Thriller Live! @ Sunderland Empire

Some artists lend themselves to great tribute acts – Gary Mullens as Freddie Mercury springs instantly to mind, not to mention the thousands of Elvis copies currently touring the world, but there’s no-one, no-one on earth who could possibly try and recreate the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  And this thought played very heavily on my mind as I took my seat at Sunderland Empire to watch Thriller Live!.

I was desperately hoping that I wouldn’t be subject to a ‘Stars in your Eyes’ type attempt at recreating the unique genius of MJ.  I was almost fearful of having to watch a ‘karaoke style’ gambol through some of the best pop, rock & soul songs ever written.  I was …. well to be honest, I was worrying about nothing.  From the first explosion on stage this was a fabulous homage to Michael Jackson, delivered by a group of extra-ordinary artists and dancers who obviously love the style, magic and presence of Jacko without ever trying to ‘be’ him.

The show starts as a ‘HIStory’ lesson into how the Jackson 5 formed, their first forays into the pop scene and the Motown classics on which they cut their teeth.  Fantastically led by Blaze Ellis Porter (a pocket dynamo of amazing soul & stage presence) we were treated to such classics as ABC, I Want you Back, I’ll Be There and The Love you Save.  Accompanied by exciting choreography and cutting edge technical stage scenes, this was the first time I have ever been up, out of my seat dancing so early in a show.

As we moved forwards in time, ‘Michael’ changed into a young adult and the songs changed too – Another Part of Me, Shake your Body and Blame it On the Boogie all grabbed the disco funk of the late 70’s – with a wonderful New York disco scene adding to the party atmos.

By now I had watched all the dancers and noticed that one or two were exceptionally adept at performing some of the MJ signature moves; the little hitch kick, the toe spin and the side-slide (but not the moonwalk, well, not yet anyway).  Jermaine Johnson, Aaron Witter and Magnus Ainang in particular were amazing, uncannily capturing the essence, style and pizzazz of MJ.   Of the girl dancers, Crystal Hantig was superb, she managed to morph her style and attitude to match each different song & era perfectly and definitely got a very starry future ahead of her.

Smoothly progressing into the ‘Off The Wall’ period, the hits kept coming (well, it was a MJ catalogue so there were never going to be any dull moments) and the routines, staging and choreography meant each song was given its own accompaniment without any delay.   To be honest, it was almost like watching a series of music videos; music video where the artists  constantly look to get the audience involved in the often riotous production – the quality was first class, the music was played to perfection by the band and the stage delivery was like a well scripted movie.

The lead singers changed regularly, each having the opportunity to put their own blend and style on the Jacko songbook.  On the whole they were all excellent, although I was somewhat a little puzzled by the casting of Nathan James.  Nathan is a hunky sort of a guy, not the stereotypical MJ build, nor is he blessed with the dancing prowess usually associated with the delivery of these songs.  Also, Nathan seemed to struggle to contain his obviously powerful voice, especially when giving us his rendition of Out of my Life.  Undoubtedly talented, I’m not sure that this was the right show for him.

I won’t go through the entire play list; to do so would spoil the excitement of hearing a riff or hook from a song well before it has been mixed in and delivered.  Likewise the staging and production really has to be seen to be believed.  I will, however point out that the second half was spent entirely on our feet, clapping, dancing and singing along to Smooth Criminal (in which we were treated to the ubiquitous Moonwalk and the famous ‘leaning’), Man in the Mirror, Billie Jean, Beat It, Bad and of course Thriller !

The evening concluded with a nonstop reprise of songs & dances in which the cast let loose and just ‘jammed’ while the audience lived it up, longer & louder.

If you like Michael Jackson, like his music, like his dancing, like his showiness, then I urge you to come and see his legacy – this is about as good as we can possibly get now the great man has gone, it’s no replacement but it’s a great substitute.

Thriller Live is on at Sunderland Empire from 11^th July to 16^th July.