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Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special

 

Michael Jackson, “E!” (April 16, 2001) (archived)

"I am very excited to celebrate my 30th anniversary as a solo artist with such a distinguished array of talent, friends and fans," Jackson said in a statement. "I look forward to performing live and reuniting with my brothers on this special night."

 

Greg Phillinganes, keyboardist, UnderYourSkin.net interview (2010)

I think one of the greatest achievements, like a full circle moment, when I was with them all for the 30th Anniversary shows in New York at the Garden. And I'll never forget, man, walking into the- the brothers had their dressing room, Michael had his- and I'll never forget, first of all, going to the brothers' dressing room before the show, and standing with them, and we were all in a circle, and I said, "You know, guys? Honest to God, man, you just don't understand the magnitude of this right now. I was in junior high, fantasizing about you guys, listening to 'ABC' and 'The Love You Save', and I'm in a room with you, and we're getting ready to go on stage together. Do you understand?" And I just started tearing up, and they just all hugged me. And I went to Michael, and told him the same thing…

 

Tito Jackson, The MJCast Episode 50

MJCast: What were rehearsals like with that show?

Tito Jackson: That was amazing because we didn't rehearse very much for that because we were so busy talking about old times, and this and that, and we goofed off alot, and the last few days, we had to really pull it together. But it was alot of fun doing that whole thing. And it came out very well. But that's what we did at that time, we were just goofing off in rehearsals. We do that sometimes, we have a thing where, when we get together, it just comes together, and it's almost like, we've been doing this so long, it just comes together automatically.

 

Michael Prince, studio engineer, The MJCast, Episode 52 (March 19, 2017)

That show—and I was there working on that show—that show was a great show. And I got to mix it along with my friend Keith Cowen. That show was on CBS. CBS is owned or—is part of Sony, and I was really shocked when that show came on two or three weeks after we actually recorded... that Sony didn't take out one single ad for Michael's new album. That just seemed wrong to me. So I figured something's going on. And then, another thing that a lot of people don't realize is that Michael told us after the second show, on 9/10, he said to expect a phone call in two to three weeks, because we were gonna tour. So everybody's in great spirits, and so that means, in the year 2002, there's gonna be another Michael Jackson world tour. And then we all know what happened the next morning, on 9/11. And I think Sony—and Sony may have known, now that I think about it—by the time we mixed the show, and edited it and delivered it to CBS, that all major/minor artists had cancelled any and all tours that took place outside the United States. We just felt the whole world was unsafe, and Michael was one of those people. So now Sony has an artist that they thought was gonna tour, and he's not gonna tour, and for a good reason he's not touring. I mean, a lot of the countries we went to, other than the ones in the main part of Europe were probably not safe to go to anymore, at least for awhile until things settled down, and we knew what the heck was going on. So, I think once Sony found out—probably they knew this now that I think about it before the show actually came on CBS, they probably knew there wasn't gonna be a tour, and I think that's when the stuff with Tommy Mottola really hit the fan. But that's only my opinion, I don't really know.
MJCast: How engaged would you say Michael was with the 30th Anniversary shows, in terms of rehearsal process?
Prince: He was much more like the Michael Jackson from the HIStory Tour. Once again, I think you have choreographers always trying to re-choreograph things, and in the beginning, Michael always wants to give them poetic license and say, "Sure, do your thing, let's check it out", and so, you have, like, Dangerous getting re-choreographed for the third time, and, in the end, I don't really know what was changed. I'd have to watch the show again. And I'm not a choreographer, so I probably wouldn't notice it anyway. But, in the end, we ended up doing those songs much the same way we did on the HIStory Tour, some of them were shorter. And we did fewer songs. But it wasn't all that different. I think what made the show really different is Michael performing with his brothers one last time.

 

Jonathan “Sugarfoot” Moffett, drummer, The MJCast, Episode 061 (July 21, 2017)

MJCast (Jamon): So, the "HIStory Tour" happened and a few years later, you would have got the call to work on some two special shows that happened at Madison Square Garden in New York, the "30th Anniversary" concert. And it was the first time that Michael really, I think, did a show with a full orchestra. Tell us what it was like working in that kind of scenario?

