The best city in the world did Jackson proud yesterday

Where were you when MJ died?  This will probably become one of the defining questions of a generation.  I had just returned from dinner, switched on the news to see the unconfirmed reports.  For the next hour I was glued, watching the same shots with the same voiceover until the news was confirmed.  Even now I (like many all over the world) cannot believe it happened.  It still seems surreal.

I don’t think I can add anything about MJ that has not already been said.  He was the world’s first superstar and made the music industry what it is today.  A legend.

Yesterday, London decided to salute MJ with various tributes throughout the city.  I donned all black for work and put Jackson on the iPod (well that was the intention.  What in-fact happened was I realised all bar one of the Jackson albums I own are on vinyl or tape, so all I had for the way to work was Off The Wall.  Praises to Spotify for being their when I got to the office!)

After listening to Jackson all day, the evening events to celebrate the life of the worlds most important celebrity could begin.  We started off at the Liverpool Street Moonwalk.  Just to let you know, there was no moonwalk.  Instead there was singing, dancing and carrying-on to a few MJ tracks in the London sunshine.  It felt like a bit of a carnival with all different kinds of people out to pay respects to the King… and even more out for the crack… and still more out for a photo or some video footage!  That said, MJ touched everyone, he was there during everyone’s lives so it was cool seeing so many people out for such a last minute event.

After bumping into Bonnie Freechyld, one of Jacko’s biggest fans, dressed in home made Jacko tribute shirt and matching white (exfoliating) glove, we headed to Trafalgar Square.  As the sun set over London, hordes of teenagers mounted Nelson’s column singing, cheering and whooping.  Under the shadow of the National Gallery a smaller group watched poppers, breakers and regular folk getting down to some classic MJ jams.

One thing that did strike me was the age of the people out celebrating.  The majority of people who out celebrating Jackson’s music looked under 16, meaning many of their direct experiences would have been based around the controversy of Jacko over the last decade or so.  That said his music was timeless and spanned many a generation (I love the Jackson 5 music and wasn’t even born then), however would have been a little nicer to see more of my generation out.

I’m sure MJ was looking down on London Town with a smile on his face as the greatest city in the world celebrated the most important celebrity the music industry has known!

Soulside Funk