Over in Osaka, Japan this weekend, a department store turned into the last place you’d expect to find a piece of music history.
From October 9 to 12, the auction house Julien’s set up a display inside the Hankyu Umeda store. On show were about 50 items that once belonged to Michael Jackson and Princess Diana. The pieces are headed to a big sale in December, and this was a rare chance for the public to see them up close first.
Most were the kind of thing you look at quietly behind glass. But one item could do something the others couldn’t.
It was a stage jacket, made for Michael to wear during his live performances of “Thriller.” And this was no ordinary jacket. It was built with lights sewn right into it, so it could glow and flash while he danced.
According to the music site MJVibe, the jacket reportedly lit up again in Osaka for the first time in 38 years. The man who helped make it, Michael’s longtime costume designer Michael Bush, was there to see it happen.
Michael performing “Thriller” live on stage in 1988
Watch this and you’ll see the kind of night that jacket was built for.
This clip is from Wembley Stadium in London in 1988, right in the middle of his famous Bad world tour. The crowd is enormous. When you see the energy of a live “Thriller” number, you understand why his costumes had to be so special. They weren’t just clothes. They were part of the show.
Michael’s stage outfits were made by two men, Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins, who worked with him for years. These weren’t ordinary tailors. They built things, with lights and motors and hidden tricks, whatever a performance called for.
The light-up “Thriller” jacket was one of their creations. Gulf News reports it’s one of only six ever made. That makes it incredibly rare, and it’s a big part of why collectors are so interested in the December sale.
So when the lights came on in that Osaka store, it wasn’t just a neat party trick. It was a little piece of the 1980s waking back up, in front of people who may have only ever seen it glow in old concert footage.
The jacket goes under the hammer later this year. But for a few days this month, in a shopping center in Japan, it got to shine one more time.
Watch the Wembley clip above and picture that glowing jacket out there under the stadium lights, exactly where it was meant to be.