Wembley Stadium

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Lore & Background

The July 16, 1988 concert at Wembley Stadium included Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales in the sold-out audience of 72,000. Jackson originally removed 'Dirty Diana' from the setlist, worried about offending Princess Diana, but she informed him it was her favorite song. Leaked audio snippets prove the song was re-added to the setlist. The DVD also includes bonus performances from other dates: 'The Way You Make Me Feel' from July 14 (audio from July 15), and 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' and 'Bad' from September 26, 1987, in Yokohama, Japan.

In Their Own Story

According to the official Bad 25 statement by the Estate of Michael Jackson, the video is sourced from Jackson's personal VHS copy, the only known copy in existence. Dozens of U-matic performance masters (including those from Wembley) could not be located due to poor storage and possible carelessness. A video enhancement lab was hired to restore the VHS copy. The audio was sourced from a high-quality multitrack recording, snippets of which leaked online in mid-2011. These concerts are the only known multitrack audio recordings of the Bad World Tour.

Reader's Guide

The concert at Wembley Stadium on July 16, 1988, was part of the Bad World Tour, which took place from 1987–1989. The Bad 25 deluxe package also contains a CD of the audio from this concert, edited down to 80 minutes from the original two hours. Critical reception has been mostly positive: Chaz Lipp described the concert as 'simply incredible from start to finish'. Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times criticized the audio mix as 'thinly recorded' lacking 'sonic heft'. The Second Disc noted the picture quality is 'clearly that of a videocassette' but praised the performance, noting Jackson appears to lip-sync to a handful of songs. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters gave the DVD a 7 out of 10, calling Jackson 'at the peak of his powers, absolutely bursting with energy'.

Did You Know?

• The July 16, 1988 concert at Wembley Stadium was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales.
• Jackson originally removed 'Dirty Diana' from the setlist worried about offending Princess Diana, but she told him it was her favorite song.
• The video is sourced from Jackson's personal VHS copy, the only known copy in existence, because the U-matic masters could not be located.
• The audio was sourced from a high-quality multitrack recording, snippets of which leaked online in mid-2011.
• The Bad 25 deluxe package includes a CD of the audio from this concert, edited down to 80 minutes from the original two hours.