Not Going Well Is It ?

There was a time, and younger viewers may find this hard to believe, when Michael Jackson was the biggest star in the world. When the 'Thriller' video hit he was probably the most famous person on earth, and not only that, he was actually good. These days it's hard to remember a time when people were famous on merit rather than due to manipulative marketing, but it did happen. And Michael Jackson was huge, and deservedly so. I myself was a big fan of his in the 80's and saw him perform at Wembley Stadium in 1988. But then, almost inevitably, things started to go wrong.

The 'Bad' album was pretty good but still a slide in quality. Worse still was the rather mis-judged video with Michael looking like the campest gang member in history. Following that was another, really not very good album, History. It was about this time that he decided that to place a giant effigy of himself in The Thames was cool. It wasn't, unless you think megalomania is funky. In the years after that, the quality of the music continued to crumble, culminating in the terrible 'Invincible' album. Off stage he got embroiled in legal battles, and most notably was prosecuted for child abuse. He was acquitted of the charges, but the damage was done. He then dropped out of public view completely and fought a bankruptcy case.

Throughout all this time, he seemed to forget why it was he'd been successful in the first place, namely the music. At the point that he seemingly became enamoured with his own reflection, he started to neglect his profession. Setting up foundations to save the children that don't appear to have ever got off the ground showed that he felt he was a saviour of some type, when in fact all he was was a song and dance man. A very good one, but just that. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the plastic surgery, because we all know now what a freak he's become.

So when he suddenly announced 50 concerts at the O2 in London I was sceptical. At no point did I consider buying a ticket, mainly because I saw Prince there a couple of years ago and Jacko won't get close to that standard. But I did wonder whether after all those years away from performing,  he'd still have that magic that made him so successful ? After all he's 51 this year, and hasn't done proper live work for at least a decade. I did worry that the shows would either not happen, or would present him as a shadow of his former self. And wasn't the enormous number of 50 concerts a little ambitious ?

Well, today comes the news that he's postponed the first few concerts, due to lack of rehearsal time (isn't 10 years enough ?). This is pretty scuzzy because people have booked airline tickets from all over the world to see him, and while they may get their concert tickets refunded, they will still lose a fortune on travel money. Now, quite apart from the P.R. disaster that this creates, just what the Hell is Jackson doing announcing a tour, and selling tickets for a show for which he isn't prepared ? A professional doesn't do that, and certainly the Michael Jackson of old wouldn't have.  There are rumours that this is due to a secret illness, but I myself think that the official reason is more damning. It all starts to look like amateur night at this stage, and further adds to his public embarrassements of the last few years.

But please don't get me wrong. I, unlike many, don't want to see him fail. I still remember what he was like back in July 1988, and it was a memorable concert. I would love to see that Michael Jackson show up on stage in London in July in order to shut a few people up. But I have the feeling that that may be too much to ask, and that even if these shows go ahead, that they could be underwhelming at best. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't look good does it ?