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Michael Jackson · S5 E5
The Bad World Tour
504 concerts, 4.4 million people, the biggest tour of the decade
September 12, 1987, Tokyo. For the first time in his career, Michael Jackson walks onto a concert stage alone, no brothers beside him, and the roar that greets him is unlike anything he has ever heard.
Another Part of Me, Michael Jackson (1988). The official music video intercuts with footage from the Bad World Tour, capturing the scale and energy of the live show. Originally written for the Captain EO film at Disneyland, this is where the song found its true home: in front of a stadium audience.
Another Part of Me, Michael Jackson (1988)
Written for the Captain EO 3D film at Disneyland and reworked for the Bad album, "Another Part of Me" became one of the tour's most electric moments. The production is built on a driving bassline and layered synths that give it more urgency than most of Bad's singles. Michael's vocal is unusually direct, almost commanding. It peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, just barely breaking the album's streak of five consecutive number ones.
Sources
Bad album credits, Epic Records, 1987
Billboard Hot 100 chart history, 1988
The Scale
The Bad World Tour ran from September 1987 to January 1989: 123 shows across fifteen countries, drawing 4.4 million fans. It was the first solo concert tour of Michael's career and the highest-grossing tour of the decade. The staging was enormous: pyrotechnics, hydraulic lifts, and the anti-gravity lean performed live using the patented shoe mechanism. Michael built a two-hour show that moved through three decades of material.
Sources
Michael Jackson, Inc., Zack O'Malley Greenburg, 2014
Bad 25 documentary, Spike Lee, 2012
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Michael demand at every single tour stop?
Wembley Stadium, London
Michael sold out seven consecutive shows here during the Bad Tour, performing for over 500,000 people. The July 16, 1988 concert was officially filmed and released as part of the Bad 25 anniversary.
The Bad Tour by the Numbers
The Show
The setlist opened with "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and built through a two-hour arc that hit every era of Michael's career. The mid-show run of "Billie Jean," "Thriller," and "Bad" was designed as an unbroken climax. Fans who attended multiple dates reported that the performances never felt routine.
Sources
Bad 25 documentary, Spike Lee, 2012
I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson & Siedah Garrett (1987)
The first single released from Bad, and Michael's quietest number-one hit. On tour, he performed it as a duet with Siedah Garrett, who also co-wrote "Man in the Mirror." The song strips away all spectacle: no choreography, no pyrotechnics, just two voices and a spotlight. In the middle of a stadium show built on excess, this was the moment that reminded the audience there was still a person up there.
I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson & Siedah Garrett (1987)
The lyrics are a straightforward love declaration, but the duet structure gives them weight. Michael and Siedah trade verses with increasing intimacy, their voices weaving closer together as the song progresses. This is one of the few Michael Jackson recordings where he sounds genuinely vulnerable rather than performed.
How many consecutive shows did Michael Jackson sell out at Wembley Stadium during the Bad Tour?
The Bad World Tour proves Michael can fill any stadium on earth. But he had already conquered a different kind of venue: a 3D theater inside Disneyland, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, produced by George Lucas.
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