MICHAEL JACKSON: “ALOHA IN HAWAII” . . . HIS LAST USA CONCERT EVER !!!

                                  ON JANUARY 3 & 4 1997 . . . . . Our Beloved
                                                      MICHAEL JACKSON
                                                       “The King of Pop”

                            . . . GAVE HIS LAST CONCERT IN THE USA EVER !
                                  IT WAS IN BEAUTIFUL HONOLULU, HAWAII !!!
 
     Until then, HE HAD NOT GIVEN A CONCERT IN THE UNITED STATES FOR 8 YEARS!!!  . . . . . AND NEVER DID EVER AGAIN (only a TV Special taping in N.Y. just before 9/11/2001 at MSG with many guests).  ON HIS WAY BACK HOME FROM TOURING EUROPE AND ASIA ON “THE HISTORY TOUR”, HE VERY GRACIOUSLY HEARD THE PLEAS OF A BEAUTIFUL BUT TINY PART OF THE U.S. THAT “BEGGED AND BEGGED HIM (through local promoter Tom Moffatt) TO ADD “ONE MORE STOP” TO HIS TOUR . . . FOR HE HAD NEVER PERFORMED THERE BEFORE . . . EVER.  His Answer was simply . . .
  OK, “I’LL BE THERE” !!! 

                                         “The King of Pop Arrives in Hawaii !!!”   

 He was so nice to EVERYONE when he arrived, PURPOSELY REQUESTING THE PLANE TO LET HIM DISEMBARK OUTSIDE so he could see his “HAWAII FANS”! (In which a special fence had been set up all the way to the terminal . . . Thank You Honolulu International Airport Officials!)  He had apparently made the statement to local concert promoter Tom Moffatt after Moffatt had mentioned something called “The Aloha Spirit” to him.  You see, the south has Southern Hospitality, while other places have their own ways of welcoming others with their good natured “Geographical Brands”.  HOWEVER, NOBODY CAN DO THIS LIKE THE PEOPLE IN HAWAII !!!  Yes, they kind of have a little advantage with the Sun, the Beautiful Blue Pacific, the incredible lush Scenery . . . You Know, “The Tropics Thing”!  BUT, IT IS THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII THAT MAKE THIS THING CALLED “THE ALOHA SPIRIT” TURN . . . AND MAN, DOES IT TURN !!!  “ONLY IN HAWAII” can they have and do so many things for their visitors.  And because Welcoming these Visitors is one of, if not THE Largest Industry there, no wonder they have perfected it over DECADES and GENERATIONS.  GENERATIONS, of which now span SEVERAL, and pretty much now “Runs In Their Blood”!  With that much ALOHA and with Blood so closely related to SPIRIT . . . Thus, they have obtained and will always treasure their “ALOHA SPIRIT”!  THIS IS WHY MICHAEL WANTED TO MEET HIS HAWAII FANS “FACE TO FACE” !!!  He wanted to meet the People who were as gentle or even more so than the soft tradewinds that “Caress” their Islands.  AND HE DID.  FROM THE PLANE TO HIS TRANSPORT TO THE HOTEL, HE NEVER USED A “BACK ENTRANCE” THE WHOLE TIME !!!

                               Getting To The Concert . . . It Was Almost ImpAssible!
 
     If there is anyone who can JAM any system, anytime, anywhere . . . It’s Michael Jackson!  Just as his unfortunate passing basically (and in my lifetime the first I’ve ever heard of it happening) brought mighty Google crashing down to earth, The City and County of Honolulu’s road systems (and they are pretty big) were no match for the Jaugernaut known as “The Presence of Michael Jackson”!
     Let me just prepare your mind if you do not live in Hawaii . . . Honolulu is located on the island of OAHU and is supported by ONE major freeway and a couple of others that lead out in and out to the other parts of the island, along with many sidestreets and backstreets.  The H-1 Freeway was simply Jammed all the way from lunchtime (concert was in the evening) and absolutely impassable close to concert time and yes . . . Even the back and side streets.  Luckily, being a former Five Star Hotel Concierge (which is kind of how I got my tickets … connections … you know!), I knew the “alley streets“;  Over the top of a couple of small lawns
Down the opposite direction of a couple of one way streets (that you could easily see if you could make it to the other side without hurting anyone), and “scrumming” our way onto the Aloha Stadium Thoroughfare . . . And we were there!!!  (Now that I think about it, those people absolutely “locked” on the H-1 that day would have paid good money for that information!  Darn!…lol)

              MICHAEL JACKSON: “ALOHA IN HAWAII” . . . A STAR STUDDED EVENT !!!
    

