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Was giving a HIStory concert fun for Michael?

smile4mj said:
If that's true I would really like Michael to do the other way round coz it would be nice to see the new routine of Billie Jean. I am sure Michael could give something better than moonwalk if he did :wub:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree... it would have been amazing to see new inventions from him! :wild:

Oh dear, if only TII never would have happened... :doh:
 
It's really bothersome for me listening to 'fans' bad mouth and downright disrespect Michael and the HIStory Tour.

OK, fair enough, he lip-synched 70% of the show. When you're there live, it's hard to tell the difference anyway due to the audio volume and hysteria.

What I believe has altered many peoples' opinions about the Tour were the way in which the HIStory Tour was filmed and more specifically, the way in which the audio was recorded on those tapes that were distributed to TV stations across the world.
As someone who attended TWO HIStory Tour dates in '96 (Sydney - 14th Nov. 1996 & Brisbane 19th Nov. 1996) I can absolutely assure all of you that to this day, I have not come across a single piece of Pro shot footage of the HIStory Tour that does it ANY justice.

Another thing people need to keep in mind is that the concerts weren't (besides Munich) filmed for any kind of release! They were filmed for Mike's own personal archive and to a lesser extent, so MJ and the crew could review their performances objectively.
It's also of note that Michael would hand out copies of his shows to friends of his in the various countries he visited.

An often overlooked fact when it comes to why Michael lip-synched as much as he did on the HIStory Tour is a genetic one! Yes, that's right, you read that correctly...allow me to explain:

It is not uncommon for African-American males to encounter a gradual or sudden dramatic shift in their voice pitch between the ages of 30 and 40. Such a change most certainly can be disastrous for a vocalist of any kind. An example besides Michael in the music industry is (whatever his name is) from 80's Hip-Hop sensations Run DMC. At the age of 34, his voice suddenly became much deeper and forced him to completely change his vocal stylings out of necessity.

Now factor in that along with the fact that MJ was 38/39 years old on the Tour and still dancing as hard as ever, eager to impress his legion of paying fans and somehow trying and keep-up with his younger self. Anyone actually tried singing live and dancing like that whilst singing live the nearly impossible to duplicate live verses of Scream!? Betcha it's a lot more difficult than you thought.

On a final note, I mentioned above about no Pro footage of the Tour doing it any justice and that's a real shame. One can almost get the impression at times that it's a rehearsal and there's no fans present!
Once again, that goes back to the way in which these shows were recorded. It's highly frustrating that the crowd has been purposely muted the way they were, as fans looking back on it now with the footage we have certainly cannot grasp the atmosphere and pure 'awesomeness' of being there live.

**EDIT** A great example of how the Pro shot footage differs from actually being at one of the shows is the Tunisia '96 concert. The amateur filming of the show clearly shows and allows you to hear how absolutely hysterical the live attendance was on that night! It's a stark contrast to what we hear on the Pro shot version aired on Nessma TV.
 
hm interersting, will have to take a look at the Tunesia amateur.

Regarding playback, we had this before. I can only say I was deeply disappointed in Basel 1997 when I was there live and could tell each single moment it wasn't live. I could as well have listened to the songs via my discman while he dances to it. My opinion still is he could have sung live as bad as hell and I would have soooo much appreciated it, I wouldn't have had any negative thought about that at all. In contrast, playback IMO really is a pain in the a.... you could almost spare to go to a concert and watch video clips instead.
The only reason that is acceptable IMO is illness like laryngitis or trying to prevent it, well maybe that really was the reason.
 
Steve001 said:
It's really bothersome for me listening to 'fans' bad mouth and downright disrespect Michael and the HIStory Tour.

OK, fair enough, he lip-synched 70% of the show. When you're there live, it's hard to tell the difference anyway due to the audio volume and hysteria.

What I believe has altered many peoples' opinions about the Tour were the way in which the HIStory Tour was filmed and more specifically, the way in which the audio was recorded on those tapes that were distributed to TV stations across the world.
As someone who attended TWO HIStory Tour dates in '96 (Sydney - 14th Nov. 1996 & Brisbane 19th Nov. 1996) I can absolutely assure all of you that to this day, I have not come across a single piece of Pro shot footage of the HIStory Tour that does it ANY justice.

Another thing people need to keep in mind is that the concerts weren't (besides Munich) filmed for any kind of release! They were filmed for Mike's own personal archive and to a lesser extent, so MJ and the crew could review their performances objectively.
It's also of note that Michael would hand out copies of his shows to friends of his in the various countries he visited.

An often overlooked fact when it comes to why Michael lip-synched as much as he did on the HIStory Tour is a genetic one! Yes, that's right, you read that correctly...allow me to explain:

It is not uncommon for African-American males to encounter a gradual or sudden dramatic shift in their voice pitch between the ages of 30 and 40. Such a change most certainly can be disastrous for a vocalist of any kind. An example besides Michael in the music industry is (whatever his name is) from 80's Hip-Hop sensations Run DMC. At the age of 34, his voice suddenly became much deeper and forced him to completely change his vocal stylings out of necessity.

Now factor in that along with the fact that MJ was 38/39 years old on the Tour and still dancing as hard as ever, eager to impress his legion of paying fans and somehow trying and keep-up with his younger self. Anyone actually tried singing live and dancing like that whilst singing live the nearly impossible to duplicate live verses of Scream!? Betcha it's a lot more difficult than you thought.

On a final note, I mentioned above about no Pro footage of the Tour doing it any justice and that's a real shame. One can almost get the impression at times that it's a rehearsal and there's no fans present!
Once again, that goes back to the way in which these shows were recorded. It's highly frustrating that the crowd has been purposely muted the way they were, as fans looking back on it now with the footage we have certainly cannot grasp the atmosphere and pure 'awesomeness' of being there live.

**EDIT** A great example of how the Pro shot footage differs from actually being at one of the shows is the Tunisia '96 concert. The amateur filming of the show clearly shows and allows you to hear how absolutely hysterical the live attendance was on that night! It's a stark contrast to what we hear on the Pro shot version aired on Nessma TV.
Click to expand...

I actually tend to agree with you about the fact that 'how it was filmed dosen't do it any justice. I went to the Dublin show myself in 97 and really enjoyed it. I really like how it's filmed on this news clip from Amsterdam. It's not as flat as the other versions.


[youtube]mEDqIuH3sDw[/youtube]
 
azza said:
I actually tend to agree with you about the fact that 'how it was filmed dosen't do it any justice. I went to the Dublin show myself in 97 and really enjoyed it. I really like how it's filmed on this news clip from Amsterdam. It's not as flat as the other versions.


[youtube]mEDqIuH3sDw[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Thanks for this wonderful tape.
 
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