In September 2001, Michael Jackson wanted to mark 30 years since his first solo single, and he threw himself the kind of party only the King of Pop could. Two nights at Madison Square Garden, a stage crowded with superstars, tickets people fought to get their hands on.
The part fans still bring up had nothing to do with the famous names in the audience.
It was his brothers.
Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy hadn’t stood on a stage with Michael in seventeen years. The last time was the Victory Tour, way back in 1984. After that Michael became the biggest solo act alive and the brothers mostly went their own ways. They cut one album together in 1989, and that was pretty much it. Seventeen years is a long stretch for any family, and the Jacksons were never a simple one.
Getting all six of them in the same building wasn’t a sure thing either. In the weeks before the show, the press kept going back and forth on whether Jermaine would even take part. For a while it looked like the reunion might happen a brother short.
Then he showed up.
When those opening notes hit and all of them were out there together again, the years just fell away. Grown men now, but moving like the kids from Gary who used to rehearse in that tiny house on Jackson Street. Watch what happened when the brothers tore into the old hits:
The Jacksons Medley – Live at Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary
People who were there say it felt looser and warmer than anyone expected after so long apart. For a few minutes it wasn’t the King of Pop and his backing family. It was just the Jacksons, laughing and dancing through I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, the songs that started everything.
Nobody in that arena knew it, but that was the last time all six brothers would ever perform together. Randy never played another concert with them. It was a reunion that turned out to be a goodbye, and no one realized it while it was happening.
The timing of it stays with people too. The second and final show was September 10, 2001. The next morning, a few miles downtown, the September 11 attacks changed New York and the world. That celebration ended up being the last great night in the city before everything did.
If you want to see more of the reunion the way it aired on the TV special, this one’s worth a look:
Michael Jackson – 30th anniversary programm (II) – The Jacksons J5 (2001)
Press play and catch them while they were all still here, back together one more time, with nobody in the room knowing it was the end.