Fears scrub 1970 gig, but 1984 dates fill stadium
Jackson's first WNY show ever was canceled, the next sold out
A decade later, he would emerge as the King of Pop, the electrifying talent who transformed everything he touched, from music and dance to videos and concerts.
But in 1970, at age 10, Michael Jackson and his brothers abruptly canceled their post-Thanksgiving concert in Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium after anonymous phone calls threatened his life.
“The group of five black brothers from Gary, Ind., received telephone threats at their hotel after they arrived Thanksgiving evening,” said a story in The Buffalo Evening News. The concert was called off an hour before it was scheduled to begin.
Police said “various gangs” had threatened to bring shotguns to the Aud, and “several anonymous callers had threatened to shoot Michael Jackson, the 10-year-old lead singer of the group,” according to The News story. “Among rumors was a possible fight between rival gangs after the show.”
WBLK issued a statement that said, “The threats were serious to the performers as well as to the people attending.”
Cole Porter, promotions director for WBLK, said he had not heard that story, but it didn’t surprise him. “In 1970, when [the Jackson Five’s] first album took off, and they started doing the tours, and all the girls were going nuts, they would get threats all the time like that,” he said. “With Michael taking the lead, the threats would focus on him.”
The group already had rehearsed onstage in the Aud before Joe Jackson, the boys’ father, canceled the Friday night appearance, according to the 1970 story. The cancellation cost the group $8,000 to $10,000, promoters estimated.
The Jacksons left town and went to Rochester, where they performed Saturday night.
Charles Edwards, a senior account executive at WBLK, said he and his wife were discussing the cancellation of the Buffalo concert Thursday night, after hearing that Jackson had died. “I was not in Buffalo in 1970, but my wife vividly remembered it,” Edwards said. “I think she had tickets to the show, in fact. She said it was canceled because of threats, but I don’t know what that was based on, what was going on at the time.”
“That story is true,” said Frank Lorenz, whose father, George “Hound Dog” Lorenz, founded the station in the early 1960s and operated it until his death in 1972, when George took over. “That was going to be their first appearance in Buffalo.”
“I remember that happening, and talking to my dad about it, but I don’t know whether it was resentment toward them because of their popularity. I do not personally believe it was a race thing. It wasn’t talked about much after that, and I don’t think it was ever discovered what gangs they were” that made the threats.
After changing the group’s name to “The Jacksons,” the brothers returned to Buffalo in October 1979, performing their hits “Dancing Machine,” “Don’t Stop (Till You Get Enough)” and “Shake Your Body” in the Aud.
“At times, the apparently endless array of choreographic surprises bordered on the breathtaking, amplified by an assortment of visual gimmickry that enhanced things nicely,” News reviewer John Curran wrote.
In 1979, Jackson released “Off the Wall,” his first solo album, and became the first solo artist to place four songs from a single album in the top 10.
When the group returned to the Aud on Aug. 23, 1981, News reviewer Dennis Hollins wrote that Michael mock-complained to the audience, “I don’t want to do the old stuff. The songs are old, the choreography is old, the Jacksons are old.” The audience responded with “general hoots and screams of denial,” Hollins wrote. After a medley that included “I Want You Back” and “ABC,” the group performed new tunes “Ben,” “I’ll Be There” and “Rock With You.”
The Jacksons Victory Tour swooped into town on Aug. 25 and 26, 1984, drawing an estimated 47,000 fans each evening, very close to a sellout, as what was then Rich Stadium was configured for concerts. They charged the previously unheard-of price of $29.75 for seats, but, as then-reporter Margaret Sullivan wrote, “The verdict seemed to be unanimous. The Jacksons were worth the price of the $29.75 ticket — maybe more.”
Scalpers reportedly pulled in up to $100 for front-row seats. Every limousine in town was booked, and the crowd ranged from tiny children to grandparents. “Dress was nearly as diverse as age,” wrote Sullivan, now editor and vice president of The News. “The most popular look was the tapered parachute pants and big-shouldered jackets made popular by Michael himself. But there were middle-aged women in high heels, stockings and dresses, toddlers in diapers, and every third person wore running shoes.”
Reviewer Jeff Simon called Jackson “possibly without question, the greatest performer of our time.” The show featured “an explosion of dance and visual pyrotechnics the likes of which stadium rock concerts have never seen,” he wrote.
The sex abuse allegations, his trial, bankruptcy and health problems would follow. Jackson never returned to the Buffalo area after his 1984 triumph.
The Goo Goo Dolls’ Robby Takac was working in the Los Angeles studio where the Jackson Five recorded most of their early hits when he heard that Jackson had died.
Takac called it “a pretty strange place to be at that moment . . . one of those bizarre coincidences.”
Takac lauded Jackson for “breaking down many of the social and cultural walls that separated much of the music and entertainment industry of its day. MJ was obviously innovative and talented beyond belief, as a child star he was beyond comparison, but he was also known to be an eccentric, strangely innocent, nauseatingly dangerous and often irresponsible adult.
“But I think it’s worth noting, Michael’s life was handed over to us for our entertainment, perhaps before he had the chance to make that decision for himself,” said Takac, who added, “That alone may have been part of the reason for the ‘bizarre’ behavior and controversial scenarios.”
“I’m not usually one to be at a loss for words, but today I am just saddened beyond description,” said longtime Buffalo entertainer Lance Diamond.
“Michael Jackson was one in a trillion,” Diamond said. “I learned so much from him about being an entertainer.”
Although he never met Jackson, Diamond said: “When I learned his songs, it was like knowing the person himself, because the songs were him. We’ve lost a great one.”
Cole Porter of WBLK said, “Every time I hear a Michael Jackson song, I know where I was, whatever period of time that was and the good times that he brought to people during his lifetime.”
The day after his death, Porter said, “It’s like being without my right arm today.”
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