Organizers announce that concert will be held next year in London
By Adam Shapiro

Michael had stamina

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 09/11/09 – A Michael Jackson tribute concert scheduled to take place in Vienna on September 26 has been canceled and postponed until June 2010 in London.

Jackson’s brother Jermaine and promoter Georg Kindel announced the decision on Friday, citing scheduling conflicts with the would-be headliners. R&B stars Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown and singer Natalie Cole were all slated to be the top-billed artists on a list of 25 performances. However, on Thursday, U.S. representatives for the three confirmed that neither would be performing, contrary to statements made by the concert organizers. This left only lesser-known performers such as Sister Sledge, leading to speculation that the tribute show lacked interest from fans and media alike. According to Reuters, Kindel, in an effort to quash those rumours, blamed negative treatment by the Austrian media for the cancellation. “The artists were disrespectfully treated as B-list artists by the media,” Kindel said. Jermaine Jackson went onto explain, “the purpose for this show is to give something back to the fans … we have to do this right,” lashing out at critics who complained that more big-name headliners such as Madonna had not signed on for the show. “It’s not about name-dropping.”

Still, the decision to postpone the concert until next year and change the location makes much more sense for a Jackson memorial. London, of course, was the site of Jackson’s much-heralded yet ill-fated start to his new concert tour. With June 2010 being the one-year anniversary of the King of Pop’s death, the tribute concert will surely be promoted as a pompous celebration to the life of Michael Jackson. “Now we have eight months to put this monumental show together and not just eight weeks,” said Jermaine Jackson.