Last night the Newshound brought you news of a potential Michael Jackson residency at London's O2 arena. The Times has today confirmed that AEG believe they are on the verge of announcing a Jackson residency in July.
According to the article, news of this residency was leaked on 'Twitter' by a celebrity PR called Mark Borkowski.
In 2001 Jackson visited London to launch a new charity, hiring Borkowski to handle the PR. As such, it is possible that Jackson has asked Borkowski to handle his London PR again. But the Newshound can't help but wonder why...
The 2001 visit descended into a farce. Jackson, looking like a china doll in a bad hairpiece, hobbled into the Oxford Union with a broken ankle and gave a heartfelt speech announcing his new charity, 'Heal The Kids'. The following day, the press ran with sneering headlines pertaining to Jackson and children, cruelly portraying a charitable gesture as an elaborate grooming ritual.
On the same trip Jackson privately visited Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he donated hundreds of toys, read stories to sick children and handed out concert tickets. The media picked up on the story and, the following day, ran with the angle that Jackson had shown up late to the hospital and spent barely any time with the children, callously using them as a publicity stunt to boost his own reputation. This angle was not only spiteful, but also entirely fictitious.
Jackson left London with his tail between his legs, having been made to feel guilty for his selflessness.In Borkowski's defence, the British media's animosity towards Jackson is difficult to contain, even for the most skilled of PR workers. Borkowski was rumoured to have also handled Jackson's British PR work in the wake of Martin Bashir's 'Living with Michael Jackson', which must have been a thankless task.
Returning to the subject of the rumoured residency, The Times claims that any performances by Jackson will likely rely on 'Britney-style vocal enhancements'. In other words, they will be mimed. This is unsurprising. When Jackson embarked on his 1996/7 HIStory Tour, the only live vocals - bar the odd ad-lib - were reserved for 'Wanna Be Startin Somethin' and a lackluster Jackson 5 medley. Across each two-hour concert, ticketholders were treated to approximately ten minutes of singing.
Fans on Jackson websites have long urged the singer to look to his idol, James Brown, and his greatest contemporary rival, Prince, for inspiration when it comes to planning new shows. Rather than sacrificing live vocals in an attempt to out-dance his previous concerts, they say he should slow down and pace himself. It seems Jackson has half taken their advice - The Times suggests that although Jackson will indeed cut back on his dancing, he will mime the concerts anyway.
Fans are already threatening to picket the concerts and demand refunds if Jackson is caught miming in London.
This is all presuming Jackson actually performs the residency. As The Times says, a week is a long time in the world of Michael Jackson. Even if the star has decided to perform in July, tomorrow he may decide not to. The star is changeable - a law unto himself. He thinks little of signing a contract to perform a series of concerts, then backing out with no explanation. Just ask Marcel Avram...
In 1999 Avram, a concert promoter, signed Jackson to perform two millennium concerts. He spent millions of dollars organising and promoting the shows only to discover that - despite having signed a contract - Jackson no longer had any intention of staging the concerts. It took almost three years and a lengthy court case before Jackson was ordered to reimburse Avram for his outgoings. The star never offered a legitimate reason for his failure to perform on those evenings.
The Newshound remains doubtful that this residency will ever come to fruition. Jackson is a loose cannon. He has lost his passion for his art - it has been beaten out of him by years of abuse and mockery at the hands of the media, and years of back-stabbing by those he held dear. His only pleasure in life today is travelling the world with his children. It will only be his desire to fund this extended holiday that has inspired him to ink any performance contract.
What AEG must now bank on - if indeed this contract has been signed - is that Jackson won't disappear with the advance.
Mahalo!
The Lowly Newshound
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