Brrr it’s freaking freezing and I just home from dragging myself (ok so it wasn’t so bad once I got going) into Melbourne’s icy weather to see Michael Jackson’s memorial service broadcast live from Federation Square.

I’d checked the weather forcast and noted it was going to dip to 4 degrees overnight. Realising I’d be in the thick of it at 3am I was sorely tempted to just stay at home and watch it on tv.

Then apart from possibly waking the neighbours I figured heading out was the least I could do. I’d already missed him in concert, one day of HTFU wasn’t going to kill me.

With that, I went to bed at around 9pm and woke up at 2am. Our stupid building has shared hot water and the heater turns off at night so I was a bit annoyed at not being able to have a hot shower before leaving.

The memorial service started 3am AEST so after 15-20 mins of whacking on the thermals and assorted layers I saddled up the Long Haul Trucker and rode into the city.

Jesus Christ did I mention it was cold?

I wasn’t sure what to expect at Federation Square. My initial thoughts were ‘what if nobody else showed up and there was only like five of us. Or worse still I was like the only one’.

I didn’t necessarily mind being the only crazy person there at 3am but I figured the media would be there in some degree and I didn’t particularly want to be the only face of the Michael Jackson Melbourne fan club. Especially considering I have to be at work today.

I’d decided riding down that if there was hardly anyone there I’d just do a ‘ride by’ and then head home and just watch it there. Luckily though there were a couple of hundred other like minded crazies living in Melbourne who made trip worthwhile.

A few hundred (I’m crap with estimating numbers) were sprawled out in front of the large Altrium screen, some with candles, most with rugs/blankets and there was even one particular die hard fan who wore a Michael Jackson rubber mask for the entire show.

I arrived just towards the end of the Molly Meldrum waffle-a-thon although to be fair it’s probably not the easiest job to fill in the time before the service starts knowing that you’re just filler. Thankfully Federation Square didn’t air the US ABC feed as apparently they had Martin Bashir as a panelist and I doubt that would have gone down to well.

The media were also there although thankfully shots of families with little kids and girls crying with candles makes for much more entertaining shots then a guy on his own sitting next to his bike.

The rubber mask guy did get a lot of attention though, he even had a cardboard poster with a ton of photos and a lot of the cameras were on him. I stupidly wound up sitting a ways behind him on the right (he came after I’d claimed my space) so probably could have done better staying away from the cameras.

The media gave a lot of attention to the rubber mask fan.


The service itself was quite charming although it did feel at times there was a bit too much ‘rah rah Michael Jackson is black rah rah rah, god is great rah rah rah’ going on. I’m pleased that his charity work was acknowledged and that his daughter Paris spoke right at the end. I got moist eyes a few times during the service and that was the closest I got to falling over the edge.

Michael’s other child Prince on the other hand appeared to be chewing gum the entire service (gum at your dad’s memorial service really?) and it was somewhat amusing to watch nearly every speaker/singer ignore Michael’s father, Joe Jackson when they came off stage and embraced the family.

Something that’s bugged me for a while now is Jermaine Jackson’s hair. I’m all for individualistic style and everything but can someone please tell Jermaine that the ‘Urkel’ died out in the 80′s?

Oh and the clips showing fans outside the Staples stadium were a bit cringeworthy, especially the black haired ringleader chanting woman. I mean there’s grief and then there’s ‘oh dear’.

The performances weren’t bad but I was reminded of why I’ll miss watching Jackson perform. I know it was a memorial and all but nobody captured the stage, even whilst singing his songs. They just didn’t have the stage presence Jackson had and it was painfully obvious.

I was a bit dissapointed after the tour manager guy (I couldn’t find his name) mentioned that he was going to showcase what they had been doing at the stadium in the leadup to rehersals or some such. I thought they were going to show us footage or a montage of his reherals for the This is it tour but instead it was ‘We are the world’ with a karaoke style display on the projector.

The Melbourne crowd were well behaved and even started clapping to ‘We are the world’ and then forming a long line holding hands and swaying for ‘Heal the World’ at the end. I was watching my bike or I might have joined them.

Crowd forming a line, holding hands and singing heal the world.


Well that and the cameras kept me away.

I’m glad I made the journey out even if I’m going to be paying for it this afternoon. Like I mentioned before I missed him in concert back in the 90s so it was nice to be around other fans in an early morning calm atmosphere in the middle of the CBD.

The ride home was uneventful but it was nice to see joggers and other riders about, the ride into the city @ 2:30am was dead. To give you an idea of just how cold it was my dynamo didn’t kick in till about a km into the ride.

I’m not sure if this was the dynamo itself or the fact that the air temperature in the tyres had gotten ridiculously low during the service that the dynamo wasn’t catching till they warmed up a bit but yeah, I was relieved when it kicked in again as I thought the system had died and I’d have to fiddle with it when I got home.

I feel a lot more at peace about Michael Jackson’s death now that the memorial is over, the guilt about moving on is gone and hopefully now he’s at peace and we can get on remembering him for what truly matters; his musical gift he shared with the world.

1. Michael Jackson's new single 'This is it' is rubbish
2. My childhood hero: Michael Jackson
3. Michael Trkulja sues search engines over results
4. March 18: Melbourne hit by another tremor
5. Melbourne's skateparks, eyesore or urban art?