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History Tour

cb2024

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Why do people say that the History Tour was his worst Tour ever if they weren't there? Please explain!
 
I did see the History Tour live, twice. It was amazing. The lip-synching wasn't really an issue. The show was so overwhelming... I didn't pay attention to the lip-synching at all. That's very different when you watch it on YouTube though. So I understand the criticism from people who only saw it on little screens. But Michael didn't create his tour for YouTube – he probably never anticipated all his tours and performances would be on such a platform. May be he would have made different choices if he had known.
 
Piek said:
I did see the History Tour live, twice. It was amazing. The lip-synching wasn't really an issue. The show was so overwhelming... I didn't pay attention to the lip-synching at all. That's very different when you watch it on YouTube though. So I understand the criticism from people who only saw it on little screens. But Michael didn't create his tour for YouTube – he probably never anticipated all his tours and performances would be on such a platform. May be he would have made different choices if he had known.
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Nice!
Where did you attend?
I saw both the Munich shows and had the same overwhelming experience than you.
And everyone attending had the same experience.
The haters here only judge the captured video material. They never experienced the real thing. The real show that MJ created.
 
For everyone attending the tour , I have no doubt it would have been amazing, the build up, seeing him come on stage and having that full concert experience.

It's only when you look back at footage that you realise the show itself wasn't all that great, 99% of it due to the lack of live singing.

He's also a bit older and not as energetic plus it's the 3rd tour by this point and he's using the same formula pretty much throughout.

It was also post 93, and I believe he was never the same again so we're watching a wounded MJ.

That's my take of course 🙂
 
Blues_Away2023 said:
For everyone attending the tour , I have no doubt it would have been amazing, the build up, seeing him come on stage and having that full concert experience.

It's only when you look back at footage that you realise the show itself wasn't all that great, 99% of it due to the lack of live singing.

He's also a bit older and not as energetic plus it's the 3rd tour by this point and he's using the same formula pretty much throughout.

It was also post 93, and I believe he was never the same again so we're watching a wounded MJ.

That's my take of course 🙂
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It was not just that 99% of the HIStory Tour lacked live singing.

It was also the fact that his live vocals (on the few songs) sounded very bad.

Even Michael Jackson himself (during that period) was not satisfied at all with his live vocals on the HIStory Tour.

That is why, although he initially planned to release the HIStory Tour (in DVD) in Christmas 1997, after later consideration he decided to cancel that release for good.
 
MJJuniorSinceMW said:
Nice!
Where did you attend?
I saw both the Munich shows and had the same overwhelming experience than you.
And everyone attending had the same experience.
The haters here only judge the captured video material. They never experienced the real thing. The real show that MJ created.
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In Amsterdam, and then one year later again in Amsterdam. (He went there twice, remarkably.)
 
Piek said:
In Amsterdam, and then one year later again in Amsterdam. (He went there twice, remarkably.)
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The Amsterdam shows are amongst my favourite from the tour. There’s a few clips from one of those shows and I love the way those clips in particular are shot. Also, there’s an armature shot concert from way up in the stands/bleachers and honestly it’s one of the best concerts IMO. MJ is on fire for that concert.
 
mj_frenzy said:
Even Michael Jackson himself (during that period) was not satisfied at all with his live vocals on the HIStory Tour.

That is why, although he initially planned to release the HIStory Tour (in DVD) in Christmas 1997, after later consideration he decided to cancel that release for good.
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is this factual,though?
interesting to hear,nonetheless..
 
Aside from the obvious, something about the stage lightning and stage design , and possibly the camera angles, never quite sat right with me. I can’t really articulate exactly what it is but his previous tours felt so cinematic from a stage design perspective. Whenever I watch the History tour I do not get that cinematic feeling that I get while watching his previous tours. The stage design feels a bit flat to me.
 
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For many of us here, we can only judge based on the footage. Even though Its my least favourite tour, it is by no means unwatchable. Imo he was able to refine and improve his technique for Billie Jean. The Manila performance is one of his best breakdowns. I still enjoy scream, TDCAU etc regardless of playback. It's simply the amount that's the issue for me.

If he had re-recorded vocals (OTW Medley) for the tour I think it would have helped.
 
Robbsaber01 said:
For many of us here, we can only judge based on the footage. Even though Its my least favourite tour, it is by no means unwatchable. Imo he was able to refine and improve his technique for Billie Jean. The Manila performance is one of his best breakdowns. I still enjoy scream, TDCAU etc regardless of playback. It's simply the amount that's the issue for me.

If he had re-recorded vocals (OTW Medley) for the tour I think it would have helped.
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Cool breakdown, thanks for directing me to it. In the end his movements feel alien to me which I mean as a positive
 
Immortal MJJ said:
is this factual,though?
interesting to hear,nonetheless..
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Galactus123 said:
I don't know but the Munich shows were filmed with HD cameras and with a lot of them. I think its likely that they had more plans than to just show it on tv originally.
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It was also confirmed by Michael Jackson fanzines at that time.

