It Was Going To Be Electric…

To see the photographs released a few days ago, taken just 48 hours before Michael suddenly died, makes the whole thing all the more tragic.

These are some of the photos taken by renowned photographer Kevin Mazur at one of the final full stage dress rehearsals for Michael’s “This Is It” comeback concerts. He was rehearsing at The Staples Centre in Los Angeles, and was putting the final touches on what really does look like an incredible show.

To put it simply, Michael looks electric.



The man who took these photographs was hired to document the rehearsals of the show, and he said that he was completely blown away by Michael’s energy and vibrancy on stage, saying that he looked like his old self again – singing, dancing, smiling, laughing, and keeping up with dancers half his age.

Like I said, this makes the whole thing even more tragic to me. A day after these photograph were taken, Michael was dead.



To see Michael like this brings a massive smile to my face, but also a tear to my eye.

I’ll be honest… despite my indescribable excitement for the concert, I  was thinking it would be scattered show, with Michael off stage every now and then, with lots of effects and visuals, and hopefully other performers to give him a bit of a break on stage.
I figured the likes of Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Beyonce… perhaps Estelle, Britney, hell, even Madonna… who all would’ve been passing through London during his residency, would’ve come on stage to break up the show for Michael. I’m not saying that I thought Michael would not have been able to do the shows, but I think it’s fair to say we all thought he might not have the energy he once had, so a ‘broken-up’ show would have been perfectly fine.

However, seeing these pictures – and going on what the photographer said – it looks like Michael was indeed back at his best, performing in the dress rehearsals as if he had rolled back 15 years.



So to repeat, this brings an incredibly huge smile to my face, but also a tear to my eye.

Michael was ready. Ready to blow us away once again.
It’s so sad that he never got to do it.

According to several reports, this was his reported set-list for the concerts:

1. Billie Jean




2. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’




3. Rock with You




4. The Way You Make Me Feel




5. Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough




6. I Just Can’t Stop Loving You




7. Human Nature




8. Smooth Criminal




9. Girlfriend




10. Man in the Mirror




11. Beat It




12. One Day in Your Life




13. Heal The World




14. You Are Not Alone




15. Remember the Time




16. Thriller

The one consolation (and  a small one at that), is that as well as having a professional photographer at the dress rehearsals, they also had a full professional film crew there.
The rehearsal was recorded in multi-camera, High-Definition video with multi-track surround-sound audio, and AEG Live sources have said that this footage will be released as a DVD and Live Album.

So at least, eventually, we will see the magic that Michael had in store for us.

Once again, Rest In Peace The Greatest of All Time.

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