It was a memorial fit for a king. Touching, funny. I think Michael would have loved it. It was surreal to me to see the casket — somehow it finally dawned on me that it was real. Michael Jackson really was gone. I think the most emotional and surprising moment for me was when Paris took the stage and made a statement saying that her daddy was the best father you could ever imagine. It was the first time Paris (and the other kids) has really been seen in public. It was interesting to hear her voice, to see her emotion. I loved that she immediately clung to Janet — they seem to have gotten really close. Janet would make such a great mother.
Aside from that, Usher’s performance of ‘Gone Too Soon’ was really incredible. It was beautiful seeing him walk down to touch the casket and sing to Michael. Brooke Shields eulogy was beautiful — she gave a great insight to what their relationship was like when they were kids, something neither of them had really talked about before. Though she had said that she hadn’t spoken to Michael since 1991 — where’s she been for the last 18 years? I think that can be said for most of the people that have been honouring Michael since his death. It didn’t seem like very many of them were around or supporting him when he was going through everything that happened the last 15 years or so. Jermaine’s performance of ‘Smile’ was amazing — I don’t think he’s really performed in about twenty years.
Finally, the last two highlights for me were Stevie Wonder’s and Lionel Ritchie’s performances. They both chose perfect songs (‘Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer’ and ‘Jesus Is Love’) and gave beautiful performances. ‘Jesus Is Love’ has always been my favourite Commodores song — I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lionel sing it live before (though I’m sure he has at some point). The low points for me were number one, the ‘We Are the World/Heal the World’ performance. It was nice seeing the family and everyone up onstage, but they should have had different performers sing the song, rather than the backup singers. There were a ton of singers in the audience — they could have gotten them to sing and had more of an all-star performance. Jennifer Hudson’s performance was hard to watch, just because of the dancing — I’ve always hated liturgical dance. I wasn’t crazy about the kid that sang ‘Who’s Loving You’ — it’s Smokey’s song, why didn’t he sing it? And I was underwhelmed by Mariah Carey’s performance. I had originally thought that this would be a highlight for me, since I’ve always loved Mariah’s rendition of the song. But she just didn’t seem to have the voice for it anymore.
But all and all, the service was incredible and I’m glad I got to see it.
