[MJSunshine]

I am already fascinated by your stories about when and how you became a fan of Michael. So it would be great if you could post about your first concert experience here. Let's remember the great MJ moments we all had

So feel free to open a new thread to tell us more about your first live adventure.

My first concert was:
HIStory Tour Prague 1996

Letna Park, 140.000 fans attending.

My parents gave me the tickets for the show as a gift on Michael's birthday 1996. I was the happiest person in the world and proud that my parents allowed me to go abroad at the age of 12. At that time, there were rumors Michael wouldn't come to Germany with the HIStory Tour due to lifted taxes in Germany. So lots of German fans took the chance to see Michael in the Czech Republic.



My father and I started in the night of September 7 1996 to go to Prague by car. We arrived very early in the morning and were one of the first people to wait in front of the gates. I remember that the gates were planned to be opened at 2 pm, but somehow the security just didn't open them. Then, 30 minutes later, the barriers behind us were overturned by the crowd who then ran straight towards us and broke the next barrier. It was a total chaos. That's why I couldn't get as close to the stage as I would have loved to.

The memory of the concert itself isn't that good anymore
But I know that Michael really rocked the town.


Source:www.the-michael-jackson-archives.com

[MJPC]

Great post!! Thanks for sharing!

[Draskou]

lol, the image of a throng of fans breaking down the barriers brings me to stitches! What an experience it must have been Too bad you can't remember more of the concert itself...

[MJSunshine]

Somehow, everytime I went to see Michael, all those things that happened around me like the people that were standing next to me, what they talked about or the slogans we chanted in front of Michael's hotels are in a very clear memory for me. But everytime I saw Michael himself, it was such an outrageous moment that it was really hard to grasp. The feelings and everything are still very vivid, but the pictures are missing in my mind.

[Andy St'Clair]

My first and only concert was the Dangerous World Tour in Sao Paulo - Brazil in 1993.
I live in Rio de Janeiro and are 6 hours drive from Sao Paulo ... I was 19 at the time.
The show was on 17 October, fell on a Sunday, I worked from Monday to Saturday and my chance going to the concert was unique. I hit the road at 7 am and arrived at the stadium at 2 pm. The wait was tiring, I was just me and a friend, Melissa. The show started around 9 pm ...
Hear it live and see him on that stage, thrilled my soul. I could not stop crying, screaming and jumping! He awakened in us a junction of feelings so intense, it was difficult even to breathe! We were very close to the stage and this complicates our lives, why in the empress and the crowd could not stop jumping, held hands tightly so as not to fall apart, it was crazy ... Unforgettable!

This post has been edited by Andy St'Clair: 08 June 2010 - 04:54 PM

[MJSunshine]

Thank you for sharing your story with us! I can vividly feel the excitement you have felt. I really love to read such things. And thanks for the video, I didn't know that before.

PS: I have made a new topic title so that more people can add their memories here.

[Andy St'Clair]

Cool, I'm anxious to read more stories. Your story was such beautiful! You were so young at the time.
Concerts like this with a lot of people, always happens disorder.
I haven't said in previous post, but my father was also largely responsible for my going to the concert. I was broke and he gave me this gift!

[emma]

My first Michael's concert was in Turin on may 29th 1988, when he said " VI VOLLIO BENNE"...
But, the funniest experience for me was in BASEL on 1997.
I was in the first row and I was handling a flag with a friend of mine, an italian flag.
Well, on that flag me and my friend wrote "ITALIAN SUPERFLY SISTERS".
When Michael read the flag he was singing Beat it and he laughed a lot during the song as he was not able to sing for a while. He pointed his finger to us and in the meanwhile we were on the mega-screen....Well, me and my fiend are soooo proud we made him laugh!
The next day we were in Nice, again in the first row, handling the same flag.
Before the concert we were on the screens several times and we've heard people laughing a lot...and then came Michael once again, pointing his finger, smiling in his special way, with the smile I really miss.
I keep that smile in my heart forever.
Maybe somewhere I have a picture of the flag: if I'll find it, I'll share it with you.

[emma]

I kindly ask you if someone has Nice or Basel concert to share.....

