Surprise, That Michael Jackson Tribute Show Isn’t Happening (Yet)

noah | September 11, 2009 10:30 am

The Jermaine Jackson-headed tribute concert to Michael Jackson that was scheduled to take place in Vienna later this month and include marquee names like Mary J. Blige and Natalie Cole has been postponed until 2010 and movied to London, according to a statement from Jermaine on the concert’s official site. Part of the reason is time: “Instead of eight weeks we now have eight months to prepare and some of the stars who would not have been able to participate in the Vienna concert, but expressed their wish to participate in this event, will be able to perform live on stage in London in June 2010.” But another reason for the switch? According to Jermaine himself, it was the meanies in the Austrian media!

An additional reason for moving to London are the bizarre press reports filling virtually all the Austrian media regarding the event. Jermaine Jackson: “How artists who have won 10 Grammy Awards and sold millions of records around the world, and are able to sell out large stadiums are are termed “B-list artists”, made fun of and generally disrespected, is something I just cannot understand. If these artists are not welcome in Vienna, London is more than happy to have them”. The promotional value that the City of Vienna has had, but now will lose is massive. According to the media evaluation of one of Britain’s leading PR agency, Taylor Herring, the worldwide media coverage for THE TRIBUTE press conference in London last Wednesday was virtually unparalleled, with over 1 billion contacts – exactly 1,118,217,556. The TV coverage of THE TRIBUTE reached over 272,118,000 people and included reports on CNN, BBC News, Channel 4 News, ITV News and Reuters Television. The online coverage was no less impressive with 824,958,673 Unique Users, including BBC News Online, CBS News, The Sun Online, MSN, AOL video, CNN video and the Guardian.co.uk. 21,140,883 Print media readers were reached by reports on THE TRIBUTE in Great Britain, including all leading periodicals such as The Sun, Daily Star and the Evening Standard, with stories on the concert in Vienna. They were virtually positive in tone. Standard, with stories on the concert in Vienna. Virtually all were positive in tone.

Um… Jermaine. You’re expecting the British press to be nicer? Didn’t your Big Brother stint make you at least a little street-smart on that front? The Tribute 2010 [Official site] Organizers cancel Jackson Vienna tribute concert [Reuters]