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What's Your Favorite Video(s) Of The Day?

@zinniabooklover @Hiker @MacMandy90

ok, so technically this isn't one video, but rather a Twitter thread of short videos. Apparently in 1995, Michael came out with a website that was mostly promoting the HIStory album. It was interactive! And it included little snippets of him introducing different songs. Like, voiceovers of him talking about it. Honestly, it is so freaking cute. He was so adorable. But also, I can only imagine that at the time this was like insanely good. The fact that he actually talked about his experience with what these songs meant to him and shared that with fans just shows how emotionally close he felt to his fans and how much he was comfortable opening up. I just can't imagine any other artists doing this stuff. Anyway, you should check this thread out! You don't have to have a Twitter or be logged in to look at it either. If you just open this in a new window, the whole thread should populate and you should be able to see a few short videos where he talks about Scream, Stranger in Moscow, and Childhood.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1396490658442059778
 
staywild23 said:
@zinniabooklover @Hiker @MacMandy90

ok, so technically this isn't one video, but rather a Twitter thread of short videos. Apparently in 1995, Michael came out with a website that was mostly promoting the HIStory album. It was interactive! And it included little snippets of him introducing different songs. Like, voiceovers of him talking about it. Honestly, it is so freaking cute. He was so adorable. But also, I can only imagine that at the time this was like insanely good. The fact that he actually talked about his experience with what these songs meant to him and shared that with fans just shows how emotionally close he felt to his fans and how much he was comfortable opening up. I just can't imagine any other artists doing this stuff. Anyway, you should check this thread out! You don't have to have a Twitter or be logged in to look at it either. If you just open this in a new window, the whole thread should populate and you should be able to see a few short videos where he talks about Scream, Stranger in Moscow, and Childhood.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1396490658442059778
Click to expand...
I love this! That must have been so cool to interact with, awe and his voiceover! 🥰
 
Another old video from the best youtube uploader ever. We have all seen it and if you haven’t you can see it now.
This is particularly impressive considering they are unknowns at this stage, the crowd has no clue and some of them look bewildered because of the adult themed material they’re bringing (including Michael’s hip moving). I can see why Berry Gordy wanted to change the act into more teenage friendly material ( the self coined bubblegum soul).
At the same time though if you listen closely you can hear the first screams of the crowd too, there are teenagers there already starting to loose their shit while the adults look somewhat bemused (comparable to how the celebrities were watching MJ’s performance of earth song in the world music awards 1996).

Performance wise it feels unrehearsed (but very good), vocally difficult to judge, the sound is not too good. Michael seemed to take liberties in his performance, it is pretty much a solo performance of Mike moving the entire surface of the stage, improvising dance moves and not missing a beat. Confidence is sky high which is so impressive because they’re not performing for fans, Michael even tries to command the audience to join in and while they’re barely reactive it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit. In the end he gets them to join in rhythmic handclaps.

After seeing this I am even more curious to see how their first national tour performances were in 1970, setlists changed from show to show, they couldn’t contain the crowd and if this video is any evidence I wouldn’t be surprised Michael really stole the show in the first tour. Chaotic but brilliant?!

He must have been 10 years old here and he already is a natural stage presence

 
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filmandmusic said:
Another old video from the best youtube uploader ever. We have all seen it and if you haven’t you can see it now.
This is particularly impressive considering they are unknowns at this stage, the crowd has no clue and some of them look bewildered because of the adult themed material they’re bringing (including Michael’s hip moving). I can see why Berry Gordy wanted to change the act into more teenage friendly material ( the self coined bubblegum soul).
At the same time though if you listen closely you can hear the first screams of the crowd too, there are teenagers there already starting to loose their shit while the adults look somewhat bemused (comparable to how the celebrities were watching MJ’s performance of earth song in the world music awards 1996).

Performance wise it feels unrehearsed (but very good), vocally difficult to judge, the sound is not too good. Michael seemed to take liberties in his performance, it is pretty much a solo performance of Mike moving the entire surface of the stage, improvising dance moves and not missing a beat. Confidence is sky high which is so impressive because they’re not performing for fans, Michael even tries to command the audience to join in and while they’re barely reactive it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit. In the end he gets them to join in rhythmic handclaps.

After seeing this I am even more curious to see how their first national tour performances were in 1970, setlists changed from show to show, they couldn’t contain the crowd and if this video is any evidence I wouldn’t be surprised Michael really stole the show in the first tour. Chaotic but brilliant?!

He must have been 10 years old here and he already is a natural stage presence

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Seriously, mate! You have to stop doing this. You are killing me. Michael is so much better than I had ever thought. He was always THE ONE. No problem realising that he was the one to watch from day dot. But I only had a few TOTP performances to go on. And a tv show appearance where the band mime and deliver a particular type of performance is one thing but this is a whole other ball game. I'm not complaining about TOTP and other tv show stuff. No way. I love all of that stuff. It's all pure gold as far as I'm concerned.

But this? I don't have the words.

I just watched the Ed Sullivan thing again the other day. Not Who's Lovin' You. I can't watch or listen to that any more. But I watched them do Stand cos I didn't think I had seen that part before (I hadn't). omg, I hardly knew what to do with myself. I then watched them do Want You Back which I think I have seen before but only once or twice. That also blew me away but it was them doing Stand that really got to me.

This here? I'm speechless.
 
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zinniabooklover said:
I just watched the Ed Sullivan thing again the other day. Not Who's Lovin' You.
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The problem with that who's loving you performance is that it is just a small segment! It was most likely the absolute highpoint of any concert they gave in 70/71. I base this just on the 3 live audio files I heard of this. I never saw any footage of it unfortunately...

I'm currently relistening the old Motown material slowly one by one (I haven't listened to these in over a decade) and I'm just floored by how good the albums are. When my entire journey is done (in a year or so) and I make a definite MJ album ranking I really wouldn't know how to rank them...
The first 2 J5 albums are perfection and Michael sings his heart out!
 
filmandmusic said:
Another old video from the best youtube uploader ever. We have all seen it and if you haven’t you can see it now.
This is particularly impressive considering they are unknowns at this stage, the crowd has no clue and some of them look bewildered because of the adult themed material they’re bringing (including Michael’s hip moving). I can see why Berry Gordy wanted to change the act into more teenage friendly material ( the self coined bubblegum soul).
At the same time though if you listen closely you can hear the first screams of the crowd too, there are teenagers there already starting to loose their shit while the adults look somewhat bemused (comparable to how the celebrities were watching MJ’s performance of earth song in the world music awards 1996).

Performance wise it feels unrehearsed (but very good), vocally difficult to judge, the sound is not too good. Michael seemed to take liberties in his performance, it is pretty much a solo performance of Mike moving the entire surface of the stage, improvising dance moves and not missing a beat. Confidence is sky high which is so impressive because they’re not performing for fans, Michael even tries to command the audience to join in and while they’re barely reactive it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit. In the end he gets them to join in rhythmic handclaps.

After seeing this I am even more curious to see how their first national tour performances were in 1970, setlists changed from show to show, they couldn’t contain the crowd and if this video is any evidence I wouldn’t be surprised Michael really stole the show in the first tour. Chaotic but brilliant?!

He must have been 10 years old here and he already is a natural stage presence

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I've got to give a nod to my guys, Jackie and Marlon. They are killing it.

But Michael. oh my. His phrasing ... jeez.
 
filmandmusic said:
The problem with that who's loving you performance is that it is just a small segment! It was most likely the absolute highpoint of any concert they gave in 70/71. I base this just on the 3 live audio files I heard of this. I never saw any footage of it unfortunately...

I'm currently relistening the old Motown material slowly one by one (I haven't listened to these in over a decade) and I'm just floored by how good the albums are. When my entire journey is done (in a year or so) and I make a definite MJ album ranking I really wouldn't know how to rank them...
The first 2 J5 albums are perfection and Michael sings his heart out!
Click to expand...
No, the Who's Lovin' You (Ed Sullivan show) is fine. Brilliant, in fact. For me that is one of the difficult 'young Michael' performances. I just can't watch or listen to that anymore. Haven't for quite a few years now. A few years after Michael died, I just had to stop.

I'm fine with this one here. My god, I'm not letting this one go. I'm still watching as much J5 or Jacksons stuff as possible. I don't care if it's tv shows where they are miming cos they still deliver great performances. But live stuff, of course, is gold.

OK, enough chat. I'm going back for my 3rd go round. ☺️

Thank you so much for sharing.
 
filmandmusic said:
Another old video from the best youtube uploader ever. We have all seen it and if you haven’t you can see it now.
This is particularly impressive considering they are unknowns at this stage, the crowd has no clue and some of them look bewildered because of the adult themed material they’re bringing (including Michael’s hip moving). I can see why Berry Gordy wanted to change the act into more teenage friendly material ( the self coined bubblegum soul).
At the same time though if you listen closely you can hear the first screams of the crowd too, there are teenagers there already starting to loose their shit while the adults look somewhat bemused (comparable to how the celebrities were watching MJ’s performance of earth song in the world music awards 1996).

Performance wise it feels unrehearsed (but very good), vocally difficult to judge, the sound is not too good. Michael seemed to take liberties in his performance, it is pretty much a solo performance of Mike moving the entire surface of the stage, improvising dance moves and not missing a beat. Confidence is sky high which is so impressive because they’re not performing for fans, Michael even tries to command the audience to join in and while they’re barely reactive it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit. In the end he gets them to join in rhythmic handclaps.

After seeing this I am even more curious to see how their first national tour performances were in 1970, setlists changed from show to show, they couldn’t contain the crowd and if this video is any evidence I wouldn’t be surprised Michael really stole the show in the first tour. Chaotic but brilliant?!

He must have been 10 years old here and he already is a natural stage presence

Click to expand...
"Do what you wanna do, ooh, ooh" at 2m 45s.

Pure gold!!!!!!!!!
 
filmandmusic said:
The problem with that who's loving you performance is that it is just a small segment! It was most likely the absolute highpoint of any concert they gave in 70/71. I base this just on the 3 live audio files I heard of this. I never saw any footage of it unfortunately...

I'm currently relistening the old Motown material slowly one by one (I haven't listened to these in over a decade) and I'm just floored by how good the albums are. When my entire journey is done (in a year or so) and I make a definite MJ album ranking I really wouldn't know how to rank them...
The first 2 J5 albums are perfection and Michael sings his heart out!
Click to expand...
Is this the big project you announced the other day? Sounds mad, mate! That really is a lifetime project.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Is this the big project you announced the other day? Sounds mad, mate! That really is a lifetime project.
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Yes I will never finish it because I need to listen to Latoya’s music as well and she has 10!!!!!! Studio albums!!
It’s gonna be awfully repetitive as well because I am not a writer 😂
 
filmandmusic said:
Yes I will never finish it because I need to listen to Latoya’s music as well and she has 10!!!!!! Studio albums!!
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Yeah, it was the LaToya bit that made me go, 'that man is CRAZY' I had no idea she had 10 albums under her belt and, tbh, I haven't made any effort to listen to her. I know she does the scream on ... oh, god, one of the Thriller tracks? Think that's right. Look, I have no interest in Janet so I'm hardly gonna give up precious time for LaToya. Not gonna happen.

But, anyway, that's one hell of a project you've set yourself.

filmandmusic said:
It’s gonna be awfully repetitive as well because I am not a writer 😂
Click to expand...
The key thing here is not whether you feel you are a writer. The key thing is, you have already proved on this board, multiple times, that you have a talent for capturing the essence of Michael's songs. His performances. What those songs mean to you. Little personal anecdotes that bring the songs to life. You are very economical with your words - which is good thing - and yet you capture so much. You certainly are able to capture the important stuff. You absolutely are able to convey to the reader what the songs mean to you or how they make you feel or what you feel is the key element of a particular song.

You've got this, f&m.
 
filmandmusic said:
Another old video from the best youtube uploader ever. We have all seen it and if you haven’t you can see it now.
This is particularly impressive considering they are unknowns at this stage, the crowd has no clue and some of them look bewildered because of the adult themed material they’re bringing (including Michael’s hip moving). I can see why Berry Gordy wanted to change the act into more teenage friendly material ( the self coined bubblegum soul).
At the same time though if you listen closely you can hear the first screams of the crowd too, there are teenagers there already starting to loose their shit while the adults look somewhat bemused (comparable to how the celebrities were watching MJ’s performance of earth song in the world music awards 1996).

Performance wise it feels unrehearsed (but very good), vocally difficult to judge, the sound is not too good. Michael seemed to take liberties in his performance, it is pretty much a solo performance of Mike moving the entire surface of the stage, improvising dance moves and not missing a beat. Confidence is sky high which is so impressive because they’re not performing for fans, Michael even tries to command the audience to join in and while they’re barely reactive it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit. In the end he gets them to join in rhythmic handclaps.

After seeing this I am even more curious to see how their first national tour performances were in 1970, setlists changed from show to show, they couldn’t contain the crowd and if this video is any evidence I wouldn’t be surprised Michael really stole the show in the first tour. Chaotic but brilliant?!

He must have been 10 years old here and he already is a natural stage presence

Click to expand...

Just now watched this. This is blowing my mind apart. I don't even have words at this moment. He is so beyond extraordinary. It really is like watching a grown man performer but in a tiny little body. His stage presence is absolute FIRE!!! It's like he just knew exactly what to do and who to be the second he walked on stage. It's unbelievable. And the vocals?! God damn. He's just on another level. An absolute prodigy...
 
staywild23 said:
Just now watched this. This is blowing my mind apart. I don't even have words at this moment. He is so beyond extraordinary. It really is like watching a grown man performer but in a tiny little body. His stage presence is absolute FIRE!!! It's like he just knew exactly what to do and who to be the second he walked on stage. It's unbelievable. And the vocals?! God damn. He's just on another level. An absolute prodigy...
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Did you check out 2m 45s? Unbelievable. Even by Michael's crazy standards.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Did you check out 2m 45s? Unbelievable. Even by Michael's crazy standards.
Click to expand...

Just rewatched the whole thing like 4 times... yes! Incredible...

I don't even understand Michael. I really don't understand how anyone can be so overwhelmingly gifted. I've been listening to so much of his Motown work (both his solo and the J5 stuff) and it's just craaaazy how good it is. I'm currently obsessed with the Maybe Tomorrow album. I feel SO much specifically from Maybe Tomorrow, Never Can Say Goodbye, and The Wall and as I was listening yesterday I was trying to pinpoint why I love it so much. I mean, it's a literal child singing these adult songs. But it hit me that at least part of what makes these songs and young Michael so incredible is that I absolutely, 100%, believe everything he is saying. More than I believe the vast majority of adult singers. I feel every single thing he sings. Him being 10-11 years old is just an aside fact. It's not relevant to the soul in his performance and his translation of the music. And this was a gift. Straight up. His technical skill is untouchable, but beyond that, I feel like with his voice at all ages, he reaches right into my core and pulls out my humanity and shoves it in my face. I can't deny it.
 
staywild23 said:
Just rewatched the whole thing like 4 times... yes! Incredible...

I don't even understand Michael. I really don't understand how anyone can be so overwhelmingly gifted. I've been listening to so much of his Motown work (both his solo and the J5 stuff) and it's just craaaazy how good it is. I'm currently obsessed with the Maybe Tomorrow album. I feel SO much specifically from Maybe Tomorrow, Never Can Say Goodbye, and The Wall and as I was listening yesterday I was trying to pinpoint why I love it so much. I mean, it's a literal child singing these adult songs. But it hit me that at least part of what makes these songs and young Michael so incredible is that I absolutely, 100%, believe everything he is saying. More than I believe the vast majority of adult singers. I feel every single thing he sings. Him being 10-11 years old is just an aside fact. It's not relevant to the soul in his performance and his translation of the music. And this was a gift. Straight up. His technical skill is untouchable, but beyond that, I feel like with his voice at all ages, he reaches right into my core and pulls out my humanity and shoves it in my face. I can't deny it.
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Well, all of this but I don't know where you find the words. I'm still at the stage where my gob is hanging open. That's pretty much as far as I've got, lol. I've already lost count of how many times I've watched this.

staywild23 said:
I can't stop sharing tweets!!!
But this one is so great. I have never heard this before. Just his warm ups for Thriller sound better than most contemporary music, NGL.
PS: I found this because Thriller has been trending on Twitter for the last 48 hours :)
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This was gorgeous. ☺️

Where is it from? I mean, is it a sesh with Seth Riggs? A studio warm-up? Do we know?

I sometimes think I prefer listening to Michael doing this kind of stuff than the formal studio stuff. I mean, not really, obvs, but this is the kind of thing I can't get enough of. His free singing in Mexico depo, the Hayvenhurst interview, BOW outtakes, the Ebony / Jet interview - all of those. Just want more and more stuff like that.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Well, all of this but I don't know where you find the words. I'm still at the stage where my gob is hanging open. That's pretty much as far as I've got, lol. I've already lost count of how many times I've watched this.
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Finding the word is all I have to show for myself lol. But honestly, no matter the words I find or use, they never feel like enough. My feelings are stronger than the words I use in basically every situation on this forum lol. It is my lot in life to feel so intensely about so many things, become a writer to explore those things, and still struggle to translate those feelings in any way I find satisfying lol.

zinniabooklover said:
This was gorgeous. ☺️

Where is it from? I mean, is it a sesh with Seth Riggs? A studio warm-up? Do we know?
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Personally, I have no idea. I had never heard it before I stumbled upon it last night! But isn't it just amazing?! 😍

zinniabooklover said:
I sometimes think I prefer listening to Michael doing this kind of stuff than the formal studio stuff. I mean, not really, obvs, but this is the kind of thing I can't get enough of. His free singing in Mexico depo, the Hayvenhurst interview, BOW outtakes, the Ebony / Jet interview - all of those. Just want more and more stuff like that.
Click to expand...
I totally know what you mean. Of course we don't *genuinely* prefer this stuff, but this stuff feels like catching a glimpse of Michael in real time, rather than the studio quality, produced, perfected version of him. Listening to Michael practice, or just freely sing out because he wants to is just stunning. It is one of those things that we've discussed before, that remind us that he's human. Not due to any imperfection (let's face it, his voice is literally angelic in every example you mentioned) but because these are moments where he's just existing inside of himself. I love listening to multi-tracks, or acapella tracks because being able to hear him breathe, clear his throat, sniffle (I'm thinking of 'who is it' here) reminds us that he's not just a voice through the speaker, but an actual living, breathing, sniffling human being who is giving us everything and trying his best. I love listening to him sing casually because it reminds us that he was just that kind of person who would randomly sing out because he wanted to. Singing wasn't all art and it wasn't all a career. It was something he did sometimes just because he wanted to. Just like any of us do.

What's funny about everything I just wrote is that I can't think of a single other person I would be this amazed by in these tiny moments.
 
staywild23 said:
Finding the word is all I have to show for myself lol. But honestly, no matter the words I find or use, they never feel like enough. My feelings are stronger than the words I use in basically every situation on this forum lol. It is my lot in life to feel so intensely about so many things, become a writer to explore those things, and still struggle to translate those feelings in any way I find satisfying lol.
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I'm just reading a book by Anne Lamott where she talks about this stuff. So interesting.

staywild23 said:
I totally know what you mean. Of course we don't *genuinely* prefer this stuff, but this stuff feels like catching a glimpse of Michael in real time, rather than the studio quality, produced, perfected version of him.
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Agree. I love the studio stuff, of course. I remember hearing something online where someone was moaning about how Michael did his final vocals for his albums. Him and the studio techs would trawl through all the various takes and pick out the best words or even the best syllable and stitch them together to create the final version. I'm not sure if they did this for just one song or if this was their standard procedure. Anyway, this person felt a bit cheated whereas I don't have a problem with studio wizadry. That's what it's there for.

