Police had to close off streets in Tunis. Hundreds of fans crowded outside the airport, and hundreds more camped outside his hotel, hoping to catch one wave from a car window.
It was October 6, 1996, and Michael Jackson had just landed in Tunisia.
The country had never seen anything like it. Michael had been filling stadiums around the globe for years, but he had never once played a solo concert in Africa or anywhere in the Arab world. This trip would be the first.
He was a month into his HIStory World Tour, the last world tour of his life. It had kicked off in Prague in early September and rolled through Moscow and Amsterdam, and North Africa wasn’t supposed to be a big part of the plan.
The original idea was Casablanca, in Morocco. Michael even flew there that July and toured the city’s big stadium. Then Moroccan authorities refused to approve the show, and the date fell apart.
So the tour looked to Tunisia instead, with some help from one man in particular.
Tarak Ben Ammar was a Tunisian-born film producer who had just become Michael’s manager. Local reports say he worked hard behind the scenes to sort out the stage, the equipment and the security for a show the country had no experience hosting.
Some fans say they saw Michael ride past in an armored car with dark windows, waving shyly at the people lining the road. Tunisian TV crews were everywhere and tried to catch every second of it.
A few of those news reports survived, and they’re fun to look back on.
Michael Jackson 1996 Tunisia Reports
The concert was set for Monday night, October 7, at El Menzah Olympic Stadium in Tunis.
Fans came from all over the country. Many showed up early in the afternoon and sat inside the stadium for hours just to hold their spot, and by showtime about 60,000 people had filled it for a sellout.
For a lot of them, it was the first time they’d ever seen a major international star perform live. Local technicians reportedly needed special training to run the giant screen and the lights, plus the fireworks the tour brought along.
Before the show, Michael told European reporters he wanted the night to be an important event for Tunisia. He also said he hoped the money would go to a Tunisian charity.
Then the lights went down. He walked out in front of 60,000 people who had never dreamed he’d come to their country.
Turn the volume up for this next one, because the crowd goes wild the moment it starts.
Michael Jackson Billie Jean Tunis October 7th, 1996 (Enhanced)
The concert went out on Tunisian television, so people who couldn’t get a ticket watched at home.
Michael stayed just one short night after the show. The tour had to keep moving, and four days later he was on stage in Seoul, South Korea, in front of a crowd of 100,000.
According to Tunisian reports, the warmth of the crowd in Tunis moved him so much that he promised to come back one day.
He never made it back. But decades later, his brothers Jackie, Tito and Marlon stood on a festival stage in Carthage, just outside Tunis, and sang his songs for a new generation of Tunisian fans.