He's also auctioning off everything from Neverland, and the catalog is SIX volumes of stuff!



Sky News understands that, after years of rumours, Michael Jackson has finally agreed to perform a string of concerts in London this summer.

Michael Jackson

The 50-year-old will end his exile as a live performer by staging a residency at the 02 Arena this summer, in one of the biggest comebacks in pop history.

While the exact dates of the shows are yet to be revealed, Sky sources say that Jackson has exchanged contracts with the venue and is now committed to return to live performance.

The first dates of the concerts will be confirmed at a press conference on Thursday at the 02 and it's understood the star may appear there to make the announcement.

A small number of shows will be released initially but more dates will go on sale, emulating Prince's successful 21 night stay at the venue in 2006, if interest in the shows is as high as promoters expect.

It seems inevitable that the concerts, which sources say are the only live shows he is planning, will sell out instantly but what is never certain with Michael Jackson is his behaviour.

In his prime he was unquestionably one of the all time greats: a sublime singer, a thrilling dancer and a songwriter whose gifts were such that he wrote the highest selling album of all time in Thriller.

However, that peak was a long time ago.

Since the 80s Jackson has appeared to be increasingly damaged in every area of his life.

The surgery has robbed him of his looks, the eccentricities have robbed him of his cool, the recurrent child abuse allegations (all of which he was cleared of any wrongdoing) and the money worries have clearly taken a huge toll.

When Jackson last appeared in London at the World Music Awards in 2006 he was able only to mime to a few bars of We Are The World before leaving the stage.

And when he appeared in public in Las Vegas just before his 50th birthday last August he looked weaker than ever, dressed in pyjama trousers he appeared gaunt and frail.

It's long been said that Jackson's health was the main reason that he had not agreed to stage a comeback tour, with various rumours surrounding the reason for his weight loss.

Whether he has been able to work on his fitness to sustain a residency will be one of the key questions ahead of this series of dates.

But it may be that Michael Jackson's finances are now in such a state of disrepair that quite simply has no choice but to go back to work.

The gates of Neverland have closed, the possessions from his fairytale home are to be auctioned and he has had to turn to various sources for loans.

If he were to emulate Prince's record residency at the 18,000 capacity 02 Arena then he could play to an estimated half a million fans, which are according to some experts could generate in theory up to £50m.

If he will be able to repair his finances or his reputation through this residency remains to be seen but there is no doubt it will be fascinating to watch him.

Whether it's a car crash or a triumph as always with the former child star it will undoubtedly be compelling.

Many will be astonished just to see him back on a stage and cynics will say, regardless of contracts, that there is plenty of time for Jackson to have second thoughts before he steps out on the stage of Britain's biggest arena.

Ultimately, as with all the greats, what remains is the sheer quality of the music and Jackson's best work is up there with the greatest musicianship of the 20th century.

If Jackson can reclaim just a little of his genius to do them justice then this residency would be the most unlikely of triumphs. We shall see.

thats cool thanks for that

I'd be reeeally interested in the personal effects auction..imagine getting his glove..that'd be so cool. (speaking as a child of the 80s)

All his stuf is on show here in Ireland..weird...but brillaint i'm going!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 781134.ece
Michael Jackson sale on display in Kildare
King of Pop’s belongings to go under the hammer in Los Angeles but several lots will be at Newbridge showroom in March

Welcome to to Neverland, Co Kildare. The contents of Michael Jackson’s ranch — including personal effects, lavish costumes and private correspondence — are to be displayed in Ireland next month before being sold.

The exhibition takes place on March 6 at a Newbridge showroom and will run for two weeks. Jackson’s belongings go under the hammer at a four-day auction in Los Angeles in April. Several hundred of the 1,500 lots will be in Kildare, including costumes, furniture and paintings.

The choice of Ireland as the only European venue for an exhibition was made by Martin Nolan, the co-owner of Julien’s Auctions, the Los Angeles-based company conducting the sale. Originally from Athlone, Nolan has previously sold memorabilia of John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and U2.

