From The Sun:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/s...316557.ece

Will gigs KO Jacko?

WACKO JACKO has extended his O2 run AGAIN — from 28 gigs to a whopping 50 shows.
The King Of Pop will now be at the east London venue until February 2010, with the first of what had originally been a ten-night run, kicking off in July.

Fans queued up through the night to snap up tickets for the much-hyped shows which went on general sale at 7am today.

The first two in the queue, students AYESHA OBI and AVA ZADKHORVASH, each paid £300 for four tickets - two each for the first two nights.

While all this was going on, Jacko was in LA visiting a toy shop suitably named Wacko.


Around 500 people from all over the world were queuing up to buy tickets for Jackson's This Is It summer shows, which he has said will be his last.

50 shows is an extraordinary tally for even the fittest pop performer. But for someone as frail and sickly as 50-year-old Jackson, it seems like madness to me.

If I was one of the tens of thousands of punters who have bagged a ticket towards the end of the run, I’d make sure my proof of purchase is in a very safe place.

I just can’t see the middle-aged maestro managing that amount of gigs in such a short time. After all, this is a man who has not performed a full-length concert since 1997.


I revealed earlier this week how the former child star is training an army of dance doubles to tackle his more energetic routines on his This Is It shows. But I just can’t see that being enough.

I hope he proves me wrong, but you have been warned.

Sales of Michael Jackson's greatest hits album King Of Pop have shown a four-fold increase at HMV stores in the UK & Ireland and online at hmv.com over the past week following the announcement of his O2 concerts.

^If the UK press writes stuff like that, imagine American papers. That's why he doesn't go to the US anymore, he's afraid of the media, not because of the lack of fans.

I think 50 shows is an insane idea, he really should have done a proper tour instead of making his supporters travel to London.

LiveToTell86 said:

No it's the same thing they said about Prince ....tabloids like the Sun will be anti-mike up until the week he comes to london ....then they will love him giving away free CD's etc...trust me i know these cats...
[Edited 3/13/09 8:10am]

LiveToTell86 said:

Actually the American media have been pretty fair about this tour, I havent read anything negative concerning the tour over here. I've seen more negativity coming from the British press.

This is shaping up to be a defining moment in his career, cause regular fans are buying these tickets, so he has to come correct. This can put him back on the scene for his music again with the general public.

lilgish said:

Well selling 860,000 tickets is a start...

NaughtyKitty said:

Hey they did that with Prince they will do that with MJ ....hell they do that with Madonna all the time...its the Press they have to sell papers... it's a love hate thing...

I don't get the 50 shows, he could have done less shows with same amount of people at Wembley.

LondonStyle said:

showing up and performing is the key, he doesn't want a million irate people.

lilgish said:

Wembley is a crap venue plus if it's good for Prince he knows it will be good for him ...

LondonStyle said:

Yeah wembley sucks. I saw madonna there last year, and while i loved the show its just too damn big. Its crap even for football games - non atmosphere.

The O2 on the other hand is a great venue - and it makes sense to keep it all there. Its a controlled environment where they can probably keep a better check on lighting and sound. Plus id imagine Wembley would cost more.....

lilgish said:

Its a massive undertaking for him i think. He's obviously been through a lot over the last few years and there are big question marks over his mental and physical health but i reckon he'll be ok - although i dont reckon he'll be able to do all the shows. I think given the level of interest that in itself will be enough to motivate him to give it his all.

Does anyone know when it goes into rehearsals? It will be interesting to see MJ in the modern live performance arena. Massive stage shows have moved on quite alot over the past decade so it will be interesting in itself to see how he embraces it. The HIStory tour followed a boring and tired formula he'd relied on for years - i hope its a massive improvement on that.

Shortly afterwards the head of AEG Live spoke to Jackson on the phone to pass on the news.

Randy Phillips told Sky News: "He was crying. I could hear it in his voice – he was choked up."

Thousands of people queued through the night outside the O2, with many more jamming phone lines and websites.

Several hundred tickets were immediately put on the online auction site eBay for up to £1,500 each.

Great he sold out all the dates.

I'm sure he'll do alright.

LondonStyle said:

Awww, yay for MJ!

LondonStyle said:

Oh that's lovely. I am so very very pleased. I hope that he is fresh and exciting. I went to see the Bad tour which I really enjoyed but when dangerous was more of the same my interest started to wane. I have to say he has had true moments of genius since then and I hope this is one of those times whee he pulls it out of the hat.

He deserves this and it's looking good!

Lisa

Timmy84 said:

Hope the people who paid for tickets are happy with "Alright"!!!!

Does a has-been sell out this many tickets in less than a week?

eireboy34 said:

Oh yes, I'll be perfectly satisfied, thank you.

eireboy34 said:

I believe they are.

Annika said:

Happy to hear it!! Could you lend us a fiver??!!!

eireboy34 said:

Why on earth would I do that?

Annika said:

Annika sweetie pie, you are obviously so rich that you are willing to spend your cash on a concert which;

might be cancelled


at best will be sung live for about 2-5 songs

at worst will be a sad spectacle of an artist who doesn't know his limits!!

Can we make that a tenner???!!!!

eireboy34 said:

Tell you what, you release a couple of records, make a few videos, do a world tour or two, just so I know what I'm getting into. Then, if I like what I hear, you come over here and sing 2-5 songs for me, and I'll consider that tenner.

Sounds fair, no?

@eireboy34.... wow, previously I was just assuming that you're an idiot.. but now it gets clearer and clearer by each passing post that you actually indeed are an idiot!

PatrickS77 said:

Pat, maybe be an idiot ( although one able to face truths when necessary!!) but I'll never be a culchie!! Enjoy the manure!!!!!

Now now, let's all stop picking on eireboy34 and instead enjoy MJ's newly released single!

eireboy34 said:

Keep being negative while MJ is making history again.

Obviously the one million people who bought tickets don't see the things that you see.

This is really a moment in history.

eireboy34 said:

Is that 5 or 10 English £'s or 5 or 10lbs of potatoes you're after eireboy?

.
[Edited 3/13/09 14:05pm]

sat in my university library and the guy in front of me is on the phone talking about selling his Michael Jackson tickets

i swear loads of people have just bought them hoping to make a profit

i wish they would start putting people photos on the tickets like they do for Glastonbury it would solve the problem of ticket touts and if someone needed to sell there ticket they could return it to the ticket office and get refunded for the face value. Surely for such massive companies like Ticketmaster and the O2 this wouldnt be that hard.