This post has been edited by emma: 08 July 2010 - 10:10 AM

[emma]

My first front row was in Tenerife, 1993
I've found the video to share:

[MJSunshine]

lojo, on 05 July 2010 - 08:49 PM, said:

i first time i saw Michael was summer 1992 Dangerous tour concert in Glasgow, scotland. even though it was so long ago, i remember a great deal of it. probably helped because i made many notes when i got home after it (after all, i was so excited i couldnt sleep). we had queued from 8am that day and michael jumped onstage just over 12 hours later. the whole experience was amazing and i was lucky to be at the front row for most of the concert. 92 aug mj.jpg this photo i have attached was taken by a friend of mine during Jam.

Wow, lucky you to reach row no. 1
Thank you for the pic, it really is so precious to have own pics from a concert although I have never been able to take out my camera when Michael was on stage Great that your friend did that for you. I smiled when I read that you made notes right after the concert. I did the same, too. Sadly, I don't find them anywhere now and the memories of the concert itself are getting weak.

emma, on 08 July 2010 - 10:01 AM, said:

My first Michael's concert was in Turin on may 29th 1988, when he said " VI VOLLIO BENNE"...
But, the funniest experience for me was in BASEL on 1997.
I was in the first row and I was handling a flag with a friend of mine, an italian flag.
Well, on that flag me and my friend wrote "ITALIAN SUPERFLY SISTERS".
When Michael read the flag he was singing Beat it and he laughed a lot during the song as he was not able to sing for a while. He pointed his finger to us and in the meanwhile we were on the mega-screen....Well, me and my fiend are soooo proud we made him laugh!
The next day we were in Nice, again in the first row, handling the same flag.
Before the concert we were on the screens several times and we've heard people laughing a lot...and then came Michael once again, pointing his finger, smiling in his special way, with the smile I really miss.
I keep that smile in my heart forever.
Maybe somewhere I have a picture of the flag: if I'll find it, I'll share it with you.

Another front row
That's a great story, too. I can vividly see Michael laughing about it
I would love to see the pic of your flag when you find it.

One of the funny on stage moments I can remember is from the Berlin concert 1997. It was raining a lot so that the stage was very wet. In one of the breaks a guy was trying to dry the stage with a mop. And Michael had so much fun dancing around and playing with this mop... he laughed so hard and so did the audience.

[StayWMe]

Ahem! This dates me, but my concert experience was at a Jackson 5 concert. Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, MO. 1972 or 1973. Complete pandemonium, but my friend and I were fairly close to the stage. Michael was a young boy, but you could see, even then that the group's strength lie in him. His obvious sense of the grasp he had on the audience fueled his performance. Smiling, dancing, all in sync. But, if you really watched him, you could tell that there was something sad, and thoughtful about him. I think now it was his desire to do his own thing. Whatever that was at that time. He didn't seem the same as when he was on TV. I really wanted to hear him/them sing Never Can Say Goodbye, but he didn't. Still, the crowd was so crazed at the end of the concert that my friend and I got separated. I was literally scrunched between and lifted off the floor by the crowd. When my feet touched the floor soundly, I was at the entrance of one of the men's lavatories (restroom). I am female, the guys waiting at the entrance were staring at me, so I got away from there as quickly as I could. When my friend and I found each other, I vowed that I was never going to a Jackson 5 concert again. It was fun and crazy at the same time. I will never ever forget it, and I did buy tickets to a Victory Tour concert. So much for vows.

This post has been edited by StayWMe: 17 July 2010 - 07:58 AM

[MJSunshine]

StayWMe, on 17 July 2010 - 07:55 AM, said:

When my feet touched the floor soundly, I was at the entrance of one of the men's lavatories (restroom). I am female, the guys waiting at the entrance were staring at me, so I got away from there as quickly as I could.

I laughed a lot imagining that situation.

Wow, a J5 concert, that's really amazing. Do you remember how long the concert has been? And can you tell from your memories if there was a member of the band getting most of the attention? When I read the booklet of the Live at the forum CD, it is said that around 1970, Jermaine was the main star of the band for the young girls. I wonder if you can me some more about the crowd's reactions, that would be great

[StayWMe]

MJSunshine, on 18 July 2010 - 05:32 AM, said:

I laughed a lot imagining that situation.