Moffett: Other than the "HIStory Tour", that was the most fun in my life, my career... It wasn't like a big concert at the stadium, and the production value he had there, but it was incredible production value, but the fact that the magnitude of stars that was there, that turned out to support Michael, and celebrate Michael, and be there for Michael, it was mind-boggling. It was a who's who of Hollywood, and there was a who's who of fans shipping and enthusiasm was just off the Richter scale in that building. it was so, so electrifying and you got to remember, the brothers hadn't been together in so many years. I mean, a tremendous amount of years, so for them, and it was a reunion of them. That made it so special for me as well, because I'd always been hoping that the brothers get back. Michael gets back with the brothers and does something and, together, tour or something, a new record tour—I always wanted to see that. I know Michael has reasons for doing this whole thing because he had the calling to be who he became, and you can't stop the calling. At the same time, I love family, and I missed my family, hanging with the brothers, so it was a great time for me to have the first reunion of him and the brothers in so long of time, way overdue, and I loved it—I relished it, and I loved it, seeing them all together. And put the pieces back together and doing that show, but the talent that was there to celebrate Michael, and the talent that was there to participate, which is incredible, and I got to play behind Michael. I got to play for some other things too, but when Michael's segment started, the whole world stopped. It seemed like the whole world stopped, and it stopped—the globe stopped spinning. It was just electrifying in that room, and it was magnificent. I said, "Oh man, it's on now!" We had rehearsed it, we knew what we were doing, so I knew it's gonna be great, barring anything catastrophic, having the stage collapse and something crazy happening. I knew it was gonna be great, because the show they had put together was just amazing. And even outside of the part I did with Michael, the show they had put together with Quincy and other people—the conductors that conducted orchestral parts was amazing, the songs that they did with the other artists was amazing, and it's just a very positive night—two nights, they filmed on the 7th and then on the 10th, and there's a very positive and rewarding night of spirit, celebrating somebody had done so much in his life. It was his life and so much for many other people around the world out of love and caring and contribution and unselfishly, so I think it was a perfect night. the perfect times, two nights, and perfect event that it always should have been. I'm glad they got to do that. When you got to experience that before the unthinkable happened, you got to experience that, how much you loved it, how much he's appreciated, on that show. And those concerts, and then I see mother smiling so much, she was so proud. I never forget that, she was so proud of not only Michael, but all the brothers, and that they were back together. That meant a lot to me 'cause I love, love, love Mother. She's like my second mother, and I mean really been wonderful to me. I never forget her, I always appreciate and love her. But to watch that smile. I remember looking over there and watching that smile, periodically, look over there and try to see her smiling. And feel her pride. I felt proud to be with her sons and be with the family and considered like family, like a brother. I felt proud to be a part of that. So, in many ways, it was great for me and exciting for me and rewarding for me, but mainly the magnitude of the energy in the room, and all of these stars that came out to celebrate Michael, and finally... to be back with Michael and do that show was just incredible mark in my life and badge to wear that I was on the "30th Anniversary" special with Michael. It was a tremendous tribute to him. I'm so happy to have that on my resume.

 

Bruce Gowers, director, Bruce Gowers’ website

If you are MJ and you are going to work with a guest star, it might as well be Britney Spears. When this show was in its formative stages, I was asked to meet Michael on a Saturday morning at the Universal Sheraton. When I went to his room, it was dark, drapes drawn, cartoons playing on the TV. Michael and his young son Prince were playing on the floor with toy cars. Prince’s hair was bleached platinum blonde with a dark part. I took all this in asked if we could open the drapes a bit, Michael said “Yes, we are finished with the cartoons, anyway”. I guess it’s all in a day’s work. We had a great meeting. Michael as always worked incredibly hard on his performance. It’s the last time he performed with his brothers and the last great Michael Jackson performance that I’ve seen recorded. This show was the end of two eras — we taped it on September 10, 2001.

