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.