Est. 1998
Earlier this morning at 5.01 UK time, Michael stepped onto the stage at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. He was welcomed by screams from an audience who had waited a full 11 hours to see him! The concert was running 3 hours late at this point, because of inevitable pauses while the set was changed for the many acts who appeared at “United We Stand”. Michael was one of the quickest acts to appear on stage!!!
Michael’s performance started with the music from the ‘We Are The World’ anthem, and the crowd sang along in unison. The whole atmosphere changed when Michael appeared and launched into a supercharged version of ‘Man In The Mirror’. The reception he received from the crowd was brilliant. Michael was lifted up above the crowd in a hydraulic lift as he performed. The finale to the song climaxed in a crescendo of sounds.
Michael then said; “I Love You! I Love you DC. I love you very much!”
Michael briefly left the stage to change, as the crowd chanted “Michael! Michael! Michael!”
The radio commentators who were covering the radio broadcast on Yahoo were completely in awe of his incredible presence and both said they were “floored” by his performance. This was the first time they had both seen Michael Jackson perform live. They said; “Michael is the King of Pop, unbelievable! Such energy!”
When Michael returned to the stage he spoke at length to the crowd;
“I Love You! D.C, I want you to know I love you very much. I would like each and every one of you here tonight to look at each person next to you, look at them in the eyes, each every person right here look at each person next to you in the eyes please, please look at each person next to you. Now join hands , each together, join hands and reach to the heavens, reach to the heavens everyone and feel it, feel humanity. Don’t do it because I’m asking you to, do it because it’s the right thing to do. Now I ask you for a moment of love and silence, I love you. And tonight we all stand united and ask What More Can I Give and when we leave here tonight let us take this love and give it to all the people everywhere in every corner of the Earth. And that’s what, that’s what we can give and that will make the difference and that will make the change. It’s very important. To the families of the victims of September 11th that are here with us tonight, You Are Not Alone. You are in our hearts, you are in our thoughts and you are in our prayers!
Thank you for being here tonight. Now let’s please, help me welcome back the amazing artists who have united here tonight to benefit United We Stand and What More Can I Give. What more Can We All Give? Everyone, everyone come on, come on everybody, come on, come on, you too! Is everyone here? Everybody come on up! We all love you. Come on up!
Look at the love here tonight!
Ok Brad.
This one’s especially for you!”
The ensembled performers then sang ‘What More Can I Give’, starting with solo performances followed by everyone singing the chorus, which built up and up, the sound filling the stadium.
Chorus:
What more can I give for a better place
I wanna see a smile on the children’s face
The planet’s waiting for you and for me
So what more can we do to live in harmony
(What more can I give)
(What more can you give)
(What more can I give)
I was so lonely and sad
But I did not give up
Cause I saw the sign
That wanted me to follow
That set my pain free
(Bridge)
Is that our planet?
(Ohh why?)
War after war
Sorrow after sorrow
Pain after pain
What kind of thing are we looking for?
Chorus:
What more can I give for a better place
I wanna see a smile on the children’s face
The planet’s waiting for you and for me
So what more can we do to live in harmony
(What more can I give)
(What more can you give)
(What more can I give)
The land should be a heaven
That’s why God made the planet for
See the playing children
What kind of future they’re gonna see
If we can’t together painless live
(Bridge)
Chorus:
I said No! No! No! No more war!…
Ad-lib to fade.
The single ‘What More Can I Give’ is hopefully going to be released as soon as possible. All proceeds will go to the WTF/Pentagon funds, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. The concert is due to be televised in the USA on November 1st at 8 p.m. on the ABC channel. Further information can be found at ABC.com.
Other performers included Usher, Rod Stewart, Al Green, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Mariah Carey, Carole King, James Brown, O’Town, Christina Milian, P. Diddy, MC Hammer, Pink, Bette Midler, Trayne, but the performance of the night was definitely Michael’s!
Source: http://broadcast.yahoo.com/home.html & MJWN With Thanks To Marcel de Winder
