Michael Jackson just keeps on adding dates!

Added to the ever growing list of dates, Michael Jackson has now added dates in January and February of 2010, see below for the new dates for next year:

Thu 07/01/10
Sat 09/01/10
Tue 12/01/10
Thu 14/01/10
Sat 16/01/10
Mon 18/01/10
Sat 23/01/10
Mon 25/01/10
Wed 27/01/10
Fri 29/01/10
Mon 01/02/10
Wed 03/02/10
Mon 08/02/10
Wed 10/02/10
Fri 12/02/10

Michael Jackson presale NOW 27 SHOWS!!!!

So the pre-sale for Michael Jackson's O2 shows started today, in true fashion I set my alarm, but for LA time not London, so I clearly woke up after the sale, but the 10 dates are already at 18 and growing by the minute!!! Below is a list of all the announced dates so far (12:15pm GMT)

Wed 08/07/09
Fri 10/07/09
Sun 12/07/09
Tue 14/07/09
Thu 16/07/09
Sat 18/07/09
Wed 22/07/09
Fri 24/07/09
Sun 26/07/09
Tue 28/07/09
Thu 30/07/09
Sat 01/08/09
Mon 03/08/09
Mon 10/08/09
Wed 12/08/09
Mon 17/08/09
Wed 19/08/09
Mon 24/08/09
Wed 26/08/09
Fri 28/08/09
Sun 30/08/09
Tue 01/09/09
Thu 03/09/09
Sun 06/09/09
Tue 08/09/09
Thu 10/09/09
Mon 21/09/09

20-25 O2 dates according to AEG ECO + President

AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke revealed that Michael Jackson is set to perform 20 to 25 shows at London's O2 Arena and that the singer is "very focused." Leiweke was speaking during his keynote Q&A session at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City.

"The man is very sane, the man is very focused, the man is very healthy," Leiweke said of Jackson. "I think he has been dragged through the mud."

The shows will be promoted by AEG Live, which also put together Prince's record-setting run of 21 sellouts at the O2 that grossed more than $22 million. The Spice Girls, Take That, and Kylie Minogue all have played multiple nights at the London arena, and Britney Spears has an eight night run scheduled for June. AEG operates the O2 venue.

Leiweke told the Billboard Music & Money audience: "We’ll announce 10 shows. I think you'll see 20, 25 dates at the O2. His production budget is... Wow."

"Despite everything you read about him, he was fine," added Leiweke. "The man took a physical for us to go do these concerts."

Leiweke also confirmed that it has taken some time to get Jackson to agree to the deal. Jackson has not released a studio album or played a full concert since 2001. His last major tour was the "HIStory" World Tour in 1996-1997.

"We spent two years working with Michael trying to get him comfortable with this," said Leiweke.

Asked why the comeback was being staged in London at the O2, Leiweke commented: "It's the most important venue in music today. With all due respect to the Staples Center and the [Madison Square] Garden, the O2 is where you went to see Led Zeppelin reunite."

Past O2 multiple-night runs (via Billboard Boxscore):

Prince $22,052,026 (£10,971,157) 351,527 21 shows (all sellouts)
Spice Girls $33,829,250 (£16,637,563) 256,647 17 shows (all sellouts)
Take That $10,195,810 (£5,097,905) 132,835 9 shows (all sellouts)
Kylie Minogue $9,881,561 (£4,964,386) 116,375 7 shows (all sellouts)
Justin Timberlake $7,346,896 (£3,649,725) 79,742 5 shows (all sellouts)
Stevie Wonder $6,343,690 (£3,603,960) 60,066 4 shows (all sellouts)
Neil Diamond $5,896,536 (£2,985,890) 46,174 3 shows (all sellouts)

Michael's press conference announcing 10 dates at O2

Starting July 8th, Michael Jackson will perform a series of 10 concerts at the O2 arena in London. To get tickets for the show, you must register with his website www.michaeljacksonlive.com this is for the pre-sale only and will take place on Wednesday 11th March at 7am GMT, failing that the general onsale is at 7am on Friday 13th July.

This definitely is the show of the year - if not the decade!!!!

PRESS CONFERENCE




Below is the email confirmation for registering with the website for the pre-sale.

Welcome to MichaelJacksonLive.com!
You successfully registered for your chance
to participate in the Michael Jackson Presale.
Michael announced 10 shows at The O2 arena
in London starting 8 July 2009

If your application is successful you will receive an email in the upcoming days with your exclusive unique password and information on where and when you can purchase tickets during the presale window. The password pin code can only be used once. The password pin code allows up to four (4) tickets to be purchased during the presale window.

If you miss the presale window or due to demand are unsuccessful in being chosen to receive a password pin code, the general onsale is 7am 13 March 2009.

Michael Jackson to follow in Prince's footsteps and do an O2 residency

Michael Jackson is set to announce a string of dates on Thursday 5th March at London's O2 arena, to be played over the summer, in a similar way to which both Prince and the Spice Girls both did in 2007 and 2008.

Talks for the last 2 years have been circulating about the King Of Pop's return to the stage, with him said to be performing 10 dates in London at the O2, 10 at the Tokyo Dome and then 10 at the Staples Center in LA.

His last substantial series of concerts came in 1996 and '97, when he played 82 shows in 58 cities as part of the History tour.

The whole world will be looking to see if this comes true and even more so if he can pull of touring in such a fragile state. Also speculation is rife that a new album will coincide with the tour dates.



Michael seen above arriving in London on Tuesday 3rd March 09 for the announcement on Thursday