In a summer when ‘Michael’ became the first-ever biopic to pass $1 billion at the box office, we look back more than four decades to a nationwide tour featuring Michael Jackson and his brothers.
On July 31, 1984, the Jackson Victory Tour ended three nights at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, part of their 6-month, 55-show U.S. and Canada tour that marked the first time all six Jackson brothers performed together.
Those shows and two more at Madison Square Garden later that week were the only stops in the New York metropolitan area.
It followed the release that month of The Jacksons’ Victory album but featured a setlist that mostly drew off Michael Jackson’s blockbuster ‘Thriller’ album that was released the year before – and spent 37 weeks at #1 on the Billboard chart – and his earlier ‘Off the Wall’ album.
The tour reportedly drew approximately 2.5 million fans and $75 million and at the time was the highest grossing tour ever. At the last of six shows at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in December, Michael Jackson called it a farewell tour and did not perform again with his brothers until early September 2001 at a Madison Square Garden concert marking his 30-year career.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Michael Jackson and brothers performed in NY in 1984
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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By Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
