Latest on MJJC

The main and the only problem of This Is It tour was lack of "Invincible" content?

MJ hadn't performed full concerts for years , a lot of fans had never seen him perform live, throw in the fact that his image was at an all time low and almost felt like he had retired/health in major decline (tabloids)

It was important he performed the hits to get the public back on his side.

Having been so close to seeing him in July , he could have sang 3 little pigs and I would have been mesmerized
 
love1sfatal said:
wasnt there a thing with This Is It that fans could vote online for what songs they wanted to hear on that tour? idk maybe im just making it up but if im not then thats kinda the fans' fault lmao, id love to hear some of em Invincible songs This is It-ified tho
Click to expand...
It would be naïve to believe that such a big, show production would rely (for the set list) on songs submitted by some random fans.
Salami said:
That’s all well and good, but change it up a bit. Who wants a Jackson 5 medley from MJ? Retire it!
Click to expand...
Apparently only Michael Jackson himself.

He should have realized that performing these songs as an adult in his later career (which were songs that he used to perform when he was a kid) was not only embarrassing but also hilarious.
 
I understand the concept of singing your old songs, but why not do something different? “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Can You Feel It,” “Blame It on the Boogie,” anything. The J5 Medley is so tired and boring at this point.
 
AlwaysThere said:
I understand the concept of singing your old songs, but why not do something different? “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Can You Feel It,” “Blame It on the Boogie,” anything. The J5 Medley is so tired and boring at this point.
Click to expand...
There was a whole 2001 segment and according to Jermaine, there would've been a whole reunion tour. I think it was just fine, the handful. Add ABC or Never Can Say Goodbye though.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
There was a whole 2001 segment and according to Jermaine, there would've been a whole reunion tour. I think it was just fine, the handful. Add ABC or Never Can Say Goodbye though.
Click to expand...
I don’t buy anything the family says. They’ve always been dead set that MJ would keep working with them after he’d made it clear he didn’t want to.
 
There are other artists who change their setlists every concert, I always wanted MJ to do this, keep like a base setlist and play with the rest. I agree that adding songs from Invincible would have been great, Unbreakable, Whatever Happens, switching Thriller with Threatened, and maybe some of the box set songs like We've Had Enough, Best of Joy, Scared of the Moon, Fall Again, The Way You Love Me and would have LOVED to see mature MJ performing Bad and Dirty Diana.
 
You know off topic and contradictory to what I usually say BUT I was so disappointed for once that MJ didn’t do the traditional robot during dancing Machine at the MSG shows!
 
Again off topic but wikipedia has this for the HIStory tour

If this is true and not made up wikipedia style then those possible rehearsal tapes include some interesting stuff!
This makes state of shock rehearsed for the Victor6 tour and HIStory tour
But you know what I don’t believe it one bit lol
 
filmandmusic said:
Again off topic but wikipedia has this for the HIStory tour

If this is true and not made up wikipedia style then those possible rehearsal tapes include some interesting stuff!
This makes state of shock rehearsed for the Victor6 tour and HIStory tour
But you know what I don’t believe it one bit lol
Click to expand...
I believe there is an audio snippet of 2 Bad rehearsal that Sugarfoot shared 3 years ago.
 
AlwaysThere said:
I don’t buy anything the family says. They’ve always been dead set that MJ would keep working with them after he’d made it clear he didn’t want to.
Click to expand...
I'm sure MJ didn't want to, but with family, sometimes they just keep making you go along with things anyway. I would be very surprised if it didn't happen, at least one more time.
 
I think he had to balance giving fans a taste of his later work with giving fans what they want. We know everything Michael ever did but the average ticket holder does not. This Is It sold something like 750'000 tickets. Do you think 750'000 people in the UK bought Invincible? Not even close.

People talking about swapping Thriller for Threatened? YRMW for The Way You Make Me Feel? On what planet? That's something we can say as hardcore fans who've seen every concert a dozen times already. That's not true for most concert-goers or for the general public.

I think if Michael wanted to squeeze a surprise in Whatever Happens fits perfectly. Interludes would have been perfect for things like Speechless, YRMW, Break of Dawn, Heaven Can Wait. But there is not a single song on the setlist I would swap out for an Invincible song. This tour was meant to be about more than his absolute die hard fans that would probably have sat and listened to him play the entire "Got to be there" album.

Anyways, it is a tragedy those concerts didn't go ahead. When you see the work going into in the background you can only imagine it would have been the greatest concert in history.
 
BuffaloBill87 said:
MJ hadn't performed full concerts for years , a lot of fans had never seen him perform live, throw in the fact that his image was at an all time low and almost felt like he had retired/health in major decline (tabloids)

It was important he performed the hits to get the public back on his side.

Having been so close to seeing him in July , he could have sang 3 little pigs and I would have been mesmerized
Click to expand...
Lol exactly this. He could've come out in Light Man, waved, walked off and it would've been enough for me.

MJs catalogue is the best. The new versions, videos, effects.. it would've been the greatest show in the history of mankind. Swapping YRMW for Beat It or whatever wouldn't have made a difference.
 
