TV PERFORMANCES
Mid-December 1978 : The Jacksons tape performances of “Shake Your Body” and “Things I Do For You” on The Midnight Special at the NBC Studios in Burbank, California (aired on February 02, 1979).
December 16, 1978 : The Jacksons tape performances of Shake Your Body, Push Me Away & Things I Do For You at American Bandstand (aired on February 10, 1979 on ABC) .
December 17, 1978 : The Jacksons tape performances of Shake Your Body, Things I Do For You & Push Me Away on Soul Train and give an interview. plus a Michael’s interview. (aired on February 3, 1979).
January 22+24+26, 1979 : While in Bremen, Germany, The Jacksons perform “Blame It On The Boogie” on Musikladen TV show.
January 29, 1979 : The Jacksons go the former Roma studios on Colmenar Street, where the Tele 5 production center is currently located. Valerio Lazarov and his production team were waiting for us to tape a performance of “Blame It On The Boogie”. Due to technical difficulties, the taping is postponed to the day after.
January 30, 1979 : In the morning, The Jacksons tape a performance of “Blame It On The Boogie” on the TV show “Sumarisimo” (a variety show that lasted only twelve weeks, from December 1978 to March 1979). The show airs on Monday, February 5, 1979.
Later, The Jacksons go to the Prado Del Rey studios to tape performances of “Destiny”, “Blame It On The Boogie”, “Goin Places” and “Shake Your Body” on Spanish TV show Aplauso (which airs RTVE on February 3, 1979).
February 1/2, 1979 : While on tour in Amsterdam The Jacksons tape a performance of “Shake Your Body” for Dutch TV show TopPop (which is aired on February 24).
February 2, 1979 : In Amsterdam, The Jacksons tape a performance for a Dutch television show, “Sonja’s Goed Nieuws Show,” a talk show hosted by Sonja Barend. The group perform “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” and “Blame It On The Boogie” at De Mirandabad, near the wave pool, as part of its inauguration.
February 6+7+8+9, 1979 : While in London, The Jacksons tape performances of “Shake Your Body”, “Blame It On The Boogie” & “Destiny” on Top Of The Pops. Jermaine joins them on stage for the last song.
February 14, 1979 : The Jacksons arrive at Leysin, a municipality in the canton of Vaud, with approximately 4,000 inhabitants, located in the Vaud Alps, the central part of the Alps, in Switzerland. They check in l’hôtel Central de Leysin. In the afternoon, the group tapes a performance of two tracks from the album “Destiny”: “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” and “Blame It On The Boogie.” The brothers can be seen performing their songs in front of a massive snowman, surrounded by children skiing, at the Plan-Praz site, located a bit higher than their hotel. They also make a photoshoot in the snow. These performances are part of the show “Disco In The Snow, part I.” The four-part show, featuring the group Abba, will be broadcast on British television, on the BBC, on April 9, 1979.
February 15, 1979 : The Jacksons go to Leysin Restaurant where they tape their second segment for a special show, “Abba Snowtime,” which will be broadcast on the BBC on December 22, 1979. In the heart of an “old rustic chalet with a mountain atmosphere”, they perform their song “Destiny” near the fireplace.
PRESS (interviews/photoshoots)
August 22, 1978 : Michael gives an interview to Randy Tarraborelli at Hayvenhurst.
October 6, 1978 : Michael attends a charity dinner at Shubert Theatre, California & a benefit performance of the play, ‘Annie,’ where an American National Theatre and Academy National Artist Award was being presented to Fred Astaire.
October 24, 1978 : Michael attends the premiere and after party of “The Wiz” at Windows on the World in New York with Leslie Uggams, Valerie Simpson, Nick Ashford and Quincy Jones among others.
October 25, 1978 : Michael attends the premiere & opening night party of “The Wiz” at the Pitt’s Century Plaza Theater in Century City (Los Angeles) with Katherine, Joe, Janet & Latoya & Diana Ross among others.
November 18, 1978 : Billboard magazine’s issue on The Jacksons 10th Anniversary with interviews of The Jacksons and their entourage.
December 05, 1978 : Tito, Michael, Jackie, & Marlon give interviews to the press and pose for pictures at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
January 1979 : Michael is on the cover of Rock & Soul Magazine.
February 1+2, 1979 : While in Amsterdam, Michael poses for a photoshoot at the Sonesta Hotel in Amsterdam with Barry Schultz.
The Jacksons are on the cover of Jet Magazine.
TV/RADIO INTERVIEWS
December 08, 1978 : Michael is a guest star on CBS’s A Special Sesame Street Christmas.
January 28, 1979 : At noon, The Jacksons go to El Gran Musical, a live radio show on Cadena SER (one of the most important Spanish radio stations) from the Titanic discotheque on Atocha Street. The program is hosted by Cañaveras Pepe and directed by Rafael Revert. It is Michael Jackson’s first contact with the media in Spain. He is also introduced to Joaquin Luqui, who collaborated with the program every Sunday.
AWARDS SHOWS/RED CARPETS/PRESS CONFERENCES
August 25, 1978 : Michael attends a reception for the Robert Kennedy Tennis Tournament at the NBC Building in New York City.
July 1, 1979 : Mayor Tom Bradley declares “Jackson Day” in Los Angeles in honour of the group achievements. Some 300 guests attend a party in the City National Bank Vault in Beverly Hills including Katherine, LaToya & Janet. The Jacksons receive a Platinum Record for Destiny. Michael’s date for the night is actress Tatum’ O Neal. Michael performs “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” .
CONCERTS
Tour dates
1979
1st leg : Europe
January : The Jacksons rehearse for The Destiny Tour. Their new show include 4 songs from their new album (Things I Do For You, Destiny, All Night Dancin’ & Blame It On The Boogie).
January 22+24 : The Jacksons kick off the European leg of Destiny tour at the Bremen Germany Musical Theater in Bremen, Germany.
January 28+29+30 : Concerts at the El Teatro Monumental in Madrid, Spain.
January 31 : Concert at the Martiniplaza in Groningen, Netherlands.
February 1+2 : Concerts at the Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
February 6+7+8+9 : Concerts at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
February 10 : Concert at the Brighton Center in Brighton, England.
February 11 : Concert at the Guildhall in Preston, England.
February 12 : Concert at the Wakefield Theater Club in Wakefield, England.
February 13 : Concert at the Fiesta Club in Sheffield, England.
February 15 : Concert at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland.
February 16 : The two concerts scheduled at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland are canceled.
February 17 : Concert at the Manchester Apollo in Manchester, England.
February 18 : Concert at the Bingley Hall in Birmingham, England.
February 19 : Concert at the Civic Theatre in Halifax, England.
February 20 : The two concerts scheduled at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester, England are canceled.
February 21 : The concert scheduled at the Sophia Gardens Pavillon in Cardiff, England is canceled.
February 23+24 : Concerts at the England Rainbow Theatre in London. The first concert is filmed for television and aired later on.
February 25 : Concert at the Poole Arts Centre in Poole, England.
February 26 : Concert at the Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
February 28 : The two concerts scheduled at Le Palace in Paris, France are canceled at the last minute. There are pictures of the audience waiting to get in the Palace. Official reason: Food poisoning of Michael and one of his brothers.
February 29 : The concert scheduled at the Théâtre des Carmes in Avignon, France is canceled.
2nd leg : Africa
March 6+7+8+9+10 : The Jacksons kick off the African leg of Destiny Tour Concerts at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
March 12+13+14+15 : Concerts at the Stade de l’Amitié in Dakar, Senegal.
March 16 : Concert at the Aliff Gymnasium in Nairobi, Kenya.
March 19+20+21 : Concerts at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
3rd leg : North America
April 7 + 8 : The concerts scheduled at the Painters Mill Music Fair in Owings Mills are canceled.
April 14+15 : The Jacksons kick off the US leg of Destiny Tour at the Music Hall in Cleveland. They add “Shake Your Body” to the setlist as the final song.
April 19+22 : Concerts at the Valley Forge Music Fair in Devon.
April 25+26+27 : Concerts at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago.
April 28 : Concert at the Mill Run Theatre in Niles, Illinois.
May 3 : Concert at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg.
May 6 : Concert at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville.
May 10+12 : Concert at the Music Hall in Houston.
May 16 : Concert at the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham.
May 17 : Concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Columbus.
May 18 : Concert at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville.
May 19 : Concert at the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta.
May 20 : Concert at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. Rick James visit the group backstage.
May 24 : Concert at the Saenger Theatre in Pine Bluff.
May 26 : Concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
May 27 : Concert at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth.
May 28 : Concert at the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport.
June 1 : Concert at the Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.