“We originally planned to display his belongings for a week in London and a week in Ireland, but we decided that his fans are committed enough to travel to Ireland, where there is a purpose-built museum that we’ve used before to exhibit pop memorabilia,” Nolan said.

“The contents are being finalised, but the focus will be on his style. We’ll also be exhibiting some of his personal effects, paintings and some of the lighter pieces of furniture.”

Among the lots on view in Newbridge will be a collection of five crystal gloves seen in Jackson’s short film, Ghosts, with an estimate of €3,900 to €5,500 for the set. Visitors will also see the jacket Jackson wore on the Dangerous tour, priced about €1,000, a rhinestone-covered equestrian hat worn by the performer during the 1981 Triumph tour with the Jackson 5 worth an estimated €400 and a pair of rhinestone-embroidered acrylic tube socks worn on the same tour with a guide price of €465 to €625. The star's MTV Moon Man award, priced about €6,000, will also be on view.

“In keeping with Michael’s life, it will be a show, full of theatre and music,” he said.

Nolan was given the task of emptying and cataloguing the contents of Jackson’s 2,800-acre ranch outside Los Angeles after the singer was acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005. Jackson refused to return to the Santa Ynez Valley property following his trial, saying that his home had been “violated” during a police search of the premises.

“It took a team of 30 people almost 90 days to move and label the contents of the house. Removing a marble fireplace, imported from an Italian castle, cost €17,000 alone,” Nolan said. “The property was as Michael had left it, with coats hanging on their hooks in the hallway and staff still maintaining the house and grounds.”

Built in 1988, Jackson named Neverland after Peter Pan’s fantasy island where children never grow up. He turned it into a vast amusement park, complete with miniature castles, private zoo, Ferris wheel, roller- coaster, bumper cars, vintage video games, an electric train, ornate fountains and bronze and marble life-sized statues. Jackson used a fleet of child-sized diesel-powered cars and a Pope mobile-style electric buggy to get around the sprawling estate, located 120 miles west of Los Angeles.

During the clearance of the property, a crane had to be hired to dismantle some of the more elaborate fairground attractions.

Nolan and his business partner Darren Julien stored the contents in nondescript warehouses and trailers in order to “diversify the risk of some of the belongings being stolen”. Nolan said: “The sale is a huge security operation. The 2,000 items are likely to sell for between €1.2m and €2.4m but could make much more because of the star factor.”

The sale of personal effects is the first that Jackson has sanctioned. It will include a fedora the star wore in the video for Billie Jean.

Neverland was once valued at €80m. Jackson’s personal wealth has dwindled following recent legal battles over custody of his two children, and allegations of molestation by other minors. In June 2006, the reclusive star decamped to Ireland, taking up residence in Castlehyde, Michael Flatley’s Cork mansion, before renting Luggala Castle in Co Wicklow for a number of weeks.

Nolan moved to America on a Donnelly visa in 1989 and worked on Wall Street as a stockbroker before joining Julien’s Auctions in 2005. He said Jackson was an obsessive collector of memorabilia. “We discovered the car from Driving Miss Daisy in Neverland. If Michael fell in love with something, he bought it,” Nolan said.

The lots also include the prop scissor hands that Johnny Depp wore in the film Edward Scissor Hands; several first editions, including one of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan; and a model replica of the Disneyland castle.

“There’s also a horse-drawn carriage, a bicycle with a fridge on the front for ice cream, and a life-sized statue of Spider Man,” Nolan said. Jackson is said to regard the sale as cathartic. “He’s closing a chapter in his life and moving on,” Nolan said.

One of the few possessions that Jackson has refused to sell is his red jacket from the Thriller video. “He felt it was too precious. I think he would prefer it to be on public view, maybe in the Smithsonian in New York,” Nolan said.

Buyers can bid at the public auction in Beverly Hills by phone, online, or using absentee bid forms which will be available at the exhibition in the Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons. Lots begin at €15 for a ceramic beer mug, rising to between €15,000 and €25,000 for the black iron and gilt-edged gates of Neverland which are adorned with Jackson’s coat of arms.