It’s hard to ignore the poignancy of Janet Jackson’s tour being named after Together Again, her chart-topping song about grief, after what she’s just personally been through.
She stood on the stage at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday to perform a sold-out show just two weeks after the sudden death of her older brother Tito Jackson. Some performers understandably would have postponed the show to deal with their heartbreak – and who could blame them? – but not Janet.
Instead, the pop titan powered on with the most high-energy show and a level of professionalism many younger artists today could learn from.
For someone five decades into their career, Janet, 58, performed with the vigour of someone more than half her age. Her catalogue of hits is positively overwhelming with even her oldest songs from the early 80s, like When I Think of You and What Have You Done For Me Lately, standing the test of time. This longevity coupled with her genuinely natural talent as an entertainer makes the lack of recognition she gets – despite being one of the greatest pop performers of our time – from the wider industry so frustrating.
People often regard the Milli Vanilli scandal as one of pop’s biggest injustices but, frankly, it’s surely the disregard of Janet who has weathered Nipplegate that derailed her career, achieved multiple record-breaking feats, had to constantly step out of the shadow of her late brother and global superstar Michael, and yet still has to remind everyone that she’s Janet (‘Ms Jackson, if you’re Nasty’) in her own right.
Well, Saturday’s sold-out show at The O2 felt like her victory lap and it was near-impeccable.
It was a night as nostalgic as you could get with Janet throwing us back to the peak era of pop-laced R&B in the 80s, 90s and 00s; three decades which she fully owned with her endless slew of anthemic hits.
As she ran through feel-good bops like Nasty, All For You, Escapade and Rhythm Nation, it felt like one big party had descended on the arena. Even some of the slower hits such as I Get Lonely, That’s The Way Love Goes and Any Time, Any Place didn’t cause a lull in the pace of the set and some even seemed to garner a bigger response from the audience than the faster-paced numbers.
We sang our hearts out, danced, smiled and watched in awe as this music icon rightfully got her flowers.
When Janet last toured in 2011, I had the privilege of attending her Royal Albert Hall show and it’s incredible that, 13 years later, she’s still able to perform with the same level of vitality while pushing 60. The choreography was just as impressive as it was all those years ago and there were absolutely no missteps from Janet.
This is the reason why she can be forgiven for seemingly lip-syncing quite obviously in parts – the woman surely needed to catch her breath and, let’s face it, can move better than many of us.
The beauty of Janet as an artist is that she can do it all; dance, sing, act and, despite her mega-stardom, has the ability to seem genuine and full of heart.
This was clear in the more emotional moments of the night, such as a crowd-led singalong during Again, her performing Scream without the late Michael (although his presence felt) and then a final tribute to those she has lost – Michael, Tito and her father Joe Jackson – with black and white photos at the end of the show. Janet visibly fought back the tears at this point, reminding us that even though musicians are often dehumanised as unrelatable celebrity figures on their own planet (certainly true much of the time), they are still human after all.
When it comes to the Jackson family musical dynasty, Janet is pretty much all we have and she’s carrying the torch well. In fact, she’s nearly all we do have when it comes to music legends in general; she’s one of the few from her era still doing it to such a high standard; others are either no longer with us or unable to perform due to declining health.
That’s why it’s so important to give these incredible artists their flowers while they’re still here and, last night, Janet finally got hers.
It was better late than never.
Janet Jackson’s Together Again tour continues tonight at The O2 with Wyclef Jean as a special guest.
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