To prepare for the Michael (2026) biopic, I watched Michael Jackson’s Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 show on YouTube the night before because I heard the biopic recreated the “Bad” performance from this concert. Up until that point, I spent 17 years avoiding Michael Jackson because of my childhood obsession with him following his death in June 2009. In my mind, he was a freak who was obsessed with plastic surgery and bleaching his skin, therefore, I wanted nothing to do with Jackson. Then I started watching the Wembley show and immediately with the opening notes for “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin,’” I was hooked! He had this unreal stage presence that I had never seen before. There are lots of pop artists who sing and dance at the same time, but what made Jackson stand out from all of them was that he was still singing in perfect pitch. Sure, he was tired and out of breath occasionally, but he didn’t hit a wrong note!
I watched the Wembley concert one more time on YouTube before purchasing the DVD through Amazon. The video quality is rough because it was taken from Jackson’s VHS copy of the show, which apparently is the only known copy to exist. It’s like watching a live bootleg recording, so at times, Jackson’s face looks cakey, but I kind of like that imperfect nature because I grew up on VHS tapes and lowkey miss them. What’s cool about the July 16th show is that Princess Diana and Prince Charles were in the audience that night. Initially, Jackson didn’t include “Dirty Diana” in the setlist because he was worried he would offend Princess Diana, but he added it back in the setlist upon learning it was her favorite song. Princess Diana had good taste; may she forever rest in peace.
I put the DVD in a plastic CD case because the cardboard slipcase the DVD came in sucks.
While watching this concert, I had only two things on my mind: Michael Jackson was freaking talented and this is the most exhausting show I’ve ever seen! He worked his entire team down to the nitty gritty; some say he had them working day and night. The band even had a nearly 14-minute-long jam session, the “Bad Groove,” to give Jackson a break. With the synthesizers, keyboards, and celebratory melodies, it was the most ‘80s sounding jam session I’d ever heard! The “Bad Groove” included an instrumental of Prince’s “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night” from his Sign o’ the Times (1987) album, but it was cut from the DVD. The jam session flowed seamlessly regardless of that snippet being taken out. The “Bad Groove” featured on the DVD includes “Band Jam” (composed by Greg Phillinganes), “Layla” (composed by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon), “Sussudio” (composed by Phil Collins), “You Win Again” (composed by the Bee Gees), and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (composed by Jackson). Also, props to bass player Don Boyette and guitarist Jon Clark because my gosh, they know how to work their instruments!
The July 16th show is part of the second leg of Jackson’s Bad World Tour, which was from 1988 to 1989; the first leg took place in 1987. The first leg showcased Jackson’s best live vocals, but the setlist was almost exactly the same as the Victory tour (the Jacksons’ final tour). Jackson’s vocals suffered a little during the second leg because he incorporated more dancing into his shows, but the setlist freaking slaps! The setlist for the first leg of the Bad tour sucks, no offense to Jackson. They only played two songs from the Bad (1987) album, which were “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and the title track. The rest are either songs he did with his brothers, or from Thriller (1982) and Off the Wall (1979). The setlist for the second leg includes seven songs from the Bad album. Those include “Another Part of Me,” “Smooth Criminal,” “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Dirty Diana,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and “Man in the Mirror.” I would’ve preferred “Speed Demon” over “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” because the latter is a cheesy ballad, but whatever!
The July 16th show started late, so “The Way You Make Me Feel” was not performed that night. However, the July 14th performance (with audio from the July 15th show) of the song is included as a bonus feature on the DVD. If you look up the Wembley performance of “The Way You Make Me Feel,” pay attention to the backup dancers because their gangster style dancing and facial expressions are freaking hilarious!
The second leg was also when Jackson started lip syncing on tour, specifically for “Smooth Criminal,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and “Man in the Mirror.” Some would consider that a dealbreaker because if you want to hear perfect vocals, just listen to the albums. However, I understand why the lip syncing was necessary to some degree, more specifically for “Smooth Criminal,” which is all about the choreography. The songs that don’t have much choreography like “Bad” and “Man in the Mirror,” I’m not entirely happy about the lip syncing, but considering the tour was 16 months long spanning 123 shows, I don’t blame Jackson for wanting to save his voice from blowing out. Personally, lip syncing on four songs is nothing compared to what he did on his following tours; at least no playback was used for “Thriller” on this tour. Also, he mixed in live vocals with the playback using ad-libs for the outros, which I thought was a clever and smart decision.
