Why MJ never gave an intimate, fully live performance?

I don't think that would be either 'intimate' ( with all the cameras, lighting and production crew) or , er..... 'fully live'???

I wasn't commenting on it being fully live. I was commenting on the practicality of it. You were saying you were worried about being able to control the fans etc.

So yeah, a little theatre would be intimate.
 
The Destiny, Triumph, Victory, and Bad Tour (1st leg) are fully live. I'm not sure why he should have done a concert with only slow songs, since his title is 'the King of Pop', not 'the King of standstill Ballads'.

Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but this is a terrible reason. He's not the King of Scary Music Videos so he really shouldn't have made Ghosts. He's also not the King of Divorce so he shouldn't have got two.

Michael often performed 'standstill ballads', as you put it.
 
I think Michael added everything to his shows. You always had great choreographies, some improvisation, rock songs like Beat It, his usual stuff like the J5 Medley and ballads. He wanted to have everything in one show
 
There's always the World Music Awards 2006, where he walked amongst the stage, shaking people's hands and singing, sorta, 'We Are The World'. Ok, it's not, but I love it anyway.
There's a handful of shows like that, He performed 'Gone Too Soon' at the Clinton Inauguration or whatever, and 'What More Can I Give' in 2001. Even 'This Is It', the movie, could be considered, 'stripped down', though it's really just half-way there. ?

I guess the real reason is, he just knew we all want to see him dance, at the end of the day. We all want him to bust a move, I know I do, and I ammmmm... unconcerned with 'miming', though that's whatever y'know, let's not talk about that. He was an entertainer, not a balladeer.
 
People keep saying about him wanting to put on a big show and dancing. But that doesn't explain why Michael lip-synched so many television performances where all he did was stand and walk around the stage for 5 minutes. Sure that doesn't reflect directly on how Michael presented himself in concert, but I think it could highlight there being an insecurity where live vocals are concerned.

To the previous poster, only a fraction of both What More Can I Give and Man In The Mirror were live in that performance you speak of. A very small fraction. Gone Too Soon, you're right, was live. And I cherish it. Such a beautiful voice.
 
While he's done some intimate performances - as far as a full show.. The HBO special would have been the most intimate (full show) he did being the MICHAEL JACKSON we came to know.. It would have stood out on it's own as a historic show.
 
To the previous poster, only a fraction of both What More Can I Give and Man In The Mirror were live in that performance you speak of. A very small fraction. Gone Too Soon, you're right, was live. And I cherish it. Such a beautiful voice.

Huh. Did not realize. I've never really watched the WMCIG performance, only seen it in passing. Lip syncing is an ever present dangerous in his performing, I suppose.

I remembered a different performance however, in 1995. It was Boys II Men performing "Heal The World" and "We Are The World". And they actually sounded... flat and bad. Who knew either of those were hard to sing. But then Michael came out and harmonized with them, and it was literally like a switch, suddenly beautiful. Truly, he was better than he gave himself credit for.
 
Perhaps the closet that Michael got to doing a stripped down version was when he sang solo's on the Jackson Variety Show back in 76/77 era.


 
look at the crowds he attracted even just going shopping. Potentially dangerous for him and dangerous for the venue / audience. Hard enough to get him away from large concert venues safely afterwards.

I think the circumstances are completely different (including the security parameters also) between a shopping street & an intimate, theatrical environment (theater, music hall, for example) in which a high profile show is going to take place, even in the case of MJ.

People keep saying about him wanting to put on a big show and dancing. But that doesn't explain why Michael lip-synched so many television performances where all he did was stand and walk around the stage for 5 minutes. Sure that doesn't reflect directly on how Michael presented himself in concert, but I think it could highlight there being an insecurity where live vocals are concerned.

For me, lip-syncing during shows that lack certain, mostly technical, requirements (live instruments, background vocals, etc.) makes some kind of sense.

As a result, personally, I am not entirely surprised (or fully dissatisfied) if a singer during a televised program/award show resorts to lip-syncing, even when it comes to MJ.

Of course, the insecurity parameter (regarding his live vocals) is something totally different & probably reflects one of the reasons that I mentioned about the possibility of being overly sensitive to negative reactions/reviews.
 
BTW, I did not get the impression that Doo Doo Head is "so interested in titles". She simply tried to point out that maybe MJ just wasn't interested in sitting on a stool and singing slow ballads. Maybe that just wasn't him as a performer. And BTW that is what the Leonard Cohen comment was about at the beginning of the thread too. That is someone like Leonard Cohen, but MJ's show is a different kind of show.
Yes, that is exactly what I meant, so thank you for clearing that up. I just phrased it like that with a humorous intent, not to sound intentionally snide or rude.

Oh, one little correction. I'm a he. :ciao:
 
ChrisC;4114869 said:
An invitation only event in a gorgeous little theatre and televise it?

Technically, the ‘HBO Special’ was planned & organized as a show with invite-only crowd.
 
As a result, personally, I am not entirely surprised (or fully dissatisfied) if a singer during a televised program/award show resorts to lip-syncing, even when it comes to MJ.

When it comes down to it, Michael Jackson would be provided with whatever he needed for his performance. Was everyone lip-synching at the BET 15th Anniversary show? Was everyone lip-synching at the Soultrain Awards in 1995?

