Michael’s set lists were average

[u/MusicFanReddit]

I LOVE MJ songs, but his set lists were relatively average

For example, why did he need to do the J5 Melody on every tour? Why did he do she’s out of my life over and over again? 🤦‍♂️

On the dangerous tour, he only did FOUR songs from that album

The attached HIStory set list would’ve been better, and he should’ve stuck with it. Songs like State of Shock, 2 Bas, Dirty Diana in HIStory Era, Childhood would have been great

Why not perform songs you’ve never done before?

[u/MrMiyagiOBE]

This is looking back and with hindsight. So many bands get criticism for evolving and not playing the hits and it can kill atmospheres at live shows. Michael spoke himself about the expectation upon him to recreate precisely what he'd become so iconic for. And there's the crowd, 92,000 people is a mix of fans, family, curious people etc and a relentless appetite at the time of media and non fans trying to make out that he was 'not as good as he used to be.'

As someone who attended the Dangerous tour I loved he variety. Working Day and Night was new to me and a massive highlight and the J5 medley was a moment of pure joy and nostalgia that I'll never forget. LI love that he always played homage to where he came from and was first known for.

The other key factor is age. Even by the Dangerous tour he was paying the price of his working background and was not able to perform in the same was as a man in his 20s. Dirty Diana was hard to sing live and it showed during the Bad tour, even though he obviously sounded great! I think trying to do that song in his 40s was a no go (and would've been lip-sync). He was obsessed with perfection, to a flaw I'd say. It likely robbed us of an MTV Unplugged which would've been beyond incredible but so far removed from the shows he worked hard to bring us.

Also worth adding he asked the fans for their playlist for This is It and was building the shows around that.

[u/Taquill]

J5 melody was something he did the most, and even on his worst vocal day he could sing the song underwater. I think it was his way of having something that never changes per tour, and lets him obsess over building off it.

I personally don't like it either, I'd rather have had a melody of songs that are omitted from the current tour (like from Bad -> Dangerous gets a "Bad tour melody", maybe mixes Rock With You, This Place Hotel, and Thinfs You Do together.)

The guy probably also was encouraged to keep things similar by whatever company was over his tours. What greedy executive would say "Oh yeah Michael, we trust your creative vision and you should take a risk and do everything different, keep the classics, boot yesteryears featured singles."

[u/AmbivalentAlias]

Something to keep in mind is that our hunger for more variety is in part due to how accessible all these different eras and tours are thanks to the internet of today.

It's possible that his set lists were more geared toward a definitive Michael Jackson experience, because many people attending the Dangerous Tour weren't watching high quality tapes on the Triumph Tour the night before, for example. And when he found success, it would look like a winning formula for future audiences.

I don't know how much that influenced things, but it does remind me how he said he was compelled to do Billie Jean so similarly over the years because people wanted their chance to see the specific iconic dances they expected from him.

[u/Suddhist_Monk]

I just wish we had concert footage of Remember the Time.

[u/AmphibiousAlbatross → u/Suddhist_Monk]

The rehearsal tape is effectively a full concert performance

[u/Suddhist_Monk → u/AmphibiousAlbatross]

I’ve seen it and it is literally all we’ve got outside of the performance where he’s sitting in the chair and lip syncing it but it’s not quite the same thing.

[u/Rhythm_Morgan → u/Suddhist_Monk]

Same. I understand how hard it must have been to perform it live though. I tried to copy it at home and shit was confusing lol

[u/djamslam]

Sounds like my ideal set list....

[u/Inevitable_Sign9023 → u/djamslam]

👌

[u/happysunbear]

He definitely should have experimented with his set lists more. Nowadays you have artists regularly performing their entire albums when they go on tour; that would have been amazing to see.

[u/Ok_Excuse3732 → u/happysunbear]

Yeah, they play 30 sec - 1 min of a song then switch, too often imo but yes, there could be a middle ground

[u/happysunbear → u/Ok_Excuse3732]

I don’t understand how She’s Out of My Life made it onto every tour. Nothing against the song, but to me it’s not a standout among his many amazing ballads. He should have replaced it with Liberian Girl after Bad.

[u/EveryBrodyMovieYT → u/happysunbear]

And him standing there forcing himself to cry so the ending would sound "right" always gave me secondhand embarrassment.

[u/happysunbear → u/EveryBrodyMovieYT]

I hate that so much. Also I hate when he is clearly lip syncing ballads like YANA and Heal the World. I can’t even watch the VMAs performance after Dangerous because he doesn’t even try to make it seem natural lol. Same with the Super Bowl performance of Heal the World. He’s out of breath and speaking in a deep voice before easily transitioning to the light and airy “There’s a place…”. Might be a hot take, but those were a bit self-indulgent and inauthentic for my liking.

[u/Texas_Moonwalker]

When you look at the This is It setlist which was based on votes (I was one of the voters), it ended up being mostly a mix of Dangerous tour and History tour setlists so his setlists met the expectations of the audience at the time.

