So July 12th 1997 and we get up to go to the bus station at 8am. I went to the Concert with my Uncle Paul (he is a massive Michael Jackson fan like me) at the station there was 2 people that was also waiting for our coach to London that we later got speaking to. We traveled down, had a break on the way at a service station and we arrived in London and we took the walk down Wembley way to the stadium. Now, I was 12 years old and nearly 13 and everything seemed so big around me and especially the 2 white towers of the stadium and it was a little overwhelming. Once we climbed up to the stadium we had a vast amount of merchandise stalls selling MJ Memorabilia and I remember that they was selling a gold MJ coin and it was £100! T-shirts was around £30 and the tour program (which i got) was £15. I also got a key ring for £8! July 12th 1997 might as well have been declared the hottest day of the year as it sure felt like it. We walked around for a while then decided to take our programs back to the parked coach, sat on there and had a drink and a quick look at the program then went back. We sat outside the stadium mingled in with thousands of people, luckily we bumped into the couple we met on the bus and was playing cards with them and sharing stories. Every once in a while we could here MJ inside the stadium rehearsing for the show and everyone was going wild.
4pm arrived and there was an announcement that there was a delay and they would not be opening the gates until 5pm, this caused a little outrage, but this did not deter anyone. 5pm arrived and the announcement of the gates opening was announced and everything became chaos! Although the end result was to get inside and watch the show, people were still pushing and going crazy to get in and at the front. We got to the turnstile and handed over our ticket stubs and bottle lids and walked in and down to the pitch standing area. We managed to get quite close to the front where the golden circle started but as I was little, we did not stay there and went and sat at the unreserved seating at the side of the stage, which still was a great view.
We had support acts come on, Human Nature, an australian band, Grace and then after they performed, there was a load of screaming that came from the side closer to the stage and there he was....Michael Jackson! walking down from one of the entrance doors down the stairs to the back of the stage, this started a frenzy of people near to collapsing.
Then moment arrived....
It was still daylight and the stage went dark and the rumble of the bass signaled that the King of pop was about to hit the stage. the screams and roars of the crowds chanting MICHAEL MICHAEL MICHAEL was out of this world, cameras flashing, people going crazy and he had not even got on! Moments later, a women's voice came on and the huge video screen lit up. A robot man in a golden helmet was sat in a rocket with a count down timer, the the rocket launched on and headed for its destination.
The rocket flew past world sights like the sistine chapel, and broke through the berlin wall. Then the rocket was on approach to its destination and it went up into some sand mountains and over the top, the stage was in view and it dipped and zoomed down under the ground and then BOOOM!! as if the approach was really happened, the rocket exploded onto the stage sending the crowds of people (including myself and my uncle Paul) into melt downs with screaming, chanting, cheering and anything else that can be done.
The rocket had frazzles and sparks coming out of it to make the audience believe it had crashed through and this was something out of this world. All the lights were down pointing at the rocket then BOOOM again, the door to the rocket fell off revealing the king of pop himself MICHAEL JACKSON!
The rocket had frazzles and sparks coming out of it to make the audience believe it had crashed through and this was something out of this world. All the lights were down pointing at the rocket then BOOOM again, the door to the rocket fell off revealing the king of pop himself MICHAEL JACKSON!
He stood there in a golden outfit with body armor and a golden helmet for around 5 mins whilst the crowd was still screaming.
He then moved out by stepping onto the stage and the rocket went back down, then after another 3-5mins, a voice came over to announce "THE STAGE IS READY FOR ACCESS" then the beginning bars of "Scream" started, Michael moved and this prompted an even bigger scream from everyone and he pulled off his body armer, then turned around with his back facing the crown, pulled off the helmet
and turned back to the audience whilst getting and even bigger scream, he then started to pelt out the words and dance to "scream" to the pumping music "Tired of injustice,Tired of the schemes, The lies are disgusting, So what does it mean, Kicking me down, I got to get up, As jacked as it sounds, The whole system sucks Baby" the man was on fire! he had the crowd in the palm of his hands!
He then moved out by stepping onto the stage and the rocket went back down, then after another 3-5mins, a voice came over to announce "THE STAGE IS READY FOR ACCESS" then the beginning bars of "Scream" started, Michael moved and this prompted an even bigger scream from everyone and he pulled off his body armer, then turned around with his back facing the crown, pulled off the helmet
and turned back to the audience whilst getting and even bigger scream, he then started to pelt out the words and dance to "scream" to the pumping music "Tired of injustice,Tired of the schemes, The lies are disgusting, So what does it mean, Kicking me down, I got to get up, As jacked as it sounds, The whole system sucks Baby" the man was on fire! he had the crowd in the palm of his hands!
see this video clip, it is of the actual date I went!
http://www.youtube.com/user/MJItalyKid91#p/u/105/0b8fSSpfd4w
http://www.youtube.com/user/MJItalyKid91#p/u/105/0b8fSSpfd4w
The atmosphere was electric. He did his signature moves and he ran from one side of the stage to to the other, He went on from singing scream into "they don't really care about us", this was a heart pounding performance and something to have really experienced first hand. He then went into "keep it in the closet" and then stopped, the crowds went wild again, he shouted "how ya doing?" and people just screamed back at him then he said "woooo" this prompted people to do the same back, then "heehee" then "oaww" leading into "wanna be starting something", then stranger in Moscow, then after this song Michael went off stage.
