At Tribute in Wales, Michael Jackson as Commodity
By RAVI SOMAIYA
Published: October 8, 2011
CARDIFF, Wales — At a tribute concert here on Saturday evening, Michael Jackson’s music thumped and cracked as usual, his fans screamed on cue and conflict and controversy bubbled unabated beneath the surface as they have done since Mr. Jackson found fame as a child.
Outside Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, as a fleet of S.U.V.s deposited stars like Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx, Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight, Mr. Jackson, as a commodity, was omnipresent.
Official merchandise stalls did a brisk trade in T-shirts which commemorated his death in 2009 ($31), coffee mugs ($15), and a slim official program ($19). Unofficial hawkers, equally keen to comfort mourning fans, sold stacks of his trademark fedora hats, in black and white, some adorned with sequins ($10). White gloves, another of his costume signatures, were draped over light-up plastic wands ($7). Touts offered tickets for $50 — a discount on the official prices of between $90 and $300.
The concert’s organizers, and most of his family, had been accused of similarly leveraging Mr. Jackson’s legend. His official estate, which is held separately from his family, said in a letter that it was concerned that the concert — which is for-profit, though its organizers emphasize that an unspecified portion of the proceeds will go to good causes — “is piggybacking on Michael’s good name and charity.” Fan groups, too, were outraged at the idea of a profit-making tribute, with one saying that, without the cooperation of the estate, the concert was “nothing more than a money grab.”
Before the concert when Mr. Jackson’s brothers Tito, Marlon and Jackie were asked to comment on the allegations,
a public relations representative tried to stop them speaking, saying it was “not an appropriate question.”
But Marlon Jackson, wearing large sunglasses and a loose blazer, spoke up. “Those people have a right to feel whatever they feel. But we knew our brother better than anyone else, and we want to remember the positive things about him,” he said. His brothers remained silent, and all three were ushered away.
They reappeared on stage later, singing the Jackson 5’s “Blame It On The Boogie,” bringing the crowd to its feet with a rendition that perfectly recalled the phrasing and tone of their brother. Among the other pyrotechnic and elaborately choreographed renditions of Mr. Jackson’s hits, Mr. Foxx sang “Rock With You,” Mr. Robinson sang the ballad “She’s Out Of My Life,” and Mr. Jackson’s sister LaToya, who was instrumental in instigating the event, performed songs from his album “Dangerous.”
During the concert Mr. Jackson’s three children, Prince, 14, Paris, 13, and Michael Jr., 9, wide-eyed and dressed in outfits reminiscent of his, could be seen standing away from the stage outside an executive suite, watched over by two bodyguards, observing the machine dedicated to their father — organizers, entourages, publicists, members of the press — in full operation as it had been in his life.
Later they got up on stage and introduced, with brief, pre-written statements, a video recorded by Beyoncé Knowles, sporting an Afro and singing “I Wanna Be Where You Are.”
The 74,500-capacity stadium appeared to be three-quarters full — its top tier was empty, and there were patches of empty seats among the crowd lower down. Precise attendance figures, and indications of how much money investors in the concert, the family and charities would receive, were not immediately available.
There had been speculation that a series of controversies might dent ticket sales. Fan groups, already incensed at the for-profit nature of the concert, had been angered when the band Kiss had initially appeared on the bill. The band’s lead singer, Gene Simmons, had said that he believed Mr. Jackson might have molested children despite his acquittal on child abuse charges in 2005. Kiss did not appear on Saturday.
Last week the Black Eyed Peas, perhaps the biggest act on the roster, pulled out. The concert’s organizers cited only “unavoidable circumstances” for the withdrawal. And Friday, it emerged that plans to stream the concert on Facebook had been quietly abandoned over licensing issues.
Perhaps most strikingly, Janet Jackson and her brothers Jermaine and Randy declined to be involved, saying that a tribute concert was inappropriate while the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, who was with Mr. Jackson when he died, was underway in Los Angeles.
But at the concert, even the most dedicated fans were resigned to such scandals. A woman, who gave her name only as Simona, said she and three friends came “from Italy for Michael,” traveling from Milan for the weekend. The women had also made a pilgrimage to Mr. Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, she said, and loved the singer. But any controversy “is for the family, it is their private problems, not for the fans.”
Debbie Ewart, a hairdresser from Birmingham, said she came to the concert to make up for the fact that she had a ticket to the tour, “This Is It,” that Mr. Jackson was scheduled to make when he died in 2009. There would always be controversy attached to Mr. Jackson, she suggested, but “the most important thing to him was the music and the fans, so we’re concentrating on that.”
“People made money off him when he was alive,” said Ms. Ewart, dressed in a sequined black jacket and black Fedora, shrugging, “
so why should they stop now he’s dead?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/a...commodity.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto
