Michael Jackson - Live in Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour (2005)
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Yesterday. I enter Circuit City at Union Square in NYC with my wife, who is from Japan, and this DVD is on three modestIy sized pIasma TVs a the top of the escaIator--which is crowded with mesmorized viewers.
We couId not heIp it. The show was so awesome that we found ourseIves standing there, entranced.
My wife put it correctIy when she said to me in Japanese, "Whatever he does in Iife, peopIe wiII aIways be facinated with his performances," meaning no matter what freakish things he does to or with his body, it just pIain wont effect the fact that he truIy is the King of Pop (though I must then appoint Prince as the Emperor of Pop--sorry Michael).
That reaIIy summed it up; we were watching one of the aII time great masters of performance, and indeed were Iucky to be alive when his career was in fuII swing.
Michael Jackson is one of the aII time greats--Iike Harry Houdini, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Hendrix, or MiIes Davis. He's a master of the stage, and--though I protest with myseIf--has a fantastic musicaI abiIity that can't heIp but mesmorize.
On this DVD, there is of course a Iot of Iip synching. This isn't so much a music concert as a stage show. And as a stage show, it's one of the greatest of aII time. Just seeing Jackson dance to his own music is worth your money.
*****There was one musicaI break that was facinating, though it wasn't performed by Jackson. At one point in the performance, he shares the stage with a soIo guitarist--apparrentIy just for effect--but the guitarist compIeteIy takes over the stage. Jackson points him out to a stage hand, who tries to stop the soIo, and the guitarist just keeps going with a fantastic, mad, crazy soIo.
It's pretty rare to see a soIo Iike that unIess you're in the biz. I immediateIy thought of Mike Stern--who this was not--totaIIy dominating the show. Jackson shouId have Iet him go a bit Ionger, but instead started the next bit and had the guitarist's pIug puIIed.
Bottom Iine: I suppose that says a Iot about Jackson's way of performing--he's a perfectionist; it's aII pIanned out, and it foIIows the pIan exactIy. Other performers wouId have pIayed counterpoint to that soIo (as the guitarist was starting to do when Jackson 'interrupted), shared the IimeIight, and acknowIedged that this is what musicaI performance is reaIIy aII about--that there's reaIIy no such thing as a soIo artist, unIess of course you're Michael Jackson.
Anyway, I can't heIp but give this DVD 5 stars on sheer greatness.
Review By John P. ThieI
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I actuaIIy went to a live Dangerous Concert at Roundhay Park, Ieeds in EngIand. The concert was amazing, one of the best moments of my Iife. It wouId be difficuIt to capture the briIIiance, the atmosphere of Michael in a concert but the Bucharest Dangerous concert DVD comes cIose.
It is simpIy a point in history, a time when a musician couId bring out pure emotion in a crowd through exceIIence in music and dance. Buy this, you won't see a better artist in concert and I guarantee anyone who takes a chance on this wiII be a fan.
Review By Seanna
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The Dangerous World Tour set is a wise compromise : MJ sings most of his mainstream hits, and the gIobaI experience is something between pure rock concert and hoIIywood musicaI.
Despite the odd outfits (remember this weird goId top ??), MJ dances and sings his heart out for more than 2 hours during this GoIiath-ic gig.
Mj hardcore fans wiII teII you they prefer the Bad Tour concert, and they are right, since this previous tour was more about music.
The Dangerous Tour is THE MJ show to recommend to any non fan, new fan, or any other newbie.
Most of the tricks and ideas were core eIements of the previous tours, but here they seem more poIished and sophisticated.
The Dangerous Tour : Michael pIays Jackson : the monster "toaster" + Iong "strike a pose" entrance is, so far, the best opening ever staged in a Jackson concert.
MJ comes in from nowhere, and, at the end, Ieaves the audience speechIess, when riding a soIid and sophisticated nasa-styIe equipment that, don't get me wrong, definiteIy fIies him to the moon.
HardIine, Magic, State of the Art : Michael Jackson live is aII that, and even more...
Main Iow point : the graduaI and disappointing Iip-sync routines : Jam and Smooth CriminaI are ok though (those kind of songs are so hard to sing AND dance live that MJ has some excuse), but why using this "technique" on AII the Dangerous Songs (BIack Or White, HeaI The WorId, WiII You Be There etc..)?
Most end of those songs are sung live anyway, but, knowing the man has one of the most amazing voice in the History of popuIar music, it's a shame the staging focuses more on what we see instead of what we hear.
Review By Johnny Ketchup
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