I don’t have many keepsakes, but one thing I do have is a collection of concert ticket stubs from the 80’s. My friends and I went to so many shows: Loverboy, Cheap Trick, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart (3 nights in a row!), The Boomtown Rats. I even found a stub from a Kool And The Gang concert! I think I suffered some permanent hearing loss at an April Wine concert my friend dragged me to.

I remember when the Jackson’s Victory Tour was coming to Vancouver in 1984. The ticket prices were incredibly high ($40 was a lot of money back then when I was making $4 an hour working part time!) I can’t even remember who I went to the show with, but from our seats…way up in the second level, the figures on stage looked TINY and the sound quality was terrible in BC Place. There were big projection screens at the sides of the stage, but even without looking at them you could see that Michael took over the stage. He was magnetic to watch in person. I don’t remember many details from the show, except when he sang “She’s Out Of My Life” and he came down some stairs at the front of the stage and sang directly to a fan. The crowd went wild and he sounded like he was crying by the end of the song.

Whatever else is said about him, he was an incredible talent and entertainer.  I feel sad that his life became such a circus. Thinking about him over the past few days I thought about all the freedoms I have always had that he could never hope to enjoy: a simple day at the beach hanging out with friends, a night out seeing a show or dancing in a night club, walking to the store to buy an ice cream cone, going for a bike ride alone, going camping…the list goes on. The price of fame is much too high in my opinion. I can only hope that his children will someday enjoy those small freedoms. I’m sure that would have made Michael very happy.