the first two shows; played a whole step lower from July 1st-July 17th; lowered another half step from July 18th-December 31st)
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"Beat It" (Played in the original key in Munich; played a whole step lower from June 30th-July 17th; lowered another half step from July 18th-December 31st)
Click to expand...

My question is, how did this guy know that the key of Beat It was changed starting from the second concert? Why is he so sure that it wasn't changed together with WBSS from the third concert? That would be a more logical assumption, right?

So is there any indication of in which key MJ perform Beat It on June 30 Rotterdam, the second show in Dangerous tour?

Thank you so much in advance, and I hope you all have a great weekend.
 
That's an interesting question. It seems like Michael was struggling more when singing Beat It in the original key than WBSS, so I guess this is why it is often assumed that Michael lowered the pitch on Beat It by a half step after the Munich show.

Another important thing to point out is that Michael seemed to be quite displeased at the start of WBSS on June 30 and he even shouts at the band and gives multiple signals which indicate that he was not happy with something (perhaps the fact that they played it in the original key). So, one can assume that he informed them at some point during the show that they should play Beat It in a lower key.

Of course, this is all speculation and until we hear a recording of Beat It from that show, we can not say for sure what happened.
 
dethorro said:
That's an interesting question. It seems like Michael was struggling more when singing Beat It in the original key than WBSS, so I guess this is why it is often assumed that Michael lowered the pitch on Beat It by a half step after the Munich show.

Another important thing to point out is that Michael seemed to be quite displeased at the start of WBSS on June 30 and he even shouts at the band and gives multiple signals which indicate that he was not happy with something (perhaps the fact that they played it in the original key). So, one can assume that he informed them at some point during the show that they should play Beat It in a lower key.

Of course, this is all speculation and until we hear a recording of Beat It from that show, we can not say for sure what happened.
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Yeah, IDK why, I always believed firmly that he sang Beat It with lower pitch in second concert, and him being pissed off when the band started playing WBSS made so much sense to me.

The story I made myself believe is that, he tried to do those songs in original pitch in the first concert, figured it was too exhausting, so he told the band to lower the pitch. But, for some reason, WBSS was played original pitch again, so MJ was pissed off and shouted to the band, so they correctly played Beat It with lower pitch in the same concert.

And yesterday, when I just randomly thought of this, and I tried to search for Beat It in second concert, I realized there's never been footages of that performance. I was shocked, felt like a Mandela effect.
 
GlenXoseph said:
Hey guys, hope you're all doing well :)

So we all know that MJ performed WBSS and Beat It in original key in the first concert in Dangerous Tour, then changed them both to 2 keys lower, then changed them both down another 1 key which is 3 keys lower than original.

We have the footage of MJ performing WBSS on June 30, which we can clearly hear him sing it in original pitch. And we also have the amateur footage of July 1, which he performed both songs in -2 pitch. But we don't have a footage of MJ performing Beat It on June 30.

In an old version of Wikipedia "Dangerous World Tour" page, some editor wrote:



My question is, how did this guy know that the key of Beat It was changed starting from the second concert? Why is he so sure that it wasn't changed together with WBSS from the third concert? That would be a more logical assumption, right?

So is there any indication of in which key MJ perform Beat It on June 30 Rotterdam, the second show in Dangerous tour?

Thank you so much in advance, and I hope you all have a great weekend.
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There's an audio bootleg of the Rotterdam 1992 and it is indeed in the Bad Tour '87 tuning, which is a whole step below album pitch, and Beat It remained in that key until the second show in Stockholm where it was tuned down to the Bad Tour '88 tuning and remained there for the whole tour.
 
fraroc04 said:
There's an audio bootleg of the Rotterdam 1992 and it is indeed in the Bad Tour '87 tuning, which is a whole step below album pitch, and Beat It remained in that key until the second show in Stockholm where it was tuned down to the Bad Tour '88 tuning and remained there for the whole tour.
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You're right but that audio is from July 1, the third concert of the tour. What's been bothering me is June 30, the second concert.
 
I know that on one of the two Rotterdam shows, he got annoyed at Greg Phillinganes for starting WBSS in the wrong pitch.
 
fraroc04 said:
I know that on one of the two Rotterdam shows, he got annoyed at Greg Phillinganes for starting WBSS in the wrong pitch.
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Is there a source for that? How are we sure he is annoyed about the pitch of the song?
I mean if there is source saying that he is, then we can safely assume that Beat It should be played in lowered pitch as well in that concert.
 
GlenXoseph said:
Is there a source for that? How are we sure he is annoyed about the pitch of the song?
I mean if there is source saying that he is, then we can safely assume that Beat It should be played in lowered pitch as well in that concert.
Click to expand...
 
GlenXoseph said:
Yeah I'm aware of this clip, but it doesn't really show that he is unhappy specifically about the key
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That's true but if you notice he starts singing it in a lower key which gives credence to this theory. Maybe it's just me but judging from that clip it seems like he was completely taken aback that the song was played in that key and had to readjust a bit. My two cents.

Another theory I have is that he was a bit frustrated with David in the beginning. The rhythm guitar playing during the intro was a bit choppy and off and you can see MJ react to that. After when he says "Heey!" he points to the far right (where David always was positioned)

Btw was beat it on the Victory Tour played a half semitone lower than the album key?
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
That's true but if you notice he starts singing it in a lower key which gives credence to this theory. Maybe it's just me but judging from that clip it seems like he was completely taken aback that the song was played in that key and had to readjust a bit. My two cents.

Another theory I have is that he was a bit frustrated with David in the beginning. The rhythm guitar playing during the intro was a bit choppy and off and you can see MJ react to that. After when he says "Heey!" he points to the far right (where David always was positioned)

Btw was beat it on the Victory Tour played a half semitone lower than the album key?
Click to expand...
Yes. When it comes to the Beat It tunings, only Dangerous tour Munich and the HIStory tour was in the album key. Victory tour, MSG 2001, and presumably This Is It was a half step below. Bad tour '87 and early Dangerous tour was a whole step below album pitch, and Bad Tour '88 and most of the Dangerous tour was a whole step and a half below.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
That's true but if you notice he starts singing it in a lower key which gives credence to this theory. Maybe it's just me but judging from that clip it seems like he was completely taken aback that the song was played in that key and had to readjust a bit. My two cents.

Another theory I have is that he was a bit frustrated with David in the beginning. The rhythm guitar playing during the intro was a bit choppy and off and you can see MJ react to that. After when he says "Heey!" he points to the far right (where David always was positioned)

Btw was beat it on the Victory Tour played a half semitone lower than the album key?
Click to expand...
Yes I agree, if I have to guess, then I would say that he's unhappy about the key, and thus the key of Beat It later in this concert was lowered as well.

The thing is just I was 100% percent sure that Beat It was lowered on June 30, but I just realized there is no solid proof, it's all an assumption :(
 
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