Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Author:J. Randy Taraborrelli
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Autobiography, Biography: arts & entertainment, Rock & Pop music, Composers & Musicians, Composers & Musicians - Pop, specific bands & groups, Entertainment & Performing Arts - General, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Singers, Rock musicians, Individual composers & musicians, Biography, Biography & Autobiography, Cultural Heritage, Rich & Famous, Biography: The Arts
ISBN: 9780283071133
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
Published: 2009-10-01T07:00:00+00:00

On 23 February 1988, Michael Jackson brought the Bad tour to the United States for the first time at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. By this time, the three single releases from Bad – ‘I Just Can't Stop Loving You’, ‘Bad’ and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ – had all gone to number one. Michael was in good spirits, especially since Frank Dileo predicted that there would probably be two more number-one hits.

Before the show, the Jackson crew unloaded eight truckloads of equipment, including seven hundred lights, one hundred speakers, a massive stage, two huge video screens, and eighty-five costumes. On the night of the concert, banks of floodlights rose from the stage bathing the audience in blinding white light before he appeared, frozen still onstage in a line of dancers. Dressed in a black toreador's outfit with buckles down the trouser seams, Michael exploded as a supernova of energy in motion to the strains of the opening number. ‘Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'’.

There were startling and grandiose effects: bullet-like, multi-coloured laser beams, smoke bombs and explosions, all of which were effective and loud. There was also plenty of shtick: Michael disappearing from one side of the stage and reappearing on the other in a puff of smoke; Michael swinging out over the audience on a boom crane during ‘Beat It’. In terms of pure stagecraft and showmanship, it was impossible to fault Michael and his huge supporting cast, including four male dancers who took the place of Michael's brothers.

In this show, Michael also became much more sexually suggestive. He grabbed his crotch at least five times during the opening number. His ungloved hand hovered around his groin during most of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Bad’ and ‘Beat It’. It was an odd gesture coming from someone like Michael, but the seventeen thousand mostly middle-class white fans seemed to love it; the audience was on its feet for the entire slick, demanding, two-hour performance. Every time Michael moonwalked across the stage the audience would cheer and Michael's face would light up. It was clear that he still enjoyed performing.

‘The word “superstar” became meaningless compared with the power and grace pouring from the stage,’ wrote Gregory Sandow, who reviewed the concert for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

Vocally, Michael was in terrific shape; his voice teacher, Seth Riggs, travelled with him for much of the tour. ‘He's a high tenor with a three-and-a-half octave range,’ Riggs said. ‘He goes from basso low E up to G and A-flat above high C. A lot of people think it's a falsetto, but it's not. It's all connected, which is remarkable. During his vocal exercises he would put his arms up in the air and start spinning while holding a note. I asked him why he was doing that, and he said, “I may have to do it onstage, so I want to make sure it's possible.” I'd never seen anything like that before. I thought maybe I should stop him so he can concentrate on his voice now, and dance later.

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