Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito — the Jackson 4? — will tour this summer for the first time since 1984’s Victory project, with plans to honor their late brother Michael, who died in 2009.
The tour begins June 18 in Louisville, and continues through July with stops in Detroit, Cleveland, New York City, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles, among other cities. Tickets go on sale beginning Friday, April 6, with additional dates to be announced. The setlist is expected to include hits like “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There,” though it’s unclear who will take over Michael’s vocal duties.
In January, Michael was immortalized during a ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Cirque du Soleil’s tribute “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour” is also continuing.
“I am so happy and excited to perform again onstage with my brothers,” Jermaine Jackson said in a statement. “I can’t wait to sing all the songs that were so much a part of all of our lives. We are ready and committed to keep the family’s legacy alive and perform once again with the highest level of excellence, creativity, and most of all, integrity.”
The Jacksons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on Michael Jackson. Click through the titles for complete reviews …
MICHAEL JACKSON (1958-2009): AN APPRECIATION: Only Michael Jackson could have done so much so quickly to obscure the ass-shaking, barrier-breaking brilliance of his own music. He was that famous. It’s always pissed me off, and never more so than upon his passing — as Jackson finally succumbed to the swirling demons of his own life. I think even his biggest fans wrestle with the same essential dichotomies: Pioneering artist/seriously weird dude. Knee-slapping entertainer/perhaps a pedophile. He was, sadly, most of those things, and more. Instinctively musical, yet boldly self destructive. Devastated by fame, and somehow still captive to its allure. Me, I just like the songs, and I wish the guy himself hadn’t kept getting in the way. Mostly because Michael Jackson, as the cable age dawned from 1979-1985, accomplished more in bringing together black and white America than any politician of the day. More than any treaty could. See, Jackson — more than Miles Davis, or Ray Charles or even Stevie Wonder — was part of a televised revolution. He created a high-tech vista that definitively stretched across race, creed and MTV.
ONE TRACK MIND: KENNY LOGGINS WITH MICHAEL JACKSON, “WHO’S RIGHT, WHO’S WRONG” (1979): The track commences with a buttermilk-rich guitar shortly after setting the needle down on the flip side of Loggins’ yacht rock extravaganza, Keep The Fire. Archtypical late seventies blue-eyed soul popularized by Hall and Oates, with an organ-based slow groove that stands in the same company as “Sara Smile.” The background vocals take on a prominent role, too, with the addition of one Michael Jackson. I thought even back in 1979 that it was pretty cool Loggins was able to get a voice of Jackson’s stature to come in behind Kenny and play second fiddle, and today that just seems downright astonishing. A fairly close listen leaves no question that it’s truly the Gloved One crooning back there.
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Here are the announced dates so far for the Jacksons’ Unity Tour 2012:
June 18: Louisville, KY (Palace Theatre)
June 19: Cincinnati, OH (PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center)
June 20: Rama, ON (Casino Rama)
June 22: Merrillville, IN (Star Plaza Theatre)
June 23: Detroit, MI (Fox Theatre)
June 24: Kettering, OH (Fraze Pavilion)
June 26: Cleveland, OH (Jacob’s Pavilion)
June 28: New York, NY (Apollo)
June 29: Atlantic City, NJ (Borgata)
June 30: Englewood, NJ (Bergen PAC)
July 1: Baltimore, MD (Lyric Opera House)
July 3: Washington, DC (DAR Constitution Hall)
July 6: Raleigh, NC (Raleigh Amphitheatre)
July 7: Charlotte, NC (Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre)
July 8: Atlanta, GA (Chastain Park)
July 10: Nashville, TN (Ryman Auditorium)
July 11: St. Louis, MO (Fox Theatre)
July 13: Dallas, TX (Verizon Theatre)
July 14: Houston, TX (Bayou Music Theatre (Verizon Theatre))
July 17: Albuquerque, NM (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino)
July 18: Phoenix, AZ (Dodge (Comerica Theater))
July 20: Las Vegas, NV (The Cannery)
July 21: San Diego, CA (Harrah’s Rincon)
July 22: Los Angeles, CA (The Greek)
July 27: Saratoga, CA (The Mountain Winery)
July 28: Lincoln City, OR (Chinook Winds Casino)
July 29: Snoqualmie, WA (Snoqualmie Casino)
- Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop, “When I Fall” (2024): Video premiere - March 15, 2024
- Disaster Pony,“Dead Neon & The Noon Sun” from ‘Disaster Pony’ (2024): Video premiere - February 27, 2024
- Christopher Hoffman, “Farewell Forever” from ‘Vision Is The Identity’ (2024): Streaming premiere - February 19, 2024