staywild23 said:
Listening to Michael practice, or just freely sing out because he wants to is just stunning.
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But, yeah, this is so special, when you can hear his voice with nothing between you and that sound. Just blissful. Was just watching a video clip of Tupac Shakur where he said that Michael created a 'love bomb' between himself and African Americans. You probably could extend that outwards to include everyone, I'm sure. But, anyway, the love bomb thing, that's what it feels like when I hear his voice without anything else getting in the way.

staywild23 said:
What's funny about everything I just wrote is that I can't think of a single other person I would be this amazed by in these tiny moments.
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I can't either. I always feel like there must be somebody but when I try to think, 'well, who?' I can't come up with anyone.
 
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Hiker said:
Oh my God! That was so beautiful, his voice is powerful here. Is he just singing it live impromptu? 😲
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I believe so! I have never seen this clip before, others might know better than me. But it certainly sounds like it! I'm in looooove with his voice. So so in love. It's such a short snippet but his voice is just heavenly, isn't it?

I'm on a deadline for a project right now and I keep distracting myself with MJ. Mh only self control is avoiding the manhood thread but otherwise I'm breaking every 10 minutes to look at Michael lol.
 
staywild23 said:
I'm on a deadline for a project right now and I keep distracting myself with MJ. Mh only self control is avoiding the manhood thread but otherwise I'm breaking every 10 minutes to look at Michael lol.
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😂 Whenever that happens, I being up this meme.
meme1.jpg



Yes, the voice is heavenly! I so want to just be there when he is in his element, singing to himself like that, he needs no music, his voice is music.
 
Hiker said:
😂 Whenever that happens, I being up this meme.
meme1.jpg
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Michael looking me in the eye like this will NOT HELP! 😂 But I do love this...

Hiker said:
Yes, the voice is heavenly! I so want to just be there when he is in his element, singing to himself like that, he needs no music, his voice is music.
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I completely agree! That's why I am so in love with not only the acapella versions of songs people put on YouTube, but have you ever watched any of the "multitrack" videos? The ones where various producers break down all the different layers of the song? They are in such great quality you can really hear his voice so clearly. Seriously, every time they play his lead vocals, with his backup vocals, and beatboxing, it's like a fully song to me. I don't need anything else.

But I agree with you. I am desperate to be there in those moments. I would have loved if sometime he had a really stripped down concert where he just sang acoustic versions of his songs, seated on a stool or something (of course he would end up dancing around). Since so many of his performances highlighted his dancing, I wish we had an equivalent highlighting just his singing. I would give anything for such a thing!
 
staywild23 said:
@zinniabooklover very very short, but a wonderful example of the casual singing we were talking about a couple days ago, a few comments up!
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OMG, you are a witch!!!

I came across this just a few days ago and in my humidity-stoked, dazed and confused state, I didn't bookmark it. I don't know what I was looking for to bring this up. It blew me away and then I let it get away. But here it is cos you had the presence of mind to capture it. god bless your witchy talents.

Or whatever it is!

I'm already feeling emotional and this has tipped me over the edge.

Thank you so much for sharing.
 
staywild23 said:
But I agree with you. I am desperate to be there in those moments. I would have loved if sometime he had a really stripped down concert where he just sang acoustic versions of his songs, seated on a stool or something (of course he would end up dancing around). Since so many of his performances highlighted his dancing, I wish we had an equivalent highlighting just his singing. I would give anything for such a thing!
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I have so much to say about this. It is my every dream.
 

I love this video so much. It makes me emotional, of course. But to see him met with such warmth and support is just beautiful. I love the speech he gives and how he delivers it. I love the smile on his face and when he laughs. He just looks gorgeous. I am sure it meant so much to him to have this response too.
 
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