dvw@hopd3.UUCP (D. V. Wilkerson) (10/03/84)
Ok, how come no one out there will admit to going to see the Jacksons? Embarassed? I'll be brave and admit that I went on 9/29 in Philadelphia. I'm the one who thinks that only football should be played in football stadiums. But my lovely mother said (after the Jacksons first visit to Philly), "Well, I missed them this time, but if they ever come back, I'm going to see them". Three days later, the mayor announced that the Jacksons would be back to make-up the Labor Day concert that was rained out and also play an additional date (9/29). Mother said, "I'm going to see Michael". I said, "Mom, you'll never get tickets". She said, "If I have to get up at 6:00 a. m. and wait in a line of 100 people, I'll get tickets". She was number 30 in line. Got pretty good seats too (she told the guy selling tickets that she was too old to climb up a lot of stairs; she got seats on the field). The concert? The opening was silly, their entrance was pretty good (rising up from below the stage, backlighted, so that you could only see five shadows), the projection on the screen was clear, and the sound was excellent! There was little spontaneity, except when Michael decided not to sing "Ben" after the band had already started playing: "I've been singing this song a long time and I think we should do something different". Execellent suggestion. They went right into "Human Nature" instead. No "Victory" songs were performed, although the "Torture" video was shown around 7:30. The concert started a little before 9:00. About and hour and fifteen minutes into the show, they said good night. Lovely Mother (who, BTW has been standing on her chair since the beginning of the show) said, "Is that it?" I said, "67,000 Philadelphians have paid at least $30 each to see Michael Jackson, and he hasn't sung "Billie Jean" yet? Are you kidding?" 4 minutes later, they returned. Two songs later, Michael was attacked by some special-effects "spiders", was levitated, and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. He reappeared with Randy on the other side of the stage, and they did "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and closed with "Shake Your Body", all with generous portions of moonwalking. Jermaine performed "Dynamite", "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming", and "Let's Get Serious" earlier in the show. "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I'll Be There" were other crowd favorites. They performed for about two hours (reportedly the longest of any show so far) and ended with a great fireworks display. Worth $30? Yeah, I guess so, but then I didn't buy the tickets :-). (No, they did not do "Thriller", although they did open with "Do You Wanna Be Starting Something".) Diane Wilkerson ..!hopd3!dvw
ag5@pucc-i (Henry C. Mensch) (10/04/84)
<<Becuz!>>
Nobody will admit to going to see the Jacksons for two reasons:
*) tickets just weren't available (who wants to wait in line
for days at a time to see a three-hour concert??)
*) tickets weren't available for a reasonable price. . .
I wouldn't pay that much to see Christ on Earth again
Although I enjoy their music *very* much, these two factors
helped me decide NOT to go see them. I did walk past Madison Square
Garden just before their concert, and I was kinda happy that I didn't
go: What a zoo!
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Henry C. Mensch | Purdue University Computing Center
{decvax|ucbvax|sequent|icalqa|inuxc|uiucdcs|ihnp4}!pur-ee!pucc-i!ag5
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" . . You'd better smile when they watch you,
smile like you're in control. . ."
-- *Smile*, Was (Not Was)jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (10/11/84)
I'm glad to hear that somebody enjoyed the Jacksons' concert. They hit
Toronto for three shows this past week-end, and I've been told that it
wasn't worth it, but then the tickets were $40 here (I know that's only
about $30 U.S., but we get paid in Canadian dollars so it's pretty
expensive for us. You can buy about 6 recently released albums for that
price.) and it was in the worst place in town to see a concert. (CNE
Stadium, outdoors, always terrible sound, and about 1% of the seats have
a good view of the stage)
Anyway, I'm wandering off topic here. A question that I've been asking
lately is, "how many Jacksons are there?" That is, how many perform as
"The Jacksons"? I think Diane said five in her article, but I always
thought that there were six. I know they were the Jackson 5 in the early
seventies, and Michael was the youngest of the five, but if my memory
serves me correctly, they were joined in the mid or late 70's by another
brother younger than Michael (Randy, I think) at which time they changed
their name to The Jacksons, since they were no longer five. I'm sure
I counted six people on the cover of the "Victory" album, but The Toronto
Sun recently had an article on them which pictured and named only five,
one of whom was Randy. The names Randy, Michael, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon
and Jackie all come to mind, so who is the odd man out and what happened
to him, or is one of these guys just a figment of my imagination?
--
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073
{linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeffbdot@hogpd.UUCP (J.BARRETT) (10/14/84)
Jackie Jackson did not appear in the Victory tour. He was home recovering from knee surgery. John Barrett
dvw@hopd3.UUCP (D. V. Wilkerson) (10/15/84)
Jeff: There are six. Jackie has been out with a knee injury, and has not been able to perform on the tour yet. Sorry for the confusion. Has anyone noticed that two Jackson sisters (Janet and Rebbie) have singles in the top-ten of the Black Artists (formerly Soul) charts? Diane Wilkerson ..!hopd3!dvw
merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (10/16/84)
{ Do I still get paid? }
From what I understand, Randy broke his leg or something like that
just before the tour. Whether he has returned or not, I don't know.
So for some of the concerts, Randy wasn't there.
I think they should lower the price to $25.00 if Randy isn't there...
--
Peter Merchantdvw@hopd3.UUCP (D. V. Wilkerson) (10/23/84)
JACKIE is the one with the knee injury, and is not performing on the tour. There are three Jackson sisters, Janet, LaToya, and Rebbie (Maureen I think). Rebbie has a single called "Centipede" that is one of the top 10 Black Artists singles (it was produced by the Jackson that will remain nameless). Diane Wilkerson ..!hopd3!dvw
as@brunix.UUCP (Alex M. Stein) (10/25/84)
Originally, there were five performing brothers: Michael, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, and Jermaine. They recorded for Motown as the Jackson 5. When they sought creative control, they had to leave Motown. Jermaine, who was married to the daughter of Motown's founder, left the group to stay with his father-in-law's record label. Jermaine's place was taken by Randy, a younger brother. Since Motown "owned" the rights to the name "Jackson 5," the group became known as "the Jacksons." "Victory" is the first Jacksons album that includes Jermaine, so it has all six of the brothers. Only five of them are on tour, however, since one (Marlon, I think) injured his knee. There are also two sisters, Janet and LaToya, but that's another story, right?