There are entertainers, and then there’s Michael Jackson. Across five decades, the “King of Pop” redefined what it meant to perform live by turning stages into theaters and songs into events. His concerts and stage sets were moments of imagination, discipline, and emotion. From network specials to stadium spectaculars, Jackson fused precision choreography, cinematic setups, and airtight musical direction with an instinct for camera angles and crowd psychology that few have matched.
Each performance below became a piece of collective memory, replayed in retrospectives and shared across generations. The glove, the spin, the moonwalk, the lean — these weren’t gimmicks so much as signatures of an artist who treated the stage like a film set and the audience like collaborators. Long after his tragic passing, the footage still surges with energy and reminds us how Jackson commanded sight, sound, and sentiment.
Here are seven unforgettable performances. Each one is a different facet of why the standard for pop showmanship so often begins (and debatably ends) with MJ.
1. “Billie Jean” at Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever
Aired on NBC on May 16, 1983, Motown’s 25th anniversary special became the night pop culture changed in real time. Wearing a black sequined jacket, single rhinestone glove, and high-water trousers, Jackson performed “Billie Jean” with surgical precision. Mid-song, he slid backward into the moonwalk — its first television unveiling — and the audience detonated.
2. Super Bowl XXVII Halftime Show
On Jan. 31, 1993, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Jackson reinvented the Super Bowl halftime playbook. He popped up across the stadium in decoy reveals, then stood motionless for nearly two minutes before exploding into “Jam.” A tight, high-impact set followed (“Billie Jean,” “Black or White”) and a massed children’s chorus that led into “Heal the World.”
3. “Thriller” (Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour)
Captured on Oct. 1, 1992, and officially released as Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour, this is the stadium-scale “Thriller” most fans know. Jackson turned the song into a full theatrical set piece: Zombie chorus lines, strobing lightning cues, and choreography that echoed the landmark short film in a live arena.
4. MTV Video Music Awards medley
At Radio City Music Hall, Jackson delivered a 15-minute masterclass that stitched eras together without a breath. He threaded “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Scream,” “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Black or White,” with Slash shredding through the rock cuts, before a turbo-charged “Dangerous.” Jackson followed the medley with the live debut of “You Are Not Alone.”
5. “Man in the Mirror” at the Grammy Awards
On March 2, 1988, Jackson scaled back the pyrotechnics and let conviction do the lifting. Backed by the Andraé Crouch Choir (with members of the Winans family in the ensemble) and staged by choreographer-director Vincent Paterson, he built “Man in the Mirror” from quiet resolve to gospel-soaked crescendo. Dressed simply in a blue button-up, a white tee, and black slacks, he led the choir with sweeping gestures as the bridge swelled.
6. “Dirty Diana” at Wembley Stadium (“Bad World Tour”)
The “Bad World Tour” stop at London’s Wembley Stadium (July 16, 1988) captured Jackson in imperial command before 72,000 fans, with the late Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles in attendance. “Dirty Diana” pushed his rock edge to the front with prowling vocals, tightly drilled band hits, and a searing guitar feature amid dramatic lighting cues. The concert’s restoration and release decades later made this cut a fan-favorite replay.
7. “Earth Song” at the BRIT Awards
Staged at London’s Earls Court on Feb. 19, 1996, “Earth Song” distilled Jackson’s late-career social focus into one charged visual statement. Amid imagery of conflict and environmental ruin, he stood as a central figure while dancers, embodying the wounded and displaced, reached upward. The moment drew both awe and controversy, punctuated by an onstage interruption from Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.