Michael Jackson's last stage show: the Apollo Theater, New York, April 24, 2002

About the artist

Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958. With his brothers in the Jackson 5 he made his debut on Motown and had hits such as "I Want You Back" and "ABC"^[1]. As a solo artist he scored his first U.S. No. 1 with "Ben" (1972), then made Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982), which the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame calls the best-selling album ever. Bad produced five No. 1 singles, a first at the time^[2]. His first solo world tour opened at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo on September 12, 1987, and its first 14 shows, in Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama, drew more than 400,000 people^[3]. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2001^[2].

Why this was the last show

Jackson closed his 13-month HIStory World Tour in Durban, South Africa, on October 15, 1997. According to his official website, the tour had reached 4.5 million people across Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii^[4]. It turned out to be his last major tour^[5].

He still took the stage for one-off events. On September 7 and 10, 2001, he played two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York to celebrate his 30 years as a solo artist^[6]. His brothers joined him as the Jackson 5, performing together in public for the first time since their Victory tour ended in 1984, and the second show finished only hours before the September 11 attacks^[7]. On October 21 he headlined "United We Stand: What More Can I Give," a benefit concert at RFK Stadium in Washington^[8], where he sang his new song "What More Can I Give" in public for the first time^[9].

In April 2002 he made two more stage appearances. On April 20 he performed at the taping of ABC's American Bandstand 50th-anniversary concert, which aired on May 3^[10][11]. Four days later came the Democratic fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the show on this page^[12][13].

Four and a half years later, on November 15, 2006, Jackson appeared at the World Music Awards at Earls Court in London. He received an award for selling more than 100 million albums and joined a choir onstage for "We Are the World"; according to NME, he sang just a few lines^[14][15].

On March 5, 2009, he stood outside the O2 Arena in London to announce a series of concerts called This Is It^[16]. The run grew to 50 shows, and 360,000 advance tickets sold out that month^[17]. The concerts were scheduled from July 13, 2009, to March 6, 2010^[18]. Less than three weeks before the first date, on June 25, 2009, Jackson died. He was 50^[1]. None of the O2 concerts took place, and the Apollo set of April 2002 remained the last time he performed a show of his own before an audience^[19].

What is known about the day

The evening raised money for the Democratic National Committee's voter-registration drive. Reporting from the Apollo that afternoon, CNN's Judy Woodruff called it the party's biggest fundraising event since the 2000 election and said it was expected to bring in $2.5 million. It was also Bill Clinton's first major party fundraiser since leaving the White House^[12]. The campaign was called Every Vote Counts^[19].

The Apollo opened in 1914 and began holding its Amateur Night contests in 1934^[20]. The Jackson 5 won Amateur Night there in 1967^[21], and according to Roger Friedman of Fox News, this was Jackson's first performance at the theater since 1969^[13].

Before Jackson came on, Tony Bennett sang, the comedian Chris Tucker did a turn and Clinton gave a speech; Rubén Blades also performed^[13][12]. Jackson, then 43^[19], opened with "Dangerous," performed to a prerecorded track, and followed with "Black or White," sung mostly live. A fourth number, an expanded "We Are the World" with vocals prerecorded by a choir, was cut by the DNC because the evening was running long, and a video was shown instead^[13].

He closed with "Heal the World," joined by singers and dancers in costumes from different cultures, and left the stage leading a four-year-old boy by the hand. Fox News did not say whether he sang it live. Diana Ross made a surprise appearance at the end of his set^[13]. All three songs come from his 1991 album Dangerous^[2][22].

After the show, Jackson posed for photographs with Clinton and with the hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons. The DNC said the evening raised $2.7 million^[13].

What the show left behind

No official video or audio release of the Apollo set has been found.

Which show counts as Jackson's last depends on what is being counted. In March 2009 the AP dated his last full concert to 2001 and described the World Music Awards as his last live performance in Britain^[5]. Music Times, looking back in 2015, called the Apollo night the last time he performed publicly^[19], while OC Weekly calls the 2006 World Music Awards his final television performance^[15]. The last full concert was in 2001, the last stage show of his own was at the Apollo in 2002, and if a few lines with a choir count, the last time he sang on a public stage was in London in 2006.

This Is It never reached the stage. More than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, including his final rehearsals, became the film This Is It, directed by Kenny Ortega, who had led the rehearsals. It opened on October 28, 2009^[18]. It is a record of the preparations, not of a performance before an audience. The film opened in Japan on the same day and took ¥5.2 billion at the box office, third among foreign films released there in 2009, according to figures the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan announced at the time^[23]. When it came out on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan in January 2010, first-day sales reached ¥1.61 billion, according to Oricon^[24][25].

The theater where the Jackson 5 won Amateur Night in 1967 became the last stage on which Michael Jackson performed a show of his own.