Part TwentyNine - Ten, ThirtyOne, Fifty or More?

Now i want to take you back to March 5th 2009, the day Michael announced his concerts in London. We all know that at first there were only ten dates released. To many people it was kind of odd that it got increased pretty soon after that. There are also people who claim that Michael only announced those ten shows. But the truth is that Michael never said during the pressconference that it would be only 10 shows. He only said that it would be his final show performances in London. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lo87SKox2s&feature=related

Here’s the transcript from what Michael said on March 5th 2009:
“I love you so much…thank you all…(responding to the audience who cheer…with This is it, this is it)…But i i i just wanna say that uhmm….. These will be my final show performances in London….this will be it..this is it…and when i say this is it it really means this is it….because off…I’ll be…I’ll be performing the songs the fans want to hear….this is it..and i mean this is really it..this is the final..this is the final curtain call…okay?..and uhhm…I’ll see you in Juli…and….I love you…I really do you have to know that. I love you so much…from the bottom of my heart..This is it and see you in July”.

There is nothing wrong or strange about anouncing a small amount of shows first and than increase them. This all has to do with ticketsales..Before anouncing the full package deal you always first anounce a small part to see how the ticketsales go. Expecially after an artist hasn’t been doing live performances for a long time. If tickets sale go well than you immidiatly release the dates of the other shows that were already planned. Having this said this doesn’t mean i think Michael was happy with the 50 shows in London. But as far as i know he did agree to do 31 shows there. So maybe it’s a good idea to take a look at the contract to see how many shows Michael agreed to do. http://www.radaronline.com/sites/default/files/AEG%20contract.pdf

Itinerary of shows (page 1 and 2 part 3)
In this part we can read both parties agree to do their very best for the shows. They also talk about the terms about how many shows the first leg would be. The next thing i read is that as long as a leg is no longer than 10 weeks with no more than 3,5 shows a week and no more than one show a day, with a maximum of 31 shows for that leg and that these shows would all be held at the O2 in London it was not needed to have Michael’s permission for the show dates.

This part also states that the promoter and Michael still have to agree on the number of legs for the shows and how many shows he would do during the other legs that would be added. Also it mentiones that the minimum amount of shows for the first leg of the tour is 18 shows.

You can also read in this part of the contract that the promotor can ad more legs for the shows if they need that to recoup the advances. And that they have to show to the artist Financial models based on costs and earning for regarding the shows.

Submision of proposed Itineraries (page 6 part 5.1)
From time to time, promoter shall submit to artistico proposed Itineraries for each leg of a World Tour consisting of dates, venues and locations for shows in particular regions of the territory. In other words there was a World Tour planned for the “This Is It” shows and AEG would inform Michael about the dates, places and venues.

My opinion about these parts of the contract
While i was reading this i had to come to the conclusion that many people misunderstood the contract. People claimed Michael only singed up for 10 shows, and that is was pushed towards 50 shows overnight. Mentioning a first leg would indicate that there would be more legs for the “This Is It shows” and that Michael would have agreed to perform for a longer period of time. And as long as AEG didn’t do anything that would say Michael you need to do more than 3,5 shows a week or more that 31 shows during the first leg or the first leg would be longer Michael couldn’t object to this.

It also says Michael agreed on doing a “This Is It” world tour. That might sound strange to a lot of you because Michael mentioned so often that he didn’t want to tour again. But reading the contract and looking at the “This Is It” dvd it looks like Michael really wanted to do a full tour, not just the London shows. Also the dancers were contracted for two years. As far as i know they weren’t contracted on the number of shows. But since the contracts where for 2 years this is also an indication that there was indeed gonna be a World Tour. Although i haven’t seen any contract for the dancers i don’t think the contract was about them working for AEG like some people want to make us believe, it was about supporting Michael as dancers during all “This Is It” shows and also an obligation attached to show up at promotion events for the tour.

We also know that AEG would upfront the money for the tour, wich imo is just a normal and smart thing to do. That way Michael didn’t need to invest his own money wich i think was very smart. After all if a promoter has to invest in a show you bet your ass that they would work way harder and put more effort in things to make it all a succes. If the tour is a Financial succes the promoter will earn back everything they payed for in advance, and even more. This is nothing fishy, it’s only fair business and Michael knew that. And only a win win for both parties involved.

So my thought about these 50 shows is that although Michael agreed on doing multiple legs for “This Is It” that he wasn’t so much upset about doing 50 shows, but he was more upset by doing 50 shows in London. I think that Michael expected the World tour for “This Is It” to start after the first leg, he just didn’t want to be stuck on one place like this. Not for himself but for his fans, because he knew there would be fans that wouldn’t be able to make it to London and he wanted that as many fans as possible could see this show he had in stock for us. And i think that is also the reason why he rehired Frank Dileo again to make sure the World Tour would go on. And even though there might have been a disagreement between the involved parties about doing 50 shows in London, in no way do i think AEG tricked Michael into signing this contract.