Wow, a J5 concert, that's really amazing. Do you remember how long the concert has been? And can you tell from your memories if there was a member of the band getting most of the attention? When I read the booklet of the Live at the forum CD, it is said that around 1970, Jermaine was the main star of the band for the young girls. I wonder if you can me some more about the crowd's reactions, that would be great

The concert must have been 38 years ago! Wow!! It's true, though. It was Jermaine and Jackie who most of the girls loved to think of in a romantic way. I liked Jackie but only because he was two years older than I. He didn't have a lot of charisma. The reason I wanted to see them was because of the little phenomenon of the group. I could plainly see who the star was, and it wasn't Jermaine. The crowd, then, were mostly AfrAmericans (my word). The crowd was so excited. Jumping up and down, wouldn't sit down, clapping, whistleing, so my best friend and I stood up through most of it. I didn't want it to end. Come to think of it, the reason everyone was rushing to get out of the place may have been because the crowd was hoping to get a glimpse of them close up while waiting outside as The Jackson 5 were leaving.

Years later (1984) I bought tickets for the Victory tour concert here at the Arena which is torn down now. I had just accepted a new job, so I gave my 3 tickets up to my two cousins, and my daughter. I wanted her to see them, and she had grown to love Michael. Last year, she couldn't remember who she went with or that I had given her a ticket at first, then, one day it all came flooding back from her memory. She was really happy to have been able to recall the concert, while I, now, wish I had gone myself.

ln 1974, my best friend moved to California. She met her husband there, and he is owner and teacher of his driver's education business.
When I visited my friend and her husband in 2007, John, her husband told me that he taught Michael, Janet, and (can't recall if he said Marlon or Randy) how to drive. I was like, I said "WHAT?" So, he went on to tell me about a couple of experiences he had during the time he taught them. One, not so good. When finished, MJ's lessons had not been paid in full, so John had to keep getting in touch with MJ's business people. It went on, and on until John, somehow, got in touch with Michael himself. He told him what was going on, and Michael was very unhappy about it. He had John paid immediately. Also, I'll have to ask which song (I forgot), but one of Michael's hits was being rehearsed once while he (John) was waiting for Michael. Never in a million years would I ever have thought I would come to know that after so many years past, and I never would have thought Michael would no longer be with us in 2009, after my 2007 visit in California.

When he passed away, I called my friend and asked sadly, "What have you folks out there done to our boy?" They were both very sad.

Thanks for asking about some things, and I hope I didn't carry on too much.

This post has been edited by StayWMe: 19 July 2010 - 08:06 AM

[MJSunshine]

You can never talk too much of your experiences, so don't worry and thank you very much.
Although not many members take part in discussing in the forum, I'm sure it is heart-warming for the ones who read stories like yours.

I can imagine your mixed feelings about the Victory Tour tickets.

I read multiple times that Michael was an awfully bad driver ;-)
I hope I'm not too curious, but do you remember some more stories by your friend's husband?

[emma]

Yes, please! Share with us some stories regarding Michael-the-driver!
LOL!
I recall another funny (for me) episode regarding me in Tenerife.
Standing in the front row, I could see what was going on stage between one song and the other.
The temperature was very hot (about 35 degress)and Michael was literally melting (like hot candle wax!). At a certain point he drunk an entire bottle of water and I said: DOES HE DRINK?????? NAAAAA!

[StayWMe]

MJSunshine, on 19 July 2010 - 04:48 AM, said:

You can never talk too much of your experiences, so don't worry and thank you very much.
Although not many members take part in discussing in the forum, I'm sure it is heart-warming for the ones who read stories like yours.

I can imagine your mixed feelings about the Victory Tour tickets.

I read multiple times that Michael was an awfully bad driver ;-)
I hope I'm not too curious, but do you remember some more stories by your friend's husband?

I will ask the next time I talk to her to try and give me more information. I will certainly ask about how well he passed his driver's test with him. Poor Michael did everything he liked doing to perfection. He had to be terrible at something.

[Marty]

You guys are lucky. I was just born when he had his HIStory Tour in Tunis,Africa at the Tunisia El Menzah Stadium. And I was only five when I began hearing his music. T^T

This post has been edited by Marty: 30 July 2010 - 04:35 PM

[MJSunshine]

Our dear co-founder of MJPC, Virginie, has posted an amazing story about her first MJ concert experience at the BAD Tour concert in Paris 1988 in her own blog on MJPC. Please check out her amazing story here: http://mjphotoscolle...gic-in-the-air/

It's really worth reading, you can feel the magic of MJ