Thriller Live

I recently attended the tour of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller Live’ at The Lyric Theatre in London. Given it was a lazy Sunday afternoon I was not expecting a large turnout. But considering the show has been live for five years; most seats in the house were full.

Although two and a half hours of Michael Jackson music reminded me of my love for the king of pop, I found many faults in the production. The show was much like watching the Michael Jackson music videos back to back on MTV; it lacked a plot and direction.

The only structure was the chronological order of songs, starting with Michael Jackson in the early years, and the Jackson 5. By the interval I was contemplating going home, however the second half won me round instantly with a dazzling vocal performance of ‘Beat it’. The dancers mixed Michael Jackson’s song with street dance making it a very entertaining watch. One of the last songs was ‘Thriller’; I had high expectations, hoping for gothic costumes and a re-construction of the all time famous video. But the cast passed over it, without even changing attire! 

Throughout the show I was consistently conscious of the loud music and bright lights, although used for effect, the audience were longing for sunglasses, suggesting they’d overdone it. Although worth seeing in tribute to Michael, it definitely didn’t do him justice.