Prophetic - from Popbitch June 4th

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Michael Jackson keeps the world guessing

Only five weeks to go until the Michael Jackson
extravaganza supposedly hits London. The good
news is that rehearsals for the show are well
underway - we hear elephants are involved -
but the bad news is that, as we recently reported,
they’re going ahead without the star of
the show’s involvement. And even if Jacko is
only obliged to sing for 13 minutes each show,
you’d think he’d need some practice.
Particularly as we can’t seem to find evidence
of him singing properly live since the HIStory
tour of 1997.

The concert promoters should be getting worried.
Jackson is setting up any number of excuses
in the media already (a doctor to say he has
skin cancer, AEG putting on too many shows etc)
and he’s got a lot of history of this kind of
last minute cancellation thing. We wrote years
ago about the American gig that got pulled last
minute - Jackson sent a cheque to reimburse
each ticket-holder, knowing full well that only
a tiny minority would actually cash it so
he could end up quids in.

But more than O2 and the promoters, the group
really getting hot under the collar is the
secondary ticketing industry. Exchanges, touts
and hospitality have flourished in recent
years but there are fears that much of the
industry could be taken out if Jackson decides
to abandon his tour.