Sorry I've taken my sweet time setting a blog up for my new adventures in America, but I've had much less free time than when I was in Wisconsin! However, I'm aware that everyone is eager to know about one rather major event I jammily managed to score tickets for last week, so I thought it was about time I got my act together on the Blogging front! So here it is LA Blog Part One:
July 7th 2009, Michael Jackson’s Memorial in Los Angeles: a historical event in celebration of a truly exceptional talent. Before today I never really had much of an opinion on Michael Jackson as a person, I’ve never met him or had the privilege of seeing him in concert. Consequently all my ideas about the King of Pop were things I read in magazines or had seen on TV; in particular a certain Martin Bashir documentary heavily influenced my views. Having been one of the lucky few people who managed to win tickets for the event, I was very excited, though in all honesty, I was more excited to see the likes of Stevie Wonder than because of Michael Jackson.
I’m not going to detail everything that happened at the concert because I’m pretty sure it received some airtime on various channels and you will probably have seen some of it! In a nutshell, performances came from Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer, Jermaine Jackson, Usher and Shaheen Jafargholi. In addition there were speeches from Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, Berry Gordy Jr., Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, Rev Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, Martin Luther King Jr. III and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
The concert got off to a slow start and the arena was only half full, probably as a result of overseas winners not being able to get to the event. The atmosphere was exceedingly difficult to describe as it changed many times through the course of the event, from sombre to joyful to just plain awkward. Initially the audience seemed unsure of how to behave resulting in a very formal beginning; however after the first montage of Jacksons songs were played the atmosphere switched to electric almost instantly. The tone lightened up with words coming from Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant and though Brooke Shields speech had its funny moments it was extremely moving and portrayed Jackson in a very real way.
There were a few moments in which you had to laugh due to some unfortunate wording, such as when Brooke Shields said His heart would burst out of him when he was laughing! Or when Stevie Wonder said he wished he hadn’t lived to see this day! I also got the giggles every time someone addressed Blanket and said his name seriously as if it wasn’t weird!
Joking aside, by the end of the service you recognised the fact that no matter what your opinion was of MJ, he was still a brother, son and father to three children, making his death tragic irrelevant of the circumstances. It was great to have seen the service first hand and experienced the atmosphere at the event; it was definitely something I will not forget. If in 20 years time I’m strapped for cash I may consider selling my programme on eBay!!!
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