Posted By: Neil McCormick at Mar 4, 2009 at 17:17:44 [General]
Posted in: Arts , Audio File
Tags:live, michael jackson, O2

The first big question about Michael Jackson's mooted summer residency at the O2 arena in London is whether the public is still interested in a pop star whose image has been so tarnished by decades of weird behaviour, court cases, innuendo and unexceptional records.


An arena is actually a small venue for Jackson Photo: AP

Personally, I think that's a no brainer (and I am not discussing a new surgical procedure, here). The force of nostalgia is so irresistible, groups who weren't even popular first time round have been doing sell out reunion tours, while overweight, wrinkled ex-boy bands have been thrust to new heights of popular and critical acclaim. The future of the music business may be in doubt but the past gets rosier with each passing year. In an era of adulterated fame, Jackson is a genuine living legend. He is the biggest selling pop star ever, everyone knows his classic songs, and the opportunity to see and hear him perform them in the flesh will be irresistible, even to sceptics.

The rumour is that there will be a run of between 21 and 50 dates, to a potential audience of a million, but even that is just a fraction of the numbers who have bought his records (there are claimed lifetime worldwide sales of 750 million). An arena is actually a small venue for Jackson, last seen in the mid 90s playing in stadiums. This is effectively a world tour of London, where the singer will set up shop and bring his audience to him. Prince proved this model could work, and (despite his superstar status) he has never had sales figures to rival Jacksons. Well, nobody has.
The second question (as least to judge by what I am being asked by various radio stations and TV crews) is whether he is physically and mentally healthy enough to actually perform a string of shows. It is certainly hard to imagine the frail, surgically altered neurotic figure gossiped about in the media actually performing the moonwalk without having to lie down immediately afterwards and recuperate in his oxygen tent. But let's face it, Jackson is such an otherworldly character, they could probably just install his oxygen tent in the middle of the O2 and people would queue up to see for themselves that he actually exists. Anyway, my sources at Sony, who deal with him (in a slightly exasperated fashion, it must be said) on a regular basis, have assured me that he is in excellent health. At heart, Jackson's a showbiz trouper, and I am convinced he will rise to the occasion.
Setting up a residency as opposed to sending himself around the world seems to me an inspired decision. In the seventies and eighties, Jackson was an inspired live performer, both in terms of musical ability, showmanship and spectacle. In slightly straitened circumstances in the nineties, on his last world tour, all of those elements suffered, partly because he was determined to present the illusion of maintaining the scale of his earlier shows. His band was too small, with too much reliance on programming, the special effects were slightly shabby and Jackson, whose core appeal relies on one of the most distinctive and beautiful voices in popular music, criminally mimed for much of the show. By setting up in an arena and negating the vast expense of moving a show around the world, they can probably contrive a real mechanised spectacle, while Jackson will be able to focus purely on his performance. At least I guess that's the plan.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, that, of course, is the hundred million dollar question (the rumoured figure Jackson will receive for his participation). Arguably Jackson's biggest problem in recent years has been sheer hubris. He clings to the notion that he is the King Of Pop, and refuses to step down from that imaginary throne to participate in the nitty gritty of making a workable pop career. As long as he rehearses, performs and gives the people what they want to hear, this is going to be great.

But sometimes it is hard to tell a king how to behave, especially one as eccentric and delusional as Jackson frequently appears to be. But he is also a great showman, with a taste for magic and spectacle. And turning his apparently terminally damaged career around live on stage could be the most spectacular magic trick he has ever pulled off. http://blogs.telegraph.co...he_wall[u]
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i hope he can do it. if for nothing else, for his children. it would be
nice if he could salvage some shred of a public image and be remembered
for more than just the scandal and slander at the end of the day.

and like the article says, as long as he puts on a good show and keeps
his head up, he's bound to sell out all dates i'm sure.

i won't be attending i know his songs and like a lot of them but
i've never been a fan. however, after all the drama and sidetracking,
he's due to bask in the spotlight again for his songwriting talent imo.

I wonder what the Vegas odds on at least 1 show being cancelled?

Graycap23 said:

can you imagine 30 shows

i hope he can do it though. but damn if the odds aren't stacked against it.

I need 2 call Vegas.

Graycap23 said:

talking about Vegas, wasn't mike supposed to do a residency over there?

i wonder what happened

LondonStyle said:

A lip synced mess.....

WHY WASN"T THIS THREAD LOCKED!!!!! is it cause it's started by haters moderators?????. so if you talk about mj like a dog, you're okay? you can start as many threads as you want? is that how it goes?

cdcgold said: