Whilst looking for something on my laptop, I dug up this review I wrote on the 2006 World Music Awards, which I attended here in London. Written, initially, for placement on a Michael Jackson site, I thought to share it with you guys. Enjoy.
I’m gonna cut straight to the chase…
Linsay Lohan sucked as a host…badly. She did no skits or entrance and essentially read off the auto-cue. Terrible.
Beyonce opened the show. She tore that motherf**ker down. She is a natural…it was effortless. She did the dance break from Ring The Alarm first (which I did not expect) and then went straight into Deja Vu. She performed again, didn’t see much of it though…I’ll get to why in a minute…
Even if I tried, I can’t remember a lot of the ‘world’ acts that performed. So I’ll jump straight to Nelly Furtado, who sang her new single ‘Why Do All Good Things Come to an End’. She did really good and was generally received well.
After (and sometimes during) every segment the whole arena would chant ‘Michael Michael Michael’, sing his songs etc. I’m talking from the rafters to the standing section where I was. Say what you want about him, but the man has loyal fans and could pack out most arenas across the world.
Anyway…
Paris Hilton got booed so hard, I felt sorry for her. Once she realised how bad it was, she just played up to the role of ‘spoilt show-off’.
Now the standing area was packed and I was fortunate enough to be roughly third row(ish) back there. Inevitably pushing started, I was having none of it and had words with a few people. Nonetheless I was no longer comfortable and was squashed. With no water being passed out until later, I was starting to feel the heat, yet was still anxious to see Michael etc. At the very moment I said to myself ‘imagine paying all that money to come here and faint’, I started to get woozy headed…everything turned into a blur and then it went black…all I could hear was ‘is he ok?’, ‘he’s fainted’ etc. So with that, the people I came with had to escort me from my 3rd row view to the very back of standing where I passed out on the floor…damn.
The announcer then said ‘please welcome back Beyonce’. One of the girls I went with grabbed the camera and ran. So much for looking after me (lol, I would have done the same thing…not missing **** for nobody lol). ‘To the left, to the left’ rang out and Beyonce performed again, while I was now recovering on the floor. I shook myself out of it though, drunk two Red Bull’s and woke the hell up. I was not missing Michael Jackson.
I eventually ‘excuse-me-ed’ my way close to where I was standing before. Beyonce came out AGAIN (talk about recycling the same stars) and introduced Michael Jackson as the recipient of the Diamond Award (over 100 million Thriller albums sold). I have NEVER, EVER, seen a crowd go wild like that… EVER. People were randomly bursting out in tears…genuinely in awe of him. Can’t no one say that the ‘Michael Jackson effect’ of the 80s doesn’t exist no more. It was in full effect last night. Most of you know the deal with MJ acceptance speeches…he begins to talk…gets drowned out by the crowd appreciation…says ‘I love you too’…etc lol.
Poor Rihanna…she came on straight after MJ (we were all expecting him to go straight into performance), but, no, it was her. When they announced her name…a lot of people booed. Not because they hated her, but they wanted Michael. Anyway, she sang Unfaithful. I won’t lie; the girl can, indeed, sing and has definitely developed a stage presence. Still, her voice is a little too whiney and nasal for my liking. Anyway she got a big applause after, yet seemed pissed (bitch, please) and went straight off stage…didn’t wave or acknowledge the audience at all.
The opening of Thriller started…people were expecting it to be Michael. Yet Chris Brown appeared and did a really good tribute…full red ensamble and everything. Like Rihanna his voice was a bit too whiney and pre-pubescent, however he nailed the Thriller choreography. Chris did a very respectable job. Good stuff. This, though, left the audience in a state of confusion; what was Michael to perform, if CB did Thriller?
A choir of teens filed onto the stage. They sang (mimed) 3/4 of We Are The World to the backing track and then MJ arrived. Here’s where people were a little PO’ed (after the show, might I add). He basically walked up and down the stage collecting posters, flowers etc and mumbled a few words of the song – and then left. I was told by a relative who watched the news that MJ said that he wasn’t performing and was there to collect the award. That explains why the whole We Are The World performance looked so hastily arranged. As you all know, this was built up to be his ‘comeback’ performance…in fairness to him there was never any ‘official official’ word on him performing. Rather rumors and hearsay snowballed and hyped everyone up for a Thriller-esque performance that was never going to happen. MJ and/or his people have to take slight blame for this…people bought tickets expecting him to perform…this could have been cleared up with a press release or something beforehand. It kind of leaves me a bit worried about the people MJ still has around him; surely clarifying his role at the awards beforehand would have left people in no doubt of what they were paying to see. However sitting back and letting people think it will be this show-stopping ‘comeback’ performance and then it not happening is like MJ shooting himself in the foot. Now the media over here are having field day.
I was interviewed by GMTV. I did it to, primarily, counter-act much of the negative interviews disgruntled fans were giving (and to get on TV). It wasn’t shown. The one’s aired showed fans heated and angry and nothing really positive. No surprises there.
Personally, I had a great time, mainly due to seeing Michael Jackson in the flesh for the first time as well as the spectacle that was Beyonce. The award’s itself was very badly organised, though. Long queue waiting hours, huge gaps in the show, among other things, left a very salty taste in my mouth.
With how yesterday went down, it is IMPERATIVE that Michael shows everyone why he is the superstar he is. He will forever be the King of Pop, but it seems the mainstream media as well as the general public need to be reminded. Remind them then Michael.
