Michael Jackson’s last trip before leaving Tenerife was done by van. The artist left a signature on the roof of that vehicle. This and other anecdotes about the visit of the ‘king of pop’ to the island, which marked 30 years yesterday, make up the documentary ‘Guess who performed that night’.
The stay lasted three days. michael jackson Tenerife. He king of pop came to Canary Islandsaboard his private plane, on September 25, 1993. He was received at the airport in Los Rodeos and stayed in the royal suite of the Hotel Botánico, in port from the cross. The 72 hours that the late singer spent on the Island are among the most remembered in the recent history of the Archipelago and, as the journalist recalled yesterday Juan Manuel Bethencourt, They were “full of anecdotes.”
On the occasion of 30th anniversary of Jackson’s emblematic concert on the esplanade of Puerto de Santa Cruz, in Tenerife, the production company R2 Media premiered the documentary Guess who performed that night. The launch of this project took place yesterday at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes. Shortly after it also premiered on Televisión Canaria.
Created by Bethencourt and Raúl Pulido, R2 Media launches this production not only to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the musical event. «This documentary is, in a certain sense, the portrait of a time in which the Canary Islands wanted to make their way and compete in the field of musical events. Today the attendance of great artists is normalized, perhaps not of the stature of Michael Jackson but there are no artists of the stature of Michael Jackson today either. However, we have assumed since the Islands can be on the circuit of major events. The production, 47 minutes long, is the result of several months of work and brings together the testimony of those who made that dream come true and some of the people who participated in the show. «Testimonies were collected from the participants who are both the protagonists of the event – who are the ones who made it possible, designed it and fought for it – as well as people who even got on stage. One very striking thing is that on that Jackson tour there was a song that was performed with children on stage. In Tenerife there was a selection and we have interviewed those children who today are young people of 40 years old who have shared with us the memories they have of that night,” he added.
Michael Jackson spent little time during his stay in Tenerife. OROne of the most remembered anecdotes is that, during his visit, the performer of immortal songs like Thriller or Smooth Criminal was scheduled to go to a record store that sponsored the event. «Well, he went to the competitor’s store, which also It was on the San Telmo promenade in Puerto de la Cruz. That, at the time, caused anger. Then everyone assumed that nothing was happening. During his stay in the northern municipality of the Island, Jackson spent a lot of money on two things: on records and on telephone calls. “The phone bill at the Hotel Botánico was astronomical,” joked the documentary’s director.
This new production includes recreations with what is also the best Jackson impersonator in the world. Gus Jackson, as he is known artistically, is a native of Gran Canaria and agreed to collaborate on the project. «She accompanied us to do these recreations in the Botanical suite, on the balcony of the hotel from which she came out to greet, in the Parrot parkand even in the elevator in which Michael Jackson got on to avoid the thousands of fans who were waiting for him outside the hotel,” Bethencourt recalled.
In addition to all these anecdotes, the documentary recognizes the magnitude of the effort it took to bring to the Island what, even today, is one of the greatest artists in history. «What happened with Tenerife was a totally exotic thing. The concert in Tenerife was not on the European tour, nor the Asian tour, nor the American tour. They turned the Island into a stopover between the end of the Asian tour and the beginning of the Latin American tour. Jackson went from Istanbul to Buenos Aires and, in between, he spent three days in the Canary Islands. Having taken advantage of that window is one of the most striking things and I think it is narrated quite well in the documentary.
Bethencourt, who announced the production company’s intention to continue working on projects of this type, concluded by explaining that Michael Jackson’s visit “made us see that dreaming sometimes has a reward. It is true that it is a musical event, it is nothing more and it will not change the world or the history of the Island, but it did open a door to the possibility of hosting large events not only in Tenerife but throughout the Canary Islands. .
