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Michael Jackson imposter? AEG can't insure London concerts...scalper tickets selling for $4K...lawsuit filed...
Something didn’t seem quite right. There was that impossibly square chin, for a start – a bizarre cosmetic enhancement, even for Michael Jackson.
Then there was the voice, several octaves lower than the dog-whistle whisper the King of Pop normally adopts in front of his adoring fans.
Study the walk as well – a slightly hunched gait you might not expect from someone who ranks among the world’s most spectacular dance performers.
As tickets for his extended series of 50 summer shows sold out in record time yesterday – with prices of up to a staggering £25,000 being demanded on the resale market – an intriguing question was beginning to trouble even some of his most unwavering supporters. Was the quivering figure in the aviator shades and sparkly jacket that day an imposter?
Naturally, the official response is that it was Jacko. But they would say that, wouldn’t they? Others are speculating that – for whatever reason – it was merely a convincing impersonator.
The internet is buzzing with suggestions that the MJ the world saw during a four-minute appearance at O2 might not have been the MJ fans know and love.
Ludicrous conjecture? Well, maybe so. But like many internet-based rumours, this one is beginning to snowball.
AEG Live, which organised the star’s programme starting in July, said the company is “still negotiating” with insurers, but insisted it is willing to take on the risk of Jackson falling ill.
Insurance sources told trade magazine Reinsurance that the appetite to cover the risk was low after the schedule was extended from an initial 10 days.
They said concerns existed over the 50-year-old’s health and the gruelling seven-month run.
The company is understood to have managed to secure cover for the first 10 dates, worth about £80m, with the additional dates likely to take the policy towards £300m.
Randy Phillips, chief executive of AEG Live, said the company would be willing to self-insure for the shows to go ahead, but he played down health concerns.
“The insurance brokers sent doctors and they spend five hours with him, taking blood tests. He’s a vegetarian, he’s in great shape. The insurance cover, we are working on that now,” he said.
“But we would be prepared to self-insure to make up the dates. It’s a risk we’re willing to take to bring the King of Pop to his fans.”
Michael Jackson’s concerts became the “hottest selling on the planet”, according to organisers, with 750,000 fans snapping up tickets to see the King Of Pop.
Fans from around the world queued through the night to get their hands on tickets for Jackson’s 50 This Is It shows, which went on general sale on Friday morning.
Concert organisers said they were the fastest selling tickets in London ever. Thousands of fans pitched up outside London’s 02 Arena, with many more jamming the phone lines.
Tickets sold at a rate of 11 per second, 657 per minute and nearly 40,000 an hour.
There’s still plenty of tix available, at least for those willing to pay. On the second night of the tour, you can get a pair for $4,217. The ticket prices on the secondary market drop substantially as the run continues, however. If you have faith that Jackson will perform all 50 of his dates (and why would anyone be skeptical?), then you can commit about $700 to see him in February 2010.
According to Phillips, AEG cut a deal with Viagogo “to give fans access to premium seats and the market would set the price on only a small percentage of the house every night; and, secondly, to give fans a peer-to-peer platform where they know these tickets aren’t counterfeited.”
“Having said that, Viagogo did something really bad yesterday we had no idea they were doing,” Phillips continues. “They sent out e-mails to brokers and touts all over London offering them packages and seats and discounts. We’re going into court tomorrow to get an injunction. All we want from them is their platform, their Web site, for fans to buy tickets.”
Phillips said AEG lawyers in London will to go to court tomorrow (March 13) to get an injunction against Viagogo actually selling tickets. “They’ve told us they won’t, but I want to make sure it’s in the public record.” he said. “Even if we don’t get the injunction, that’s not the point, I want them to be under notice publicly not to do that. It’s about them living up to their word and the deal we cut.”