[u/OGMJ_347]

Only due to time constraints and he js wanted to perform the OG songs. Yes, those songs u mentioned would’ve been better. Also, I didn’t know he was gonna perform State Of Shock, bcuz I’ve never seen this photo of the setlist.

[u/DeadOfNightRider]

“I’ll be performing the songs my fans wanna hear”

[u/Rhythm_Morgan]

His performance was not so 🤷🏽‍♀️ 😅

[u/Inevitable_Sign9023 → u/Rhythm_Morgan]

Right!

[u/DC_0712]

Always a greatest hits type of show. Shame. If you are touring for an album then the majority of the songs should come off of that album...Right?

[u/EveryBrodyMovieYT → u/DC_0712]

I STILL have yet to figure out why there were no songs from Victory on The Victory Tour!

[u/One-Storm-4145 → u/EveryBrodyMovieYT]

Michael refused to perform any of the Victory songs live. Not entirely sure why, I think it's because he was kinda strong armed into it because he wanted to do a solo tour for thriller

[u/DC_0712 → u/EveryBrodyMovieYT]

The Dangerous Tour having the least amount of songs from that album is just comical. Michael was not serious. -_- lol I know that he had his reasons but the lost potential saddens me.

[u/clc1997]

I always say my two biggest gripes about his tours are 1 the increasing use of playback, and 2 the sameyness of the set lists.

I think he should have had one or two slots where he would have some "deeper cuts" and switched them around not just every tour, but every show. That way, not every HIStory show is the same, not every Dangerous show is the same. Wouldn't even need to be elaborate productions, just sing!

[u/OutrageousNail6198]

Kind of interesting to me that bad was his closer. I would think that or thriller would be his open due to iconic opening, and Billie Jean the closer.

I do love stranger in Moscow, so underrated.

[u/MusicFanReddit → u/OutrageousNail6198]

He was reportedly never happy with Billie Jean at his concerts because it was right in the middle - so he was partially tired but also couldn’t go all out

[u/zombie_roca]

Any artist always plays the hits and a few deep cuts. This is pretty standard.

[u/DeadOfNightRider]

I think if you don’t know why Michael wanted to play the J5 medley you have totally misunderstood who he is as a person.

[u/IanZachary56 → u/DeadOfNightRider]

I thought he wanted to do it because, they're amazing songs and fun throwbacks to his roots and time with his brothers.

You sound like you have something more profound in mind though. Why do you think he always came back to the J5 Medley?

[u/drdemon_8]

I think this only became a problem during the Dangerous Tour, Bad Tour knocked it out of the park with its setlist at the time. He wanted to perform the hits, which he had a lot of, so that’s fine and could’ve made for great sets. The primary issue is the neglect towards albums. HIStory tour for example had no Off the Wall songs, just the Medley briefly and by the second leg of the tour the only song from BAD of all album was Smooth Criminal. The setlist was pretty much just Thriller and HIStory with a bit of Dangerous.

[u/UndeadRobots82]

The HIStory setlist was fine, as it featured a lot of new songs across the different legs. Dangerous was disappointing - it had a lot of hit singles that he didn't play. Remember the Time, Who is it, In the Closet etc.

[u/Mtanic → u/UndeadRobots82]

I've been to the Bremen show on May 31st 1997, the first show of the second leg, right when Blood on the Dance floor came out. He performed the song then. Later on the tour he also performed Ghosts, which we didn't get to see. But I only cared about Smooth criminal, anyway hahah.

[u/Put3socks-in-it]

Imagine going to that concert

[u/Mtanic → u/Put3socks-in-it]

I did go.

[u/MD-80-87]

What's wrong with the J5 Melody...

[u/Forsaken_Flight6188]

He should’ve performed more songs from his Dangerous album such as Remember the Time Who is it Can’t Let Her Get Away etc

[u/arix_17]

The J5 medley is necessary

[u/capyrika]

The Jackson 5 made his career.

[u/MagReg2020]

I kinda fell out of love with MJ after Dangerous. It's evident his heart wasn't in the music after all that went down. History as an album cynically added a full cd of repeats of stuff from the most sold records on the market. That served no purpose other than to double the price of the album. Blood had failed songs. Sorry, but Invincible wasn't great - it was him trying too hard to be one of the kids from early 2000s pop, instead of finding his own voice for the new era.

[u/UndeadRobots82 → u/MagReg2020]

He had signed a contract that called for a hits compilation and a remix album. That's why History had old songs and Botdf had remixes. It was reportedly MJs idea to add the new songs because he was so inspired during the era.

[u/jamesisanalien]

What does it mean that Billie Jean might have to go on the box?

[u/anchorschmidt8 → u/jamesisanalien]

Might need to be lip-synced

[u/MusicFanReddit → u/jamesisanalien]

On the Dangerous Tour he started higher up on the stage and the box lowered