2001
When the Jacksons put on their famous white sequined gloves and put their black hats on, and performed their electric dance to the song «Billie Jean», the crowd went wild. With his Moonwalk, Michael whipped up a storm among the audience.
When Michael’s brothers, Jermaine, Jackie, Marlon, and Tito—members of the Jackson Five in the late 1970s—arrived at the celebration venue, about a thousand fans were standing on the steps of the post office building inside the grounds to watch their arrival.
This big celebration began with an hour delay at 8:40 p.m. Amid shouts of joy and deafening cheers, Whitney Houston, Usher, and Maya sang «Wanna Be Starting Something». And twenty-four dancers danced along with it in costumes like cave dwellers.
The 43-year-old Jackson, along with his father, Elizabeth Taylor, and Macaulay Culkin, watched the opening ceremony from a ceremonial location.
Incink, Lisa Minelli, and Mark Anthony each performed their own programs onstage. Jill Scott, Destiny’s Child, Shakil O’Neal, Chris Tucker, Goldies Knight were among those who attended the celebration or performed in it.
Marlon Brando also appeared onstage while sitting on a half-moon-shaped chair to talk about the death of children around the world. The crowd, clearly not interested in listening to his remarks, began to murmur. Until Brando said that Michael had donated money to build a hospital in Florida—and then they became quiet to listen to him.
The audience was impatient for Michael to come onstage, and they shouted his name in unison. And when other stars performed Michael’s songs onstage, they had the chance to stand up from their seats, buy snacks, and leave.
The main part of the concert began when Elizabeth Taylor called Michael and his brothers onto the stage.
When they came onstage, the crowd in the venue happily stood up from their seats.
The brothers performed a medley of songs «I Want You Back», «The Love You Save», «I'll Be There», «ABC», «Rockin Robin», and «Can You Feel It» along with the Jackson Five’s dance moves. Hearing the Jackson brothers’ voices became a bit difficult. But Michael subdued the crowd’s noise with constant shouts of ”I love you“.
Incink joined the brothers onstage and sang the song «Dancing Machine» with them. And after a long break, Britney Spears joined Michael onstage to perform «The Way You Make Me Feel». After this performance ended, when Chris Tucker called Michael back onstage, he appeared holding a box.
He pulled his black jacket, hat, and white sequined gloves out of the box and performed «Billie Jean» brilliantly, with all the classic and plentiful Moonwalk moves.
After that, Michael called for the slashes to perform «Black Or white» and «Beat It». During the performance of «Beat It», Michael displayed the dance moves from the song’s music video onstage with a dance group. And he finished this segment with a performance of his new song «You Rock My World». Then, amid the smoke and dust from the fireworks, he left the stage.
At 12:25 a.m. at night, a line of stars from that event gathered onstage to end the celebration by performing the song «We Are The World», led by Quincy Jones.
Michael thanked everyone for coming and said the final ”I love you“, asking his fans to leave the venue. But they had to know that as long as he was there, they weren’t going anywhere. In the end, the night ceremony officially ended when Michael left.
The unrelenting applause for Michael showed that the media should change their favorite nickname for addressing him—from ”one glove“ to ”dear glove“.
