Latest on MJJC

Michael did the Smooth Criminal lean in Kansas, 1988 ?

Victor

Proud Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Donations
$5.00
Messages
1,295
Points
83
I'm sitting down with a cup of tea and reading the book The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson by Michael Bush and just found this out.

"The lean shoes in which Michael leaned live for the first time in Kansas City, 1988."
gpNqYo7.jpg



So Michael did infact lean ONE time during The Bad Tour :D

Is there any photos/videos of that lean in Kansas, 1988?
 
My Gosh! That would be simply incredible! Probably gives Kansas City the edge over any other BAD World Tour show (or at least tied with the New York shows). It's surprising that we have yet to get an Amateur recording of this concert, or even a snippet of "Smooth Criminal" from the show!
 
I really wish this is true, however, I kinda doubt it. Michael Bush might have misremembered. Why would Michael have only worn them on the opening night?
The short film wasn't even out yet at that time.
 
dethorro said:
I really wish this is true, however, I kinda doubt it. Michael Bush might have misremembered. Why would Michael have only worn them on the opening night?
The short film wasn't even out yet at that time.
Click to expand...

Why would he misremembered? There was no show in Kansas during the Dangerous or History tours.
 
Man, opening nights, Smooth Criminal sung live (right?), The Way You Make Me Feel sung live, now a Smooth Criminal lean? Yep, this show is definitely worthy to be watched on the big screen.
 
I doubt it, as the Kansas Show was before the music video for SC was out and I don't think Michael would done the lean on stage before the release of the music video.
 
I have always said that the first kansas city show is the nr 1 show i want to see. Now that we've learned that he did the lean in that show we MUST HAVE IT!
 
Hulkamaniac said:
Why would he misremembered? There was no show in Kansas during the Dangerous or History tours.
Click to expand...

Because Michael wore them for the first time on the opening night of the Dangerous Tour and Michael Bush might have forgotten which one of the tours it was. Maybe he just assumed that it was the Bad Tour because it was closest to the Moonwalker film and the Smooth Criminal short film. That's just my opinion.
 
Last edited:
dethorro said:
Because Michael wore them for the first time on the opening night of the Dangerous Tour and Michael Bush might have forgotten which one of the tours it was. Maybe he jus assumed that it was the Bad Tour because it was closest to the Moonwalker film and the Smooth Criminal short film. That's just my opinion.
Click to expand...

This could definitely be plausible.
 
Looking at these rehearsals we can see that they were initially going for a lean inspired choreography. Interesting :eek:

(2:30, the back up dancers)
 
M.J. Content said:
Man, opening nights, Smooth Criminal sung live (right?), The Way You Make Me Feel sung live, now a Smooth Criminal lean? Yep, this show is definitely worthy to be watched on the big screen.
Click to expand...

And we still don't know if he sang MITM live in any of the Kansas shows :)
 
Hulkamaniac said:
And we still don't know if he sang MITM live in any of the Kansas shows :)
Click to expand...
For all we know, the entire concert could have been sung live with no playback whatsoever like a 87 show (could Bad have been sung live?).
 
As great as this would be, I doubt that Michael ever did the lean on the BAD Tour. This is probably a mistake from that book.

But we did sort of get a lean from the BAD Tour. Michael would lean forward as far as he could and would then start running to stop himself from falling over.
Png


And you can see him do it at 3:20 of this video
 
M.J. Content said:
For all we know, the entire concert could have been sung live with no playback whatsoever like a 87 show (could Bad have been sung live?).
Click to expand...

Smooth Criminal, Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel were all sung 100% live for at least the first 5 shows of the second leg (2 Kansas shows and 3 MSG shows).
They might have been sung live until the last Minneapolis date on May 6th 1988.
 
dethorro said:
Smooth Criminal, Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel were all sung 100% live for at least the first 5 shows of the second leg (2 Kansas shows and 3 MSG shows).
They might have been sung live until the last Minneapolis date on May 6th 1988.
Click to expand...

I know Smooth Criminal was sung 100% live at Madison Square Garden, but is there any proof that Michael sang it live at other shows?
 
Hulkamaniac said:
And we still don't know if he sang MITM live in any of the Kansas shows :)
Click to expand...

It would be a dream come true if a show where MITM was sung entirely live gets released. Sadly, I don't think MITM was ever sung fully live.
 
Victor said:
I'm sitting down with a cup of tea and reading the book The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson by Michael Bush and just found this out.

"The lean shoes in which Michael leaned live for the first time in Kansas City, 1988."
gpNqYo7.jpg



So Michael did infact lean ONE time during The Bad Tour :D

Is there any photos/videos of that lean in Kansas, 1988?
Click to expand...

the handwriting is SO not Michael and 100% FAKE like most (maybe even all) autographs by "Michael" which Bush showed or wrote on all the items to sell them for a higher price. I dont trust him AT ALL.

https://www.teammichaeljackson.com/archives/6737
 
I remember reading on here a long time ago that Michael did do the lean at the final concerts in Los Angeles 1989. Unfortunately there's no proof of this, but I think this is more believable than the lean being done on the opening night of the tour and then never being done again.
 
Man... there's still so many concerts from this tour that get us all hyped.
 
This is interesting regardless. Maybe Mj wanted to surprise everyone opening night with an incredible new move. I think the patent wasnt made until 91?
Kansas had ro be special for MTV to air several songs.
 
I thought smooth criminal was shot in 87? Man Michael was so busy during the bad era! I wonder if he did what he did for bad for thriller how much more iconic it would be with more videos like lady in my life & pyt....smh he really should've did those videos!
 
wonderouzmj said:
I thought smooth criminal was shot in 87? Man Michael was so busy during the bad era! I wonder if he did what he did for bad for thriller how much more iconic it would be with more videos like lady in my life & pyt....smh he really should've did those videos!
Click to expand...

MJs plan was to release every song off the Bad album as a single.
 
dethorro said:
Smooth Criminal, Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel were all sung 100% live for at least the first 5 shows of the second leg (2 Kansas shows and 3 MSG shows).
They might have been sung live until the last Minneapolis date on May 6th 1988.
Click to expand...

Correct, some footage of "The Way You Make Me Feel" during opening night in Kansas City has surfaced & yup, he's singing it completely live.


M.J. Content said:
Really? I though it was only in the Kansas City and New York City concerts?
Click to expand...

From some bits & pieces I've heard & been told about, Michael sung "Smooth Criminal", "The Way You Make Me Feel", & "BAD" all live during at least the first 2 months in February & March. I've never heard or seen a single recording of "Man In The Mirror" being sung fully live, only in rehearsals. I would believe the New York City shows were closely modeled after the 2 nights in Kansas City, so it was most likely just live ad-libs early & a slightly different ending in Kansas City as well.

If there's any show that I would personally like to see, it's the final night of rehearsals. I believe Michael invited some school kids to come watch him do the final rehearsals, so it would be interesting to see anything that was cut the final minute or the different energy Michael probably had that night.
 
I doubt this to be true, unfortunately.

The SC video was released later - and when was the shoes patented? (or even invented) I think first came the music video where they used wires for the lean.

Then maybe MJ thought it would be cool to be able to do an actual lean and had it invented for a live show - BUT that would be after the SC video was released IMO.

So I think it must be opening night of Dangerous Tour. - But then again... Who knows?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top