Michael Jackson appears in London to announce shows
Michael Jackson will play 10 shows at London's O2 Arena, beginning July 8.
Photograph by: (Getty Images), (Getty Images)
Thousands of fans gathered outside of London's O2 Arena today to hear news they could have just read on the Internet hours earlier: Michael Jackson will play the mega-venue this summer.
Jackson gave an official press conference in London today (which was streamed live via his website) to announce that he'll play 10 shows at the O2, beginning July 8.
"This is it! This is it!" said Jackson, his skeletal fists punching the air, soon after arriving at the conference some 90 minutes after the official start time. (According to BBC News, Jackson didn't leave his hotel until the conference's scheduled start time.)
"I just wanted to say that these will be my final show performances in London. This will be it," said Jackson, once again echoing the tagline displayed on the banners around the stage and on concert posters that reportedly began appearing throughout London earlier today.
"I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear," Jackson revealed. "I'll see you in July."
Earlier Thursday, Tim Leiweke, the CEO and president of AEG -- the company which will put on Jackson's London concerts -- told Billboard that plans to mount a comeback concert have been in the works for some time. "We spent two years working with Michael trying to get him comfortable with this," Leiweke told Billboard.
It's been 12 years since Jackson's been on a world tour, and he hasn't played a concert since 2001. His last album, Invincible, came out that same year.
In 2006, Jackson made a rare public appearance to sing on the World Music Awards. That touted comeback, however, wound up amounting to a few seconds of the so-called King of Pop warbling along to "We Are the World."
More recently, there's been speculation that Jackson, 50, is in poor health, and not up to the challenge of performing.
Leiweke, however, has shot down such allegations, telling Billboard: "Despite everything you read about him, he was fine. ... The man took a physical for us to go do these concerts."
Tickets go on sale to the general public March 13.
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