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List of Michael Jackson concerts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) performed on three concert tours, and three benefit concerts.
Michael Jackson concerts | |
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Concert tours | 3 |
Benefit concerts | 3 |
Television specials | 2 |
Having toured with his brothers since the early 1970s, Jackson began his first solo world tour, the Bad World Tour, in support of his seventh studio album Bad on September 12, 1987. Beginning in Tokyo, Japan, the tour lasted for 1 year, during which Jackson visited 15 countries and performed to 4.4 million people. Attendance figures for the first 14 dates in Japan totaled a record-breaking 450,000.[1] The most successful of the European dates were those in London at Wembley Stadium, where demand for the five July dates exceeded 1.5 million, enough to fill the 72,000-capacity venue 20 times.[2] Jackson went on to perform seven sold-out shows at Wembley for a total of 504,000 people which entered him into the Guinness World Records, setting a new world record for playing more dates at the stadium than any other artist.[3] The third concert was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles, and subsequently released as Live at Wembley July 16, 1988.[4] The final European show was held in Liverpool at Aintree Racecourse, where 1,550 fans were reported injured among the crowd of 125,000, the largest show of the tour.[3][5] Jackson toured the United States for a second time between September 1988 and January 1989, with a return to Japan for nine sold-out shows in Tokyo Dome for a total of 450,000 people in December.[6] This would be the last time he toured his native country, aside from two shows in Hawaii in 1997 and a handful of one-off appearances in 2001 and 2002. The Bad World Tour grossed a total of $125 million, earning two new entries in the Guinness World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience. It was nominated for "Tour of the Year 1988" at the inaugural International Rock Awards.[7][8][9][10][11] The Bad World Tour was the second highest-grossing tour of the 1980s after Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour
The follow-up concert series—the Dangerous World Tour—began in Munich, Germany, on June 27, 1992, and concluded in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 11, 1993, playing 69 concerts in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Jackson performed in stadiums across the world with all being sold out in countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. At the end, the tour grossed over $100 million and was attended by 3,500,000 people.[12] All profits were donated to various charities including Jackson's own Heal the World Foundation. The October 1, 1992 concert in Bucharest, Romania was filmed for broadcast on the HBO network on October 10. Jackson sold the film rights for the concert for $20 million, the then highest amount for a concert performer to appear on television. The special, Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour, earned Jackson the second of two CableACE Awards of his career, this one for Outstanding Performance Musical Special.[13] In July 1996, Jackson performed for Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's fiftieth birthday at Jerudong Park Amphitheater, which was specifically built for the birthday concert.[14] Jackson was reportedly paid $17 million (equivalent to $33 million in 2023).[15] In September 1996, Jackson returned with the HIStory World Tour, an 82 run of concerts that concluded the following year. The tour would promote the HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I album, which was released in June 1995. Starting on May 31, 1997, the tour would also promote Jackson's newly released single, "Blood on the Dance Floor", which was released in March 1997. The concert series attracted more than 4.5 million fans from 58 cities in 35 countries around the world. It was the most attended tour of all time by any artist, having grossed over $165 million. The average concert attendance was 54,878. In June 1999, Jackson joined Luciano Pavarotti for a War Child benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show raised a million dollars for refugees of the Kosovo War, and additional funds for the children of Guatemala.[16] Later that month, Jackson organized a series of MJ & Friends benefit concerts in Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, the Scorpions, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R. Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Red Cross and UNESCO.[17]
In 2001, after the release of the Invincible album, Sony Music announced another concert tour from Jackson for 2002–2003. However, Jackson refused to tour, and it was rumored that he would be forced to tour, but left the record company. The tour was canceled after Jackson's disputes, but was marketed as being canceled due to the September 11 attacks. In March 2009, Jackson announced a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, at a press conference at the O2 Arena. The shows were to be his first major concerts since the HIStory World Tour in 1997. Jackson suggested he would retire after the shows. The initial plan was for ten concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City, and Mumbai. The London residency was increased to fifty dates after record-breaking ticket sales; more than 1.5 million fans caused two sites offering pre-sale tickets to crash within minutes of going online. In the space of four hours, 750,000 tickets were sold. Two million people tried to buy pre-sale tickets in the space of 18 hours. AEG Live estimated that the first 10 concerts would have earned Jackson approximately £50 million. Joe Cohen, chief executive of Seatwave, told BBC 6 Music that the shows would generate £1 billion for the economy. While preparing for the concerts, Jackson died from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray.