Michael Jackson’s Last Tour: Kuala Lumpur Was Next

Travis Payne, the choreographer chosen for Michael Jackson’s last tour, This Is It, is now working on the Immortal tour. This tour is produced by the Michael Jackson Foundation and Cirque du Soleil. This Is It was supposed to run for 50 nights in London, and Travis says that after that they would go to Malaysia. This Is It was a world tour that never happened.

Payne worked with Michael on the Dangerous and History tours, as well as on the Ghosts film. He recently told Philadelphia News Agency in an interview:

“Kuala Lumpur—the capital of Malaysia—was our next city. Michael wanted to bring about a revolution in the way the tour was run. He looked at it like an experienced producer. He told us we had to find a way to bring the largest number of spectators to the tour without having to travel long distances. That’s why he suggested the tour should stay in one place for 2 to 3 months so he and his team wouldn’t have to constantly move around. He didn’t want to fly from this city to that city twice a week.

Like what we did on the History tour. We went to North Africa. The idea was to live in a poor country so that their economy would benefit from this tour. Whatever Michael did was done out of love and commitment to doing good.

He treated us like this on tour—we felt like he was nurturing us. He constantly encouraged us to create new ideas and do our best work. His art was created through that. He didn’t want just an excellent song you could dance to with a beat. He wanted you to get so immersed in the song and have your attention captured that you would discover the meaning of the song and the message hidden inside it. That’s why his music continues on from generation to generation and has appeal for children, for adults, for everyone. And we hope that people who come to watch the circus will feel the impact of his music—this has been our goal.”

Source: eMJey.com / Philadelphia Daily News