The beginning of the 21st century was not very kind to Michael Jackson. The famous singer, who dominated the charts a few years ago, began to be talked about mainly in the context of his problems with the law and loud accusations of molesting minors.
Jackson’s last material with new songs was an album “Invicible”, released in 2001. And although it sold 14 million copies worldwide – despite mixed opinions from journalists – it was the worst-selling album in Jackson’s career since the 1970s, and only one of the singles from the album reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 (” “You Rock My World” came in at number 10).
However, quite a few years have passed since then, and Jackson only began to cut corners with subsequent compilations. It was even worse when it came to concerts. The world-famous singer last went on a major tour at the end of the 20th century. “HIStory World Tour” it consisted of 82 concerts, including one in Poland (Jackson performed at the Bemowo festival in Warsaw in 1996). However, increasingly serious health problems (mental and physical), concert fatigue and a simple reluctance to perform live meant that Jackson stopped performing live from then on.
Jackson probably wouldn’t have returned to live performances if it weren’t for the fact that the singer fell into huge debts. Shortly before the start of the tour, but also before Jackson’s death, “The Guardian” wrote about the king of pop’s debts of over 100 million pounds. That’s why he first announced a residency at the O2 Arena, and then expanded it from 10 to 50 performances.
In 2009, Jackson’s financial situation seemed to be under control anyway. A few years earlier, his liabilities had grown to as much as half a billion dollars.
It took a lot of money to maintain the ranch Neverland, which included, among others, cinema, two cable cars and a private zoo. Journalists gained a lot of knowledge about Jackson’s fortune from his divorce trial Debbie Rowe from 1999. Then it turned out that Jackson was spending almost PLN 100,000 on the gardener alone. dollars per month. The star also had a weakness for trinkets and expensive cars, of which he was charged as many as 75. Jackson’s budget was also strained by the pre-trial settlements he had to reach with the boys accusing him of molestation.
No wonder Jackson had to start liquidating his fortune. In 2008, he even got rid of his famous ranch. The thing that the singer did not want to part with for a long time was the rights to the music The Beatles. However, at some point he had to partially sell these to Sony for less than $100 million (the rest was sold to the studio by his heirs for $750 million).
However, the world-famous singer could not keep selling his fortune. So, at the suggestion of the concert tycoon, he agreed to return to the stage.
On March 5, 2009, he appeared at the O2 hall in London Michael Jackson together with representatives of AEG to announce the good news to an enthusiastic audience and 350 journalists. After a 12-year break Michael Jackson returns to the stage with a special series of concerts “This Is It”
“This is it, and when I say this is it, it really means this is it. This is my last curtain call,” he said at a press conference broadcast, among others, by via CNN. It was then announced that the King of Pop would play 10 special concerts in London.
A statement released to the media promised Jackson’s “explosive return with a top-class team.” It was also supposed to be the most modern show on stage, and special special guests were also announced.
“For a man who was absent for 10 years, embroiled in lawsuits, and allegedly in a financial crisis, Michael Jackson looks quite rehabilitated,” wrote “Indepedent.”
It didn’t take long to wait for the reaction of the singer’s fans and outside listeners who wanted to see the last performances of Jackson’s career. The ticket sales system could not withstand the pressure of 1.5 million fans and had to be restarted after a few minutes.
After huge disappointment among fans, with Jackson’s consent, another 40 shows were added to the singer’s farewell tour on March 11. A total of 750,000 were sold. tickets. Already thanks to the first dates, the king of pop was supposed to earn $80 million. Tickets quickly entered the second circulation, where their prices reached up to PLN 10,000. pounds.
Ultimately, the artist’s concerts were to take place – after minor adjustments – from July 13, 2009 to March 6, 2010. After the announcement of the residency at the O2, feverish preparations for unique concerts began. The interest in the preparations and the residency itself was so great that AEG was already thinking about the future and wanted Jackson to break his word once again and go on a world tour.
However, before the concerts took place, the singer’s team and he himself had to start rehearsals. The King of Pop took part in a total of 13 of them. The last one was on June 24, a day before his death. A recording of Jackson’s last performances from that day is still circulating on the Internet. Jackson’s team itself trained much more. Their rehearsals were held six days a week from April to June in Burbank, Inglewood and Los Angeles.
Dress rehearsals were to take place on July 7-12. These never happened.
18 days before the first concert – on June 25, 2009 – tragic news was announced. Michael Jackson is dead. The official cause of death made public was sudden cardiac arrest.
After an accident on the set of a Pepsi commercial, Jackson became addicted to strong painkillers. He also had trouble sleeping. Shortly after the autopsy was performed, an investigation into the singer’s death was initiated. In November 2011, after two years of investigation, Jackson’s personal doctor was found guilty of manslaughter. Conrad Murray (he gave the star propofol, which is not allowed for home use).
How did the concert organizer react to the death? First of all, he wanted to minimize losses related to returned tickets and the unused concert hall. Already in August 2009, AEG announced the sale of rights to unreleased rehearsal recordings to Columbia Pictures. The deal was expected to be worth $60 million. A documentary about the concert tour that did not take place was released the same year – in October 2009.