It was meant to get a release as a documentary (HIStory Munich concert plus behind-the-scenes footage).

For the HIStory Munich concert, they also included many individual crowd shots, and the audio was later remastered heavily because they wanted to emphasize the percussion and audience sounds.

It has been revealed that Michael Jackson was also not satisfied with the behind-the-scenes footage.

Michael Jackson was also suffering from laryngitis and flu during that performance, and this clearly affected not only his live singing but also his dancing, which eventually led to the cancellation of that release.
 
Finally another HWT bashing thread 🤣
I think the reasons were posted above but the HWT had a few shows were MJ was on fire and his vocals were just fine!

Check Bucharest 96! His dancing is close to the dangerous tour and his live vocals are great! Same goes for Kuala Lumpur October 29 1996!

Brunei was fine. Vocals not perfect but very solid vocals and dancing. Sad that Munich is the show that was aired on tv when the 1996 leg had some killer shows!
 
analogue said:
I know what you mean. The lightning and stage design on the Dangerous Tour was so eye popping you could see it from space but I never got that feeling with the HIStory Tour.
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To be fair that far from stage shot at earth song in Munich 97 is crazy awesome
 
i imagine the weeks, months of anticipation leading up to the concerts in realtime was exciting and overall added to the experience of seeing mj live, even with the history tour. lipsyncing or not.
 
Victorious said:
I totally understand why Michael lip-synced but if you were used to hear him perform live then HWT was simply dissapointing. Live vocals (even bad ones) create human connection. There was also nothing new in the show that could compensate that even a little
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Gold pants!!!???


Joke
 
cb2024 said:
Why do people say that the History Tour was his worst Tour ever if they weren't there? Please explain!
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Partly it's just personal taste, as with everything. To experience a stage show in real life is beyond exciting but that doesn't mean watching film / video footage is pointless or doesn't work. Most of us who watched Motown 25 in 1983 / 84 didn't see it live. We weren't there. We saw it on tv and it blew our tiny minds! It was electric, fabulous, wild, amazing. Some people find it underwhelming, sure, but those of us who love it are more than happy to watch that tv footage again and again. And again! :D

My top, top fave Dangerous performance is the AMA's 1993. I wasn't there in the audience and I'm fine with that. Watching footage of it is just ... 🥳 😲

Same with BWT 1987 which are my fave live performances from Michael. I wasn't there - never had any interest in going to stadium / arena gigs. The quality of the footage is appalling in many cases, really sh!t, but I watch them anyway bc the excitement of Michael's performance gets through to me, every time.

My point is, if someone praises Motown 25, even though they were not there, everyone accepts that as being perfectly reasonable. If someone is unenthusiastic about HWT it's fine for them to say so, imo. Watching Michael perform Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming on the Victory tour sets me on fire. Watching HWT footage doesn't do that. It really doesn't matter. People are not being disloyal to Michael. They just have different taste.

People have strong, precious memories of seeing Michael perform live and that's great. But a stage show is a visual thing and the HWT footage should be able to communicate to people who were not there. For some people, HWT doesn't quite land.
 
cb2024 said:
Why do people say that the History Tour was his worst Tour ever if they weren't there? Please explain!
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Mostly because just like taking poops, everybody also has opinions. 😌🤌🏾💋✨️

LMFAO! Nah but jokes aside, it's okay. 😂

It doesn't really matter what anyone thinks who has never had to do the hard work that Michael had to do under his circumstances.

By the time HIStory World Tour came around:

1. He'd been performing since he was a little baby of 5, but now he was almost 40 (over 32 years straight of exhausting physical demand at that point).

2. He preferred his weight being around 120-130 pounds when he danced (which he couldn't be during HIStory because he was obligated to eat or else Sony was going to wring his neck.) He was required to be "healthy to tour" by their standard, just like during This Is It, and we saw how that went.

3. He had laryngitis and he was generally under the weather (but work had to be done anyway so he just had to deal with it or, again, Sony was going to wring his neck).

4. And the bills had to be paid or else Sony/The Partners/The Sponsors/Etc. were probably going to take his behind straight to court as they always did; whenever he tried to get out of things his contracts said he was obligated to do that he didn't like. 💀

5. *special bonus* Bambi wanted to stop touring back in 1984! 😂 Every single tour he's ever done after 1984, he never even wanted to do except the ones that raised money for good causes that needed his help. I'm just glad he never came out here and just sat his ass downstage center with one microphone in his hand and called it a day on the crowd. 🤣 He still put his blood, sweat, pain, and tears into every single tour he's ever done; even though I always thought that he should've went ahead and did what he originally planned because touring killed him. 🙃

During The Victory Tour, Michael was anticipating to stop touring then and shift his focus to his dreams of going into acting and directing films. But, of course, that didn't happen because obviously The Bad Tour exists lol. But then, on The Bad Tour, he was planning on RETIRING after that. 😂 That's why he did so much during Bad (the movie, a million short films, the book, the endorsements, etc.) because that man was about to head out!