 

Marlon Brando, humanitarian speech (September 7, 2001)

In any event while you're... wondering who that old fat fart is sitting there... I wanted you to realize that in that minute there were hundreds if not thousands of children hacked to death with a machete, beaten to death by their parents, got typhus and died of a disease. Hundreds of children have been hacked to death in the minute I've looked at my watch. Hundreds more were beaten. Don't chat! Think about what I'm saying. It could be you.

 

“Entertainment Weekly” magazine (September 21, 2001)

Surrounded by an elite entourage that includes Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as his parents, Jackson sits… in a box to the right of Madison Square Garden’s stage. It’s Friday, Sept. 7, and the King of Pop is drinking in the first of two star-studded tribute concerts... Resplendent… in a silver-sequined Eisenhower jacket, Jackson seems pleased by what he’s just seen—Gloria Estefan and James Ingram’s smoldering duet on his 1987 hit ”I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” As the polite applause of the Garden’s 16,000-strong audience dies down, Jackson’s eye is drawn to a commotion at the foot of the stage. A young man is animatedly hoisting a large placard with a two-pronged message: One simply reads ”King of Pop”; the other urges ”Burn All Tabloids,” above a drawing of Bart Simpson in full moon. Grinning, Jackson shoots the fan a hearty thumbs-up and frantically gestures for him to turn the sign around so the rest of the crowd can delight in the sentiment…

…Things began going wrong even before Michael set foot on stage that first night. Strolling the red carpet hours before show time, he discovered that his fly was open, and hurriedly sought to get a zip on it before too many people noticed. Indeed, there were moments that first night when the whole production seemed to be caught with its pants down: Despite an emphatic "7:40 Sharp" start time on the ticket, the show actually got underway an hour later; long blackouts between acts, technical screwups, and endless adulatory video montages touting Jackson's greatness further tested the tolerance of the audience, who didn't see the guest of honor hit the stage until 10:40.

That first evening also had its share of surreal moments. There was Marlon Brando, wearing a black suit and wraparound shades, introducing himself as "a fat fuck" and lecturing the crowd about the plight of kids being hacked to death with machetes and blown to bits by land mines in foreign lands. "Sick children—that's what this evening's all about", he pronounced, before asking the crowd—who'd already paid through the nose for their tickets—to fork over contributions to michaeljackson.com.

...On the second night, [Michael's] pants split midway through "Beat It".

 

Kelly Rowland, singer from “Destiny’s Child”, “Hip-Hop Wired” (August 28, 2011) (archived)

Kelly Rowland recently sat down for an interview with The Life Files where spoke on a number of topics including when she met the late Michael Jackson before he died.

According to Kelly she met the late MJ during her Destiny's Child days when she sang at his anniversary special at Madison Square Garden.

Rowland says the King Of Pop gave them more than a warm welcome, even stopping to sing their hit “Bootylicious.”

“I did meet Michael Jackson, that was over 10 years ago now. He was so nice and he actually walked up and sang Bootylicious and that’s what was really cool.”

 

Bea Swedien, wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

On September 7th and 10th 2001, Michael’s 30th Anniversary Celebration concert was held at Madison Square Garden to honor his thirty years as a solo entertainer. It was a star-studded event and it sold out in two hours—nearly 20,000 seats. There were some tickets that went for $10,000; that included both the show and dinner with Michael. We were there for the performance on the 7th and sat in the second row on the side, not far from Michael and Elizabeth Taylor, Macaulay Culkin, and Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother. Once again, it was almost surreal to be sitting there at Michael’s live performance with thousands of screaming fans. Our life with him was in the quiet of the studio, where things were crafted, meticulously, by a fairly small group of people. That was where the hit songs were created. And here we were in the bright lights and euphoria of the people who loved him, who knew every word of every song, dancing with him, connecting to his incredible energy. We were so proud of him and so grateful to be part of his team.