Jackson went above and beyond for his shows, heck, he even cried on stage for “She’s Out of My Life” to give it that dramatic effect it needed. By the way, props to the girl they brought on stage for the song because she respected his space and waited for Jackson to come to her. He hugged her, she got to live out her fantasies, and then, BYE!!! I’ve seen girls charge at Jackson like a racing horse, faint on stage, and kiss him on the lips without his permission, so the girl from the Wembley concert was nothing compared to what he would experience in later years. I have mixed feelings about the Jackson 5 medley because Jackson left the family business to separate himself from his brothers, so why perform songs that were made famous because he performed them with his brothers? On the plus side, the medley transitions beautifully into “Rock with You,” which I will always have a soft spot for thanks to American Idol.
At times, I felt like there was too much going on because even for the songs that didn’t require a lot of dancing like “Human Nature” and quieter moments during songs, Jackson still did choreography for them. On the topic of too much going on, as much as I like “Working Day and Night,” that performance gives me a headache, especially when everyone is spinning in circles. Part of me was like, “Calm the f*ck down,” but at the same time, I was like, “Do whatever you want, babe!” The performances of “Smooth Criminal” for the Bad tour are very precious because they don’t feature the lean from the song’s music video and it’s cool seeing the dance moves Jackson did to substitute the lean. The song’s intro with the “Hotel” sign and him dancing behind a white sheet was previously used for “This Place Hotel” on the first leg of the Bad tour. But, it actually works better for “Smooth Criminal,” so I’m glad Jackson’s team made that switch.
My favorite performances from the DVD are “Dirty Diana,” “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” and “Man in the Mirror.” If you want to see what Michael Jackson would’ve been like as a heavy metal singer, check out his Wembley performance of “Dirty Diana”! The guitar playing is freaking phenomenal, thanks to guitarist Jennifer Batten, and his sex appeal is out of this world! The Bad tour was the first time Jackson performed “Thriller” live and as the tours went on, the performances kept getting crazier and crazier. But I think the second leg of the Bad tour, especially the July 16th show at Wembley, was where Jackson did the best live performances of “Thriller.” Jackson comes in swinging on stage with a werewolf mask and a letterman jacket resembling the one he wore for the song’s music video, he performs the song in the jacket and quickly switches to a blinged out red jacket for the dance sequence, which lights up in the dark, along with his backup dancers’ zombie outfits. I thought this performance of “Thriller” was a good mix of not too crazy and simple enough to not need lip syncing.
“Beat It” showed me just how insane Jackson was when it came to his live performances because he began the song by dangling on a lever that extends to the audience, not giving a dang if he fell off and broke his skull (or maybe he did and hid it really well). The Wembley show has my favorite “Billie Jean” performance because he truly looked like he was enjoying himself, none of the dance moves felt forced, and I think the deeper tone to his voice suited the song perfectly. “Man in the Mirror,” as mentioned before, is mostly playback, but Jackson gave it his all and felt present in the moment. The camera man was a genius, by the way, because there’s a part where he shows a close-up of Jackson in the mirror; he literally got a shot of a man in the mirror!
The bonus features for the DVD include a performance of “The Way You Make Me Feel,” as mentioned earlier, and a performance of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” / “Bad” from Yokohama Stadium in 1987. I’m glad we got “The Way You Make Me Feel” because it’s one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs, but I don’t get why we needed another performance of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Bad.” I would’ve preferred “Off the Wall,” “Lovely One,” or “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” from that same 1987 show because those songs weren’t included in the Wembley show. By the way, Sheryl Crow, one of the backing vocalists, duets with Jackson on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” so it’s very trippy seeing what she looked like before her music career took off. I only know who she is because she was a guest star on season 4 of Hannah Montana, if that tells you anything!
Going back to what I said about avoiding Michael Jackson for years because I only saw him as a freak, the July 16th Wembley show changed my perspective of him. It reminded me how incredibly talented he was and why he’s so admired as a performer. There hasn’t been and never will be another performer who sang, danced, and worked as hard as he did. Even if pop music isn’t your thing, you gotta admire the fact that he always gave 110% for everything he did! I give this DVD release a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. For those who are interested in seeing what Michael Jackson was like in his prime, check out Michael Jackson’s Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 (either on YouTube or on DVD)!
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Comment below your thoughts on Michael Jackson’s Live at Wembley concert release!
Take care and see ya real soon!
Lana
Lana Teramae | Me, Myself and Time 
No debate from me, Michael Jackson was a phenomenal entertainer. He had talent and energy which very few can match.
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