That's another thing too, we were getting reimaginings of the songs. it wasn't going to be like the 30th anniversary concert. There were going to be new elements added to literally everthing. It's like they knew he wasn't going to be able to totally hold it on his own but the extras were all an extension of his mind and his artistry. You see the costumes and the staging and the videos and just go, wow, what could this have been? This is why I don't think Michael's creative juices were done by a long shot. I just think he needed to get to the right place in his life to do it again.

But no, swapping those songs would make a difference. I think there's a place for maybe one or two invincible tracks but you dont swap an iconic hit like Beat It out for YRMW. Some things are just silly.
 
As for the public perception of the concert, whether or not he was playing old hits, if the guy is selling those kinds of tickets, he's relevant. You cant be a hasbeen and sell 750'000 tickets to a concert. He could play songs exclusively from the 80s and 90s but if you're putting on the kind of show they intended and getting those kinds of numbers, you're a factor TODAY.

I often like to think of what may have happened after a tour. I think This Is It was to be, and should have remained, his last concerts. But I think another album or two by now had he lived is totally feasible. Maybe see him go in a completely different direction musically and leave pop behind. Venture into orchestral music, opera. Maybe some musical production. He was still interested in movies so there could have been some soundtracks he could have done. I think This Is It had the potential to put Michael Jackson back on the map. The crowd was there. The stage was set. All he needed to do is show up and be Michael Jackson.

Unfortunately, he was unable to do that. Drug addiction is an absolute bitch. 50 shows was way too much to ask of him and I often wonder why they arrived at such a lofty number. Greed? Well the greed should have been met with practicality, and practically, a 50 year old man who is hardly in the world's best shape isn't going to do 50 shows.

I think if it stuck to 10 shows, they may have actually happened. 10 shows with the option to extend is what the deal should have been. But I think Michael was well and truly overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. Also by what it meant. It had been well over a decade since his last tour. Since then he'd watched his world fall apart, his name turn to almost nothing, his last attempt at an album flopped by his standards, and now he had the eyes on the world on him. If he's not up to it, not only is he over, but his reputation tarnished. His financail situation even more desperate than before. It was one hell of a burden to ask of him.

I think if Michael were only asked 10 shows, he'd be alive today. We probably would have got more than 10 shows, and they would have been some of the greatest concerts of all time, innovating the form and elevating the art. Instead, he was surrounded by greedy scoundrels and a suspiciously negligent doctor. And of course he was a victim of his own self. Had Michael had the will to pull himself out of his dependance, he could have. had he been honest about his dependance he could have sought treatment before the tour. There are a lot of "what ifs" as far as the last moments of Michael Jackson.

I often like to think about what the This Is It concert could have been. I think it would have been the crowning achievement of his career. The final curtain call. The best possible ending for an icon. That is how he deserved to go out. He would have stepped away from performing and lived his life out doing whatever projects suited him, financially secure, his legacy in his own hands. In an alternate universe that is what happened for Michael Jackson.
 
Never really understood the criticism of the TII setlist. As others have said he hadn't performed in years, this was being marketed as his last performances (even though it wasn't going to be) so it was important he had a show that included his biggest hits. Lots of fans would be seeing him for the first time.

I think these shows would have been amazing if everything went how it was intended. The band was awesome, the new short film segments were very cool, some new interesting things thrown into classic song performances (the bed for DD, jacket bursting into flames on beat it and the chandeliers for SC). The use of new technology with the 3D screen would have been very cool to experience as well.
 
This is the thought going into Dirty Diana - the world missed out. If they were doing all songs with this kind of imagination, holy crap

 
For the Dangerous performance they were apparently always changing the arrangement and "This Place Hotel" even sneaks in for a bit there. I get the feeling like the concert was going to have its setlist but be filled with all sorts of little easter eggs. I am pretty confident some Invincible stuff would have popped up at some point.

It looks like there is a lot of This Is It footage still in the vault and wouldnt be surprised if we get more of it in some sort of commemorative Blu Ray one day

 
I legitimately think it could have been the greatest concert of all time. I dont say that just because its Michael Jackson - honestly I dont think much of the HIStory tour. But they were taking this thing to a whole 'nother level. I still think all the concepts need to be brought to the fans, even if in an extended DVD with an accompanying book. I understand why the Estate is trying to get new fans but down the line you'd think they'd start giving us the inner workings of his genius and the people he surrounded himself with. As much as the people in his professional life were ghouls, the artists he collaborated with are unsung.

Then there are the costumes which I personally found pretty fascinating. Michael was larger than life, and they were right to lean into that with his outfits.
 
A bigger problem was the costumes, most if not all of them wouldn't have been suitable to perform in.

The BOW studded black and gold jacket weighed like 10 pounds, no way Michael could handle that, let alone perform in it at that point in the concert.

Another issue is some of them contained too many crystals, which would make them likely blinding to the audience under heavy bright concert lights

I heard a rumour Mike had Michael Bush design a set of back ups, because he could see some would be difficult to perform in
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top