Anyhow, because this was going to be his last one in the USA for a while, AND THE LAST AS WE HAVE COME TO KNOW, Michael invited a lot of his friends and family.  Therefore, if you went to this Concert, you got an extra little Bonus because THERE WERE SO MANY STARS THERE . . . YOU COULDN’T COUNT THEM!!!  The ones I remember the best were the ones I was personally sitting close to.  Michael had a private “roped-off” area in the Middle Front in which “MAGIC JOHNSON” and Michael’s Sister “JANET JACKSON” were sitting (I was right next to the box Middle Front Right).  It was kind of surreal to watch Michael Jackson performing at his Best, right in front of you . . . THEN, when Michael had a wardrobe change (or some kind of break in the  “action”) . . . Turn to my left and see all these MegaStars (including one of the greatest basketball players to ever play and another one of the USA‘s Top Pop Stars . . . Who just happened to be the sister of this, what seemed like a “Demigod”!).   It was like I was floating the whole time . . . Like, Hollywood (for a night or two anyway) had come to Hawaii and “IT” WAS ALL AROUND ME !!!  HOWEVER, MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, That Night (to themselves anyway), they were nothing of the sort.  Just like the rest of us, they were die hard Michael Jackson Fans!  They stood when we stood and went crazy when all the rest of us did.  And, I know this may sound stupid, BUT, I was so proud of all of them (the “middle box people”!).  There were no egos at all.  For me, just like it was “Hollywood came to Hawaii” that night, for them it was like they left Hollywood in California where it belongs and came to Hawaii to enjoy the islands, the sun, the sand, the surf, maybe a Mai Tai (or two) AND of course . . . To see their Hero and their Friend Perform In Concert in a remote part of the United States, which he had not done for eight years at that point . . . And unfortunately, would never be able to do again

                                                 The Concert Was Simply . . .
                                 AMAZING, EXPLOSIVE and It Made HISTORY !!!

I was so proud of the People of Hawaii !!!  They were so Welcoming and “Crazy” through the whole Concert!  If I had to pick a HIGH point of the whole Concert for the “Crowd Favorite” (again, they were crazy for EVERYTHING, however, you have to understand that in Hawaii . . . Time stands still and goes forth and stands still . . . A little hard to explain.  Therefore oldies are still “newies” to a lot of people and so on . . . ), I WOULD HAVE TO SAY IT WAS WHEN MICHAEL PUT ON HIS BLACK TUXEDO JACKET AND THE MUSICAL AIR SWIRLED AND MICHAEL BEGAN TO SING IN (A HIGH FALSETTO TONE) “LOVELY . . . . IS THE FEELING NOW . . . ”!     O   M   G  !!!
ALOHA STADIUM ….. IN IT’S ENTIRETY ….. WENT OFF !!!  One of Michael’s trademarks during this song is pulling up his jacket sleeves and shuffling his feet from side to side.  With the smoke, lighting, the screams from the crowd, the sheer volume and all of this combined . . . It was just UNBELIEVABLE !  OR, you can also say it was one of those moments when “SOUND HAD FEEL”!!!  HOWEVER, when the music came to it‘s instrumental part, all the way until you hear Michael go “oooooh” in the song (I know, try not to laugh, it’s not easy describing Michael singing in print), YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN WHAT MICHAEL DID!  Most people imagine Michael dancing to “Billie Jean”, “Black or White” or something of the like.  Being that he “owns” this song (“Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”) and all of it’s images of projection and expression . . . It’s “one of his babies”!  HE GROOVED (and used the same moves that he did in this era of his career) THROUGH THE WHOLE SONG AND JUST “TORE UP THE FLOOR” ON THE INSTRUMENTAL (at The Aloha Stadium Performances anyway).

                                    My Most “Interesting” Moment of the Concert!

     This I must say, might have nothing or maybe everything to do with Michael . . . I just don‘t know (even to this day).  To make it simple, there was a nice young girl (probably about 21 or 22 years old) that kept leaning on my shoulder about halfway through the  concert . . . And no, I did not know her at all.  Anyhow, whether we were sitting or standing, she would sometimes put her head on my shoulder and watch Michael, leaning against me to comfort.  So, I’m thinking kind of like “Wow, she must already be in that HEAL THE WORLD type of mood already just waiting for that song or something”, and I just let her keep doing what she was doing.  Even though I didn’t know her, she was nicely dressed, very nice and I just thought she was kind of taking the whole concert thing as something like a Gathering of Michael Jackson Fans and “peace and love be with us” type of thing (because I have met many people like that before).  THEN, after leaning on me for about 20 minutes and after one of Michael‘s songs (a break in the music), a tiny bit of horror music went through my mind as I heard her slur these words to me . . .
III THIIINK III’MMM GOONNNAAA THROOOOOW UUUUP!
At that point, The “Heal The World” mood I thought she was experiencing quickly became “Heal This Girl”!  Oh My God! Do you know how terrifying it is when you have a live individual RIGHT NEXT TO YOU AND LEANING ON YOU to confirm a specific non-desirable state of being that she is currently experiencing with the “threat” of possible incoming “chunks” or just straight up “hurl”?!!!  As stupid as it sounds, the first thought I had was I kind of wanted to know what she had for dinner . . . You know, to get ready for it!  However, the better side of me took over and I quickly did a “survey” of people and located her friend she came with a few seats away.  She came and helped her by shuffling seats with a few people to get her closer to her and took her to the restroom (I have GOT to stop being so Naïve!).

     Simply put, THE CONCERT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME with a capital AWESOME !!!  However, All Being Said, I will say this one final thing;
    . . . Even though these two Concerts were MICHAEL JACKSON’S LAST U.S. CONCERT PERFORMANCES EVER and the fact that I just realized the other day (as of this writing) that I was lucky enough to attend them,  I’m sure that Michael made each and every one of his fans feel the way I did when I was there WITH EVERY PERFORMANCE he ever did . . . Just very blessed and very lucky to see Someone with such a Gift From God Displaying His Craft At His Very Best, Truly Showing You Why He Was Put Here On This Earth. 

Michael,  We Miss You and Love You So Very Much.