A Book About Untold Stories From the Michael Jackson Memorial Concert in Wales
Memorial concert for Michael Jackson, which was held in Wales last year, has become the subject of a book by one of the event’s organizers.
The book’s title is: “How I Paid Tribute to Michael Jackson” — or in English, How I Paid Tribute to Michael Jackson. This e-book, with 282 pages, is available for download on Amazon for $2.99.
In this book, Andy Picheta talks about the behind-the-scenes events of a concert that, although it was somewhat successful, was a major failure for an artist on the level of Michael Jackson. The secret behind the concert’s lack of success was that they ignored Michael’s foundation and his fans. And it’s possible to hope that this book will serve as a good lesson for other people who try to use Michael’s name to gain fame and wealth. As was the case some time ago, Howard Mann, Catherine Jackson’s business partner, was found guilty for ignoring the Michael Foundation and violating copyright law.
By reading the book, we learn that, as expected, the concert organizers didn’t have a proper understanding of the music industry, and their predictions kept failing one after another.
They thought that the Jackson family name alone would draw a huge number of stars to perform at this concert, but when the concert announcement was made public, no agreement had yet been signed with any singer to perform. They also planned to hold the concert in a very large stadium and had ideas that were unrealistic and extremely costly.
In this book, Picheta, without any curtain-drawing, speaks about all the obstacles of the job and honestly criticizes people who had previously been his friends and with whom he collaborated on this concert.
Andy Picheta includes a sentence on the first page of the book that will surely please Michael’s fans: “Dedicated to Michael Jackson’s fans — you were right!”
Before the concert was held, Michael’s fans had warned that this plan would end in failure, but no one listened. This book is an admission of failure and a search for its reasons, and for that reason it’s not without its charm—because it’s rare to find a book that speaks so honestly about such a big mistake.
Chris Hunt, the main producer of the concert, was friends with Jeffre (Jeffre was Latoya Jackson’s boyfriend, Michael’s sister), and the concert idea was his. Jeffre was supposed to bring together various artists and Michael’s family to produce a concert that, in his view, could become even more successful than the film This Is It. The concert was held in order to take advantage of the UK’s tax relief law. Jeffre believed that if Michael’s brothers found out he was behind it, they would never set foot in the concert.
Leonard Ro got involved shortly after and suggested that the concert be held to bypass the copyright of Michael Jackson’s name under the title “Michael Forever.” They decided to place the stage in the middle of the stadium to break U2’s record for the highest number of viewers.
Leonard Ro had told them that artists like Prince, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Elton John, and names like these were willing to perform at this concert.
(Who is Leonard Ro? In 2009, after Michael announced the London tour news for This Is It, his father Joe Jackson and Leonard Ro’s father sent a letter to the media stating that from now on Leonard Ro would manage Michael’s affairs. They provided the media with a fake letter that claimed Michael had written it. A day later, news came out that Michael had no working relationship with Leonard Ro and that he would not have the right to represent or interfere in Michael’s matters. Michael had written in a letter that he did not want to communicate verbally or in writing about his work or personal matters with Leonard Ro.)
Picheta believed that ticket prices were too high, but Chris Hunt told him that Michael’s fans would make money even if they had to crawl under a stone to attend an event that happens only once in a lifetime.
They had previously planned to hold the concert on August 27, but when May arrived, they set the date for October 8. With only four months left until the concert, only the Jacksons had announced their readiness to participate.
The ticket-selling company kept the sales revenue to itself out of fear that the concert might be canceled, while Chris Hunt’s company (JLA) needed money to hold the concert. The result was that the money set aside for charitable uses was spent on launching the concert, so that in the next opportunity, some of the ticket sales revenue would also be allocated to charities—an offer that was never carried out.
After a week from the start of ticket sales, they had managed to sell only 327 tickets, and daily sales were just 12 to 20 tickets. In total, the “Michael Forever” memorial concert managed to sell twenty thousand tickets, which was supposed to be a debt repayment to Michael Jackson, who had sold one million tickets for the This Is It tour in just a few hours.
A day before the official announcement of the concert’s holding, the reserved stadium and the presence of three Jacksons alongside Latoya and Catherine were confirmed, but there was no news of any other singer. Picheta writes:
“Within two hours, such a mess was made that you couldn’t see your eyes.” Another feature of this book is its humor. Picheta also quotes a line from one of the fans who had messaged them on Facebook, writing that they should have listened to him—or hired him as a producer.
He also talks about the coincidence of this concert with the start of the trial for Michael Jackson’s murder case, which many fans strongly objected to:
“We set the date. At first, our intention wasn’t to coincide with Michael’s murder trial. Of course, it was believed that this trial wouldn’t even take place.”
Regarding the announcement of the presence of the band Kiss, which met with a very negative reaction from fans, Andy Picheta says that when Catherine appeared on CNN together with one of the concert supervisors—someone whose name Catherine didn’t even know—so that the concert’s holding could be officially confirmed, the list of artists who were supposed to be invited for performances was still not clear. One of the employees, who was the booking manager for a rock band, suggested Kiss, and the others accepted. That’s how, during a CNN interview, the name of Kiss was mentioned—a band whose singer had publicly insulted Michael Jackson.
When fans’ protests grew, the concert supervisors asked Gene Simmons, Kiss’s singer, to publicly apologize to Michael and his fans in a statement. Interestingly, these people truly believed that Simmons would do what they asked!
Picheta even mentions in his book the statement of the Foundation and the letter published by fans in protest against this approach.
He says that they never contacted the Michael Foundation, and to avoid facing legal restrictions, they took escape routes—for example, they decided to announce that live broadcasting of the concert in the United States would not happen. Some time later, Warner/Chappell, which managed the distribution of Michael’s songs, sued them for not paying royalties, and the judge ruled that they would not be allowed to broadcast this concert live in Britain or Europe either. But the Michael Jackson Foundation had taken no legal action against this concert.
Picheta also says that some concert staff still haven’t been paid, and even some singers haven’t received their wages. Michael was a generous person throughout his life—what would he have said about the fact that the wages of the concert staff who were set up to pay tribute to him were not paid?
This author says that the memorial concert’s sponsor now wants to release a film of this concert with legal permission and in cooperation with the Michael Foundation, Warner/Chappell, and also Michael’s fans.
The court also found Chris Hunt guilty of violating copyright law. Last year, his company announced bankruptcy.
Another interesting point in this book concerns Michael’s brothers, the twins. After Michael’s death, Jermaine tried to hold a concert, and twice his efforts failed. When news of the Wales memorial concert was announced, Jermaine said he didn’t support it. Picheta writes that Jermaine wanted to arrange the concert himself, and for that reason he refused to support a concert he wasn’t the organizer of.
See more photos and videos from this concert at here and here.
Source: eMJey.com / amazon