There are examples of course of Michael lip-synching partly and then singing live also in some award shows - clearly it cannot be a technical issue then. The opening lines, the closing lines, the closing adlibs. Elizabeth's tribute is a good example. He sang the first few lines live then went into lip-synching. There was nothing from a technical standpoint that prevented him from continuing to sing that song entirely live.

Anyway, we'd go round in circles day and night. Over the duration of Michael's post 1985 career my perception is that lip-synching was overall as a result of his own choosing.
 
He was an entertainer, not a balladeer.

An entertainer can be a balladeer, too.

This applies also to MJ, especially if you take into account that almost half of the songs of his last studio album consisted of ballads.

When it comes down to it, Michael Jackson would be provided with whatever he needed for his performance. Was everyone lip-synching at the BET 15th Anniversary show? Was everyone lip-synching at the Soultrain Awards in 1995?

There are examples of course of Michael lip-synching partly and then singing live also in some award shows - clearly it cannot be a technical issue then. The opening lines, the closing lines, the closing adlibs. Elizabeth's tribute is a good example. He sang the first few lines live then went into lip-synching. There was nothing from a technical standpoint that prevented him from continuing to sing that song entirely live.

Anyway, we'd go round in circles day and night. Over the duration of Michael's post 1985 career my perception is that lip-synching was overall as a result of his own choosing.

Many different reasons can lead to a (fully or not) lip-synced televised/award performance, even in the case of MJ (for example, time constraints for each performance, coherent overall result of the entire show).
 
B&W: Will you ever do this show for HBO one day?
Michael: No, I don't think so, I worked so much to prepare that show, there was such a pressure, people pushing me to do this show no matter what! Then finally, nature took its course and said "stop", she decided I shouldn't do that show...
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=619310274804036&id=116222408446161


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MJ knew that his fans traveled from all over the world just to see him during his ‘HBO Special’ concert.

The rumors that faked his collapse sound still today so ridiculous.
 
^ I don't believe he faked his collapse at all but to play devils advocate of all rumors around Michael it would be one of the more believable ones for people... He did collapsed and/or was hospitalized and needed to cancel shows every tour and big show since Bad tour.. (Bad tour/Dangerous/HBO special) Up to that point it really was becoming expected..

I remember being young reading in an article that he collapsed and though I was worried I had no surprise/shock.. If I did not know better I could have fallowed that rumor.
 
^ I don't believe he faked his collapse at all but to play devils advocate of all rumors around Michael it would be one of the more believable ones for people... He did collapsed and/or was hospitalized and needed to cancel shows every tour and big show since Bad tour.. (Bad tour/Dangerous/HBO special) Up to that point it really was becoming expected..

I remember being young reading in an article that he collapsed and though I was worried I had no surprise/shock.. If I did not know better I could have fallowed that rumor.
I never had a doubt that he really collapsed, but you are right, and LaToya jumping on TV to say that this was one of "Michael's typical tricks" didn't help matters. For some reason, people seemed to believe LaToya's version of things.

You have to admit that when he was taken to the hospital during TII there was a lot of speculation that this was all staged-(at least, at first).
and I've read the chatter here from 2009 before June 25th, where a lot of fans were speculating on whether he was going to make it or not-especially when the dates got delayed.
I'm sure all the stuff around the HBO collapse fed into peoples' subconscious thinking.
 
^ Ahhh, I remember June 25th 09.. the news was on and hearing about him being rushed to the hospital and I was in denial.. I had a friend already call me and say 'sorry' and I responded.. "just wait, you know how crazy stories always circulates- this has to be BS" Next thing the announcement of him passing.. I was taken to another world!!
wow
 
KOPV;4116469 said:
^ I don't believe he faked his collapse at all but to play devils advocate of all rumors around Michael it would be one of the more believable ones for people... He did collapsed and/or was hospitalized and needed to cancel shows every tour and big show since Bad tour.. (Bad tour/Dangerous/HBO special) Up to that point it really was becoming expected..

I remember being young reading in an article that he collapsed and though I was worried I had no surprise/shock.. If I did not know better I could have fallowed that rumor.

I do not believe that he faked his collapse, too.

Notice that MJ had been plagued, even before the HBO Special, by similar health problems (mainly brought on by stress, & especially when he was about to deliver a big project). For example, during the ‘Dangerous’ recording sessions in 1990 he was hospitalized for two days (at 'St. John’s Hospital & Health Center') due to problems that were brought on by excessive physical effort (overexertion).

Notice also that if the 'HBO Special' had taken place, it would have made an insane impact to his career in many respects. For example, it would have significantly boosted his album sales (taking into account a favorable Christmas period) or, more importantly, it would have reached very high TV rates (an estimated worldwide audience of 250 million viewers).

For me, a fake collapse (HBO Special), for the sake of a publicity stunt, does not make sense at all.
 
Probably because he wanted to share his gift with as many as possible. And also because Michael cared so much about the ill, poor and disadvantaged in society (Particularly children), that playing an intimate show in front of a few fat cats or rich people would have gone against all he believed in.

I just gave this naive, straight from the heart response before reading any other replies in this thread.
 
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