However; that didn't happen either, as we know.

What happened during Invincible? (Yes, Michael refused to tour and Sony did exactly what they would've done all the years before. They pulled his promotional resources, ruined the album push, and wrung his neck). 🥴

If he didn't tour then Invincible could've been Bad, or Dangerous, or History instead. 🤷🏾‍♀️ The fact that Invincible was still able to become one of the best selling albums of that time, even though Sony did Michael hella dirty the way they did, was exceptional. Doing several millions sold with low promotional support is madness because marketing and promotion is everything. They're the keys to the win.

The marketing/promo that he and his teams did on their own was clearly affective. I wished they were able to pat themselves on the back for that success.

I still wonder what it would've been like if he was able to go his route and retire after Victory or Bad. The mystery of what could've been still intrigues me...

Unfortunately, we'll never know. 🥀

Personally, I usually say that my favorite tour is Triumph when people ask but if I'm being completely honest, I love every tour. Being in theatre while growing up, experiencing life while living on stage, and having to breathe in the world of live performance like it was oxygen has always helped me to see beyond the finished product. I know exactly what it takes to do everything Michael did and if I were him, I would've just let Sony take me to court or wring my neck! 💀 I don't know how tf he built up the strength to do anything he did on The HIStory Tour. 🥴 That sh¡t was crazy. Impressive! But, crazy. LMFAOOO!

Touring was a requirement to promote all of the creative work whether he liked it or not. (And he didn't, but they didn't care so he had to do what he had to do). The world might call itself lucky that HIStory wasn't the tour that took him out, if we can even call that luck at all. When I think about all of those details; it makes me think how right Michael was when he'd say you should never critique a person with your opinion, unless you've walked for a time in their shoes and talked to that person one-on-one, because there's always things happening behind the scenes that you don't know. 💯
 
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kai said:
Finally another HWT bashing thread 🤣
I think the reasons were posted above but the HWT had a few shows were MJ was on fire and his vocals were just fine!

Check Bucharest 96! His dancing is close to the dangerous tour and his live vocals are great! Same goes for Kuala Lumpur October 29 1996!

Brunei was fine. Vocals not perfect but very solid vocals and dancing. Sad that Munich is the show that was aired on tv when the 1996 leg had some killer shows!
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Gothenburg aired on TV in Sweden. IMO, one of his best performances from the History Tour. At least vocally.
 
I thunk the HIStory tour really undermines MJ as a live performer. Leaving aside the shameful lack of live vocals, the whole production was quite underwhelming for a late 90s stadium show.

But, the biggest disappointment is the lack of energy. Sure, MJ still has the moves etc., but it is obvious he is mostly on cruise control. The explosive energy of the previous tours is sadly missing.

It is no wonder it is the only one of his three tours not to be given an official release.
 
I've often wondered why he did not just lip sync to new pre-recorded live vocals on the History tour?

It would have sounded more convincing than the actual studio tracks and at least would be more exciting hearing new vocals that sounded like they were performed live.

The OTW medley boils my blood and those backing singers miming to Michael's vocals 😂 SIM as an example - putting so much emphasis in their facial expressions pretending to belt out Michael's pitch perfect studio vocals.
 
Blues_Away2023 said:
I've often wondered why he did not just lip sync to new pre-recorded live vocals on the History tour?

It would have sounded more convincing than the actual studio tracks and at least would be more exciting hearing new vocals that sounded like they were performed live.

The OTW medley boils my blood and those backing singers miming to Michael's vocals 😂 SIM as an example - putting so much emphasis in their facial expressions pretending to belt out Michael's pitch perfect studio vocals.
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I agree but in a way lip-syncing to the original song is actually more genuine since it is so obviously the (well-known) recording.

And lip-syncing the original songs was/is pretty normalized, in contrast to lip-syncing new vocals, since firstly it was done more often with singers who also danced and secondly was also very common for performing on tv shows.

The latter is the root for his lip-sync I believe: growing up performing on tv shows it must have felt very normal for him to do, much more than 'musician musicians' who only sing live an are demanded to by their peers.. I even tink he felt the audience deserved the highest quality, which for him (sadly enough..?) was the original recording..

I think Michael wanted the music to be exactly the way it was when he recorded it; for instance the songs he covered or were written by other people also sound exactly like their versions/writer demo's: he thought that was perfect and so it had to stay untouched
 
I’m sometimes disappointed Michael continued touring after the bad tour. He would have been one of the all time greatest live performers if he had stopped. Now imo his performing is tainted because of the two tours that followed. I’m not saying this to be controversial, it is simply my opinion about it.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Gothenburg aired on TV in Sweden. IMO, one of his best performances from the History Tour. At least vocally.
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I am aware.. like most of the shows we have aired on tv in different countries. But Munich was the one that was shown all the time and was used as an example of what kind of performer MJ is..
 
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