Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special

Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special

New York City Revue concert by Michael Jackson
Promotional poster for Jackson's New York show
Venue	Madison Square Garden New York City
Supporting album	Invincible
Date(s)	September 7 – 10, 2001
Michael Jackson concert chronology
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special (2001) This Is It (2009–10) (cancelled)

The Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special was a 2001 New York City revue show by American signer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It took place on September 7, 2001 and September 10, 2001. In late November 2001, the CBS television network aired the concerts as a two-hour special in honor of Michael Jackson's thirtieth year as a solo entertainer (his first solo single, "Got to Be There", was recorded in 1971). The show was edited from footage of two separate concerts Michael had orchestrated in New York City's Madison Square Garden on September 7 and September 10 of 2001. The shows sold out in five hours. Ticket prices were pop's most expensive ever; the best seats cost $5,000 and included a dinner with Michael Jackson and a signed poster. Jackson reportedly earned $7.5 million for each of the two concerts, which is over $150,000 per minute. The concerts are mentioned in the VH1 biopic Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, which notes that the last of the two concerts wrapped up just hours before two hijacked jet planes crashed into the Twin Towers of Lower Manhattan's World Trade Center (see September 11 attacks).

Marlon Brando appeared a few hours before Jackson's performance to speak about humanitarian work but it was not broadcast due to poor response from the audience. Raw footage can be found online.

Televised program

First hour

Opening the show was Samuel L. Jackson's presentation of Usher, Whitney Houston & Mýa, performing a rendition of Michael's hit song "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", from his 1982 album, Thriller. Among other performers and guests were Liza Minnelli singing "You Are Not Alone"; young Billy Gilman's performance of the 1972 song "Ben"; and James Ingram with Gloria Estefan singing Jackson's 1987 ballad, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". Marc Anthony also sang "She's Out of My Life".

Second hour

The second hour featured the reunion of Michael and his brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Randy, Marlon, and Tito for a "greatest hits" medley, including their headlining songs "Can You Feel It", "ABC", "The Love You Save", "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There", "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" and "Dancing Machine" (with special guests, *NSYNC).

Following a short intermission, Chris Tucker then appeared onstage, recalls a humorous conversation between him and Jackson (imitating his voice) before announcing a live performance of "Billie Jean" (The broadcast version is different showing "The Way You Make Me Feel"/"Black or White"/"Beat It" and then "Billie Jean"). The superstar once again hit the stage, this time flanked by scores of dancers dressed as gang members for "Beat It". As Michael glided and danced his way across the floor, the crowd roared all the louder in appreciation. Immediately afterward, Slash was properly introduced for a rendition of "Black or White". Then, to wind things down, Jackson was joined by Britney Spears for a performance of "The Way You Make Me Feel". The broadcast version that aired featured a different dancer than Spears while Jackson sang the whole song due to contractual reasons^{[citation needed]}, the removed clip can be found online. After, he performed his newest single, "You Rock My World", from the album Invincible. Michael was joined at the end of the song by Usher and Chris Tucker, who performed a smooth robotic dance routine.^{[citation needed]} (The broadcast version ends after "You Rock My World"). Near the end of the final song, Jackson and Co. sang "We Are the World" onstage in an otherwise elaborate finale. Then the encore of "You Rock My World" was performed while Jackson danced only for the instrumental version of the song and did not sing.

Set lists

Friday, September 7

Song	Performer(s)
Introduction	Samuel L. Jackson
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"	Usher Mýa Whitney Houston
Humanitarian Speech not televised	Marlon Brando
"Ben"	Billy Gilman
"Angel" "It Wasn't Me"	ShaggyRayvonRikrok
"You Can't Win" - The Wiz	Jill Scott as the Scarecrow
"Ease on Down the Road" - The Wiz	Monica as Dorothy Jill Scott as the Scarecrow Al Jarreau as the Tin Man Deborah Cox as the Cowardly Lion
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"	James Ingram Gloria Estefan
"She's Out of My Life"	Marc Anthony
"Heal the World"	Mýa Deborah Cox Rah Digga Monica Tamia The Brooklyn Youth Choir
"You Are Not Alone" "Never Never Land" not televised "Over the Rainbow" not televised	Liza Minnelli
"Bootylicious"	Destiny's Child
"Crying Time" not televised	Ray Charles Casandra Wilson
"Speech"	Elizabeth Taylor
"Can You Feel It" "HIStory Intro" "I Want You Back" "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" "ABC" "The Love You Save" "I'll Be There"	The Jacksons
"Dancing Machine"	The Jacksons *NSYNC
"The Way You Make Me Feel"	Michael Jackson Britney Spears
"Billie Jean"	Michael Jackson
"Black or White" "Beat It"	Michael Jackson Slash
"You Rock My World"	Michael Jackson and all artists at the end.

Monday, September 10

Song	Performer(s)
Introduction	Samuel L. Jackson
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"	Usher Mýa Deborah Cox
"Ben"	Billy Gilman
"Home" - The Wiz not televised	Monica as Dorothy
"Ease on Down the Road" - The Wiz not televised	Monica as Dorothy Jill Scott as the Scarecrow Al Jarreau as The Tin Man Deborah Cox as the Cowardly Lion
"You Are Not Alone" "Never Never Land" not televised	Liza Minnelli
"Speech"	Elizabeth Taylor
"Get Ur Freak On"	Missy Elliott Nelly Furtado
"Man in the Mirror"	Usher Luther Vandross 98 Degrees
"I Want Candy"	Aaron Carter
"I Will Survive"	Gloria Gaynor
"I'll Never Love This Way Again"	Dionne Warwick
"Midnight Train to Georgia"	Gladys Knight
"I Do (Cherish You)"	98 Degrees
"My Baby" "I Want You Back"	Romeo Master P
"Can You Feel It" "HIStory Intro" "ABC" "The Love You Save" "I'll Be There" "I Want You Back"	The Jacksons
"Dancing Machine"	The Jacksons *NSYNC
"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"	The Jacksons
"The Way You Make Me Feel" "Billie Jean"	Michael Jackson
"Black or White" "Beat It"	Michael Jackson Slash
"You Rock My World"	Michael Jackson Usher Chris Tucker
"We Are the World"	All Artists Kenny Rogers Yoko Ono Quincy Jones

• Both shows took place in September 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The televised special re-sequenced the songs somewhat, and presented the highlights from both concerts.

• Michael did not rehearse the first show. Because of this, he let the public choose songs after "Billie Jean". They chose "You Rock My World", but the band wasn't ready, so they played "Black or White".

• Whitney Houston was supposed to perform "One Day in Your Life" on the second night, but for unknown reasons, she did not perform it.

• The performances of "We Are the World" and "You Rock My World (Reprise)" were never broadcast on television, but were filmed with an amateur camera by a fan. The footage was leaked online in low quality.

Tour dates

#	Date	City	Country	Venue
1	September 7, 2001	New York City	United States	Madison Square Garden
2	September 10, 2001

References