I viewed this particular video of the press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c00CwFA5JNEI'm no expert, but I've read a lot of body language books, I'm really into psychology (hoping to study it soon.) I found new, interesting things from the video as I went along, that I'd never noticed until now. Here's my take it on it, and I hope it makes sense:
When Michael starts to say "These will be..." he uses what experts call a "politician's point" which, as the name suggests it's the gesture a lot of politicians use. It means they are trying to get a clear point across. The gesture is when he presses his index finger and thumb together.
Michael then shows the palm of his hand for quite a long time. Any time we see the palm, we can assume the person is honest. Perhaps Michael knows this and kept it up for a long time, purposely to gain the audience's trust; as if to prove he is being honest. After this he goes back to the politician's point.
He then starts to say "This will be it, and when I say this is it, it really means this is it..." and right as he says "it really means this is it" he closes his fingers over his palm (not so honest?)
He starts giggling which could be from all the attention and he feels embarrassed (he's done that plenty of times) and he leans over the podium, as if he doesn't want to look at the audience (again may just be embarrassment.) The hand over the chest implies again, honesty, sincerity. But he puts his left hand first and then right, so both hands are on his chest. Defensiveness, insecurity maybe?
Then he smiles and touches his bottom lip: "I'll be performing the songs my fans wanna hear." When he says the word "fans" his shoulders go up, that suggests tension, nervousness. Touching the lip/laughing could mean lying but any time anything goes up to the mouth, it means the person is seeking reassurance. So insecurity is there.
Then he starts saying again "This is it, I mean this is really it..." Notice the palm is back, just like the first time he tried to make it clear "This is it."
Something else I just picked up on (I'm watching it bit-by-bit as I type this to be sure I don't miss something lol.) he then says "I'll see you in July." Do you notice when he pronounces the word "July" it makes the whole statement sound more like a question. More like "I'll see you in July?" This means he is unsure of himself because if he was sure of himself it would come out like a definite statement. Maybe he was unsure if he could go through with the concerts, or maybe he knew there wouldn't be any concerts.
Omg another thing I only just noticed. Look at 4:45 in the clip. After he says "I'll see you in July" (sounding like a question) he says "And..." He is smiling and he suddenly closes his mouth. Watch his throat! He swallows! He could be lying, or feeling nervous. Why, I wonder? He then tilts his head to the audience, did he just see someone who made him nervous?
THEN he puts his hand up, giggles and says "I love you. I really do..." Now, go back to my last paragraph. What did he mean when he said "And..." AND WHAT Michael? It looked like he wanted to add something, then stopped himself and felt nervous, thus closing his mouth to swallow. Then, to distract the audience from what he almost said after the "And..." he puts his hand up (another palm), giggles and tells them he loves them a few times. "You have to know that" he says. Why do we *have* to know it? All his fans know he loves them back. I don't think I've ever heard him tell an audience he loves them the way he did. I know it was meant to be his final shows, but if he said it in such a final way because of that, surely he would make more of a speech, thanking people throughout his career, his family, fans? He would be clearer and say thanks for all the decades of loyal fans, and thanks to all the people he worked with. The whole speech just sounded so disjointed.
He definitely looked nervous about something, I can tell you that much. Either he was nervous of his fans' reactions to him implying he was retiring, or he was nervous because he was hiding something. He couldn't possibly be that nervous out of shyness and the embarrassment of all his fans cheering for him; he has done plenty of other speeches (recent ones) where fans were cheering him on, yet he did not act that way.
HOLY cow I just picked up something else. At 3:31 he says "These will be my final show performances...in London." WATCH the way he emphasises the word London. After he says "performances" he moves his head quickly to ADD the word "London." He also raises his eyebrows when he adds "London." So does that mean it's his last shows in London, but not elsewhere? It looks as if he adds "in London" to clarify he only means London and not elsewhere. Can you see what I mean? Watch closely.