The daylight was sort of fading by this point and the start to "Smooth Criminal" came on, with flappers and gangsters on stage having a little dance until the finger clicks and the "doodoooos" started and then Michael emerges from under the stage floor with his white jacket and white hat and also with a tommy gun and starts shooting up at the roof of the stage, where loads of explosions go off and the white sheet drops down with a single light shining Michael's silhouette onto it with him dancing. Then the sheet comes down again and the number starts with the most amazing choreography and then the most impressive move of all "the lean"
he then makes out to shoot everyone and then he walks of stage!
he then makes out to shoot everyone and then he walks of stage!
Michael then comes then comes back onstage after a short video interlude to sing "You are not alone" to which a female fan is invited onstage and he serenades her, at the end of the song he does a bit of ad-lib and gets everyone to clap in-time and in doing so makes it a more of a personal performance. Michael asked how everyone was doing and was blowing kisses to people, then said "now we are going to give you the old songs, the old fashion way" and this broke out into the full "Jackson 5 medley". After this, there was another video interlude then Michael came back onstage to perform his signature track "Billie Jean" he came onto the stage with a small suit case and a chair, he then placed the case on the chair and opened it, then he took out His black glitter jacket, then the famous glitter glove, which sent everyone into a frenzy by taking out the trilby hat! Then a single pool of light lit the stage and he jumped into the light and then started the routine for Billie Jean, this prompted everyone to scream and clap, this being the performance of the night! fantastic!
The next song was then non other that "Thriller" this number opened with the short video of Thriller when Michael was a werewolf, the song then starts and Michael emerges onto the stage with a white reflective jacket like the one in the video, but not red. He is later joined onstage by zombies to do the full dance to the song and he was then swallowed by the stage and then he popped back up and had the werewolf mask on. Then the zombies brought on a standing up glass coffin with spikes, Michael then gets into the glass coffin and they put a sheet over it, they force the spikes through the coffin then the sheet blows up in smoke, revealing nothing, and with that breath, "Beat it" started with Michael on his crane coming up from the front of the stage as if by magic! The whole show had everyone screaming and shouting and when Michael reeamerging this way, it sent everyone again into a melt down! He was hanging with his feet off the crane and looking like he was going to fall, it was cringe-worthy stuff but he did not fall, he had the smoke machines and everything, was also an outstanding performance.
Michael then did "Blood on the dance floor", in which was new out back then. Then onto an interlude of the "black and white" video, followed by the "Dangerous", "Black or White" where a wall of blocks fell on him at the end of the song, then onto "Earth song" This performance was amazing, he had the crane out again but this time he circled around the stadium, giving people more chance of seeing him up close, he then came back onto the stage and a Tank came on, a solider came out and was aiming his gun at everyone including Michael. Michael managed to persuade the solider to lower his gun and made him cry and made Michael cry and everyone else for that matter, was an emotional performance, especially as a little girl came over to the solider and gave him a single sunflower.
"Hearth song" followed with the same sort of message and then Michael went off stage for a while and the music for "They dont really care about us" came on with everyone in the show coming onstage to bow. Then the music from "HIStory" came on with loads of people with large flags of the world and this was pretty awesome to see. Then the flag people went to the side and Michael sang this as the final song of his performance, this was showered in people screaming for Michael and when he went off stage and the promo video for "HIStory" was playing on the big screen, allowing time for Michael to make a quick exit and when the lights went up, people was still screaming for more.
We then all started to do the surge to get out of the stadium back to the coach, 85 thousand people trying to get down Wembley way is and amazing sight to see, especially for a 12 year old. We got back to the coach and started to swop stories of our favorite songs and bits of the concert and looked at out programs and headed home.
The day after I was ringing all my family and my friends telling them how much of a great show it was and to this day I still have it down as my favorite! I also still have the program and the key ring.
All in all, for the day and decade that the show was in, the technology that was used was second to non, there was no one around that was doing big performances like this then and Michael really set the bar for this kind of show!
If you get a chance to see a good quality DVD of this, I do suggest getting the stereo on real loud to get the full effect.
