We have been breaking our heads over the ‘original’ set list for months now. In our opinion there is no set list for the O2 gigs, since the concerts were never meant to happen, but let’s take a look at what songs we could have expected.
Let’s start with the movie. It is said that disc 1 of the soundtrack contains all the songs we see him rehearse in the movie, in the exact same sequence as they appear in the movie. This is the track list of disc 1:
Set list No.1
1. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
2. Jam
3. They Don’t Care About Us
4. Human Nature
5. Smooth Criminal
6. The Way You Make Me Feel
7. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
8. I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
9. Thriller
10. Beat It
11. Black Or White
12. Earth Song
13. Billie Jean
14. Man In The Mirror
15. This Is It
16. This Is It (Orchestra Version)
Number of songs until now: 15.
Let’s say that if we take 6 to 7 minutes per song including some talking in between we have a 90 to 105 minute show. Add some extra time for opening, ending and redressing, we come to a pretty normal duration of the gig.
BUT! I missed some songs in here. Remember the memorial? I’ll quote Kenny Ortega here:
‘So before we conclude today’s memorial, we wanted to present a performance from the London’s This Is It concerts. The fans have been asking for it. This was Michael’s very very favorite moments in the show, always. He created this and brought it to life. It is a living testament to his ability to be timeless and time lead. Musical and magical. This is for him, his living legacy. His care, his heart, his concern about our planet. About the human condition. Michael Jackson will live in our hearts for always. Heal the world, make this a better place for our children, for our children’s children. Michael, we love you more. Join us…’
So we can add 2 songs to the list: ‘We are the World’ and ‘Heal The World’.
Number of songs until now: 17.
Let’s proceed…
We can find another set list. I’ll copy the part here:
The set list was a compendium of full performances of 11 of his greatest hits:
Set list No.2
Thriller
Bad
Dangerous
Beat It
Billie Jean
Man In The Mirror
We Are The World
Black Or White
Heal The World
Dirty Diana
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
Smooth Criminal
Jackson Five tribute medley
So according to this, these tracks of the soundtrack/movie were not even on the set list:
Jam
They Don’t Care About Us
Human Nature
The Way You Make Me Feel
Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
Earth Song
This Is It
That is strange, since we have seen him rehearse at least They Don’t Care About Us, Human Nature & The Way You Make Me Feel…
Also we get some new songs here that we can add to it:
Bad
Dangerous
We Are The World (already added by Kenny)
Heal The World (already added by Kenny)
Dirty Diana
Jackson Five tribute medley
You can say of course that the article is BS, but let’s look at what they say about one of the songs we just added:
For Dirty Diana, Jackson planned to have a flaming bed with pole-dancing aerial gymnasts playing the part of the flickering flames. In an elaborately plotted routine, Jackson would be chased around the bed by a scantily dressed ‘fire goddess’ who, each time she touched the stage, would send flames shooting towards the rafters.
After she’d caught him mid song, she would tie him to the bedposts with gold ropes as a sheet of red descended to cover his struggling figure. At the end, the sheet would be whisked away – to reveal the goddess as the struggling figure, not Jackson.
Now I know for sure that there is a pole-dancer in the trailer, that would mean that Dirty Diana would be in the movie, but yet it is NOT on the track list of the soundtrack… Well never mind, let’s go on…
Number of songs until now: 21.
Now look at one of our old threads:
Here we have another setlist! This setlist was published by Telegraph.co.uk on March 12, 2009: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4976445/Michael-Jackson-O2-setlist-Billie-Jean-Thriller-and-Beat-It.html
Setlist No.3
Billie Jean
Wanna Be Startin’ Something
Rock With You
The Way You Make Me Feel
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
Human Nature
Smooth Criminal
Girlfriend
Man In The Mirror
Beat It
One Day In Your Life
Heal The World
You Are Not Alone
Remember The Time
Thriller
And we can add another 6 songs!
Number of songs until now: 27
You thought I was ready? Think again! Here is another one!
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu145/mjhd-photos/dome111.jpg?t=1256230310
Setlist No.4
Wanna Be Startin’ Something
Jam
Drill
They don’t care about us
Human Nature
Smooth Criminal
The Way You Make Me Feel
Jackson 5 Medley
Rock with you
I just can’t stop loving you
Dangerous
Black or white
Dirty Diana
Beat It
According to the official website it should be this, which resembles the soundtrack the most :
Setlist No.1.1
1?Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (full performance)
2?Speechless (short)
3?Jam (full performance)
4?They Don’t Really Care About Us (almost full performance) /
Drill (short) (green screen) /
Bad (short) (green screen)
5?Human Nature (full performance)
6?Smooth Criminal (Dome Project / full performance)
7?The Way You Make Me Feel (Dome Project / full performance)
8?Jackson 5 Medley:
I Want You Back,
The Love You Save,
I’ll Be There (almost full performance)
9?Dance and Shout (By dancers, short)
10. I Just Can’t Stop Loving You (full performance)
11?Thriller (full performance/Dome Project)
12?Beat It (full performance)
13?Black or White (full performance)
14?Earth Song (Dome Project / full performance)
15?Billie Jean (full performance)
16?Man in the Mirror (full performance)
17?This Is It (during the credits, followed by Heal The World Dome project, short clip)
So if we add these last few ones, we have a total amount of 29 songs/performances. I even saw somewhere that he also should do Threatened, so that would even make it 30. Is it reasonable we should take this last one for ‘real’? Not in our opinion.
Where is We are the world? We have seen it at the memorial, it should have been in the show according to Kenny.
Where is Dirty Diana? We can clearly see the pole-dancer in the trailer, yet it’s not supposed to be in the movie, according to the soundtrack (are you still following this?).
So what’s up here? What are we going to see in the movie? Is the tracklist of the album real? Is the trailer real?
Conclusion: It’s hard to do some logical math here, the mess is too big. But there is something wrong here…