June 3 : Concert at the Township Auditorium in Columbia.
June 8 : Concert at the Belk Gymnasium in Charlotte.
June 9 : Concert at the Capital Centre in Landover.
June 10 : Last concert of the first US leg at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro.
4th leg : North America
September : The Jacksons rehearse for the new leg of the Destiny World Tour and they add new songs to the setlist (Off The Wall, Rock With You, Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough and Shake Your Body).
September 26 : The Jacksons kick off the second US leg of Destiny Tour at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington.
October 2+3 : Concert at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.
October 4 : Concert at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport.
October 5 : Concert at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium in Mobile.
October 6 : Concert at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville;
October 7 : Concert at the Louisville Gardens in Louisville.
October 12 : Concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
October 13 : Concert at the Rochester Community War Memorial in Rochester.
October 14 : Concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh
October 15 : Concert at the Saginaw Civic Center in Saginaw.
October 19 : Concert at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
October 20 : Concert at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.
October 21 : Concert at the UD Arena in Dayton.
October 25 : Concert at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Columbus.
October 26 : Concert at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse.
October 27 : Concert at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo.
October 28 : Concert at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield.
November 1 : Concert at the Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.
November 2 : Concert at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago.
November 3 : Concert at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland.
November 4+5 : Concerts at the 1979 Detroit Cobo Arena in Detroit.
November 6 : Concert at the Baltimore Civic Center in Baltimore.
November 8 : Concert at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale (filmed for ABC’s 20/20 TV show that will air in January 1980).
November 9 : Concert at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia.
November 10 : The concert scheduled at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton is canceled.
November 11 : Concert at the Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium in Fayetteville.
November 15 : The concert scheduled at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth is canceled.
November 16 : The concert scheduled at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson is canceled.
November 17 : The concert scheduled at the Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles is canceled.
November 18 + 19 : The concerts scheduled at the The Summit in Houston are canceled.
November 21 : The concert scheduled at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville is canceled.
November 22 : Concert at the Savannah Civic Center in Savannah.
November 23 : Concert at the Macon Coliseum in Macon.
November 24 : Concert at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.
November 25 : Concert at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta.
November 27 : The concert scheduled at the Columbus Municipal Auditorium in Columbus is canceled.
November 29 : Concert at the Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque.
November 30 : Concert at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.
December 6 : The concert scheduled at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland is canceled.
December 8 : The concert scheduled at the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle is canceled.
December 9 : Concert at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada.
December 10 : The concert scheduled at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth is canceled.
December 11 : The concert scheduled at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio is canceled.
December 13 : Concert at the United States Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino.
December 14 : Concert at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
December 15 : Concert at the Sports Arena in San Diego.
December 16 : Concert at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland.
December 18 + 19 : Concerts at the Forum in Inglewood.
December 21 : Last concert of the year at the Haynes Oval Cricket Ground in Nassau (The Bahamas).
1980
January 11+12+13 1980 : The Jacksons perform the last 3 concerts of the Destiny World Tour at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.
September 17 + 18 + 19 + 25 + 26 : The Jacksons give 5 concerts at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Set list for Destiny Tour from February 23, 1979 in London
“Dancing Machine”
“Things I Do for You”
“Ben”
“I Am Love”
“Keep on Dancing”
Medley: “I Want You Back” / “ABC” / “The Love You Save”
“I’ll Be There”
“Enjoy Yourself”
“Destiny”
“Show You the Way to Go”
“All Night Dancin'”
“Blame It on the Boogie”
Set list for Destiny Tour from October 3, 1979 in New Orleans
Dancing Machine
Things I Do For You
Get It Together
Ben
Keep on Dancing
I Wanna Be Where You Are
Jackson 5 Medley : “I Want You Back” / “ABC” / “The Love You Save”
“I’ll Be There”
Enjoy Yourself
Blame It On The Boogie
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
Set list for Destiny Tour from December 1979
“Dancing Machine”
“Things I Do for You”
“Get It Together”
“Off the Wall”
“Ben”
“Keep on Dancing”
Medley: “I Want You Back” / “ABC” / “The Love You Save”
“I’ll Be There”
“Rock with You”
“Enjoy Yourself”
“Blame It on the Boogie”
“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”
“Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”
Band members
First leg
Bass: Michael McKinney
Additional Guitar: Bud Rizzo
Keyboards: James McField
Drums: Tony Lewis
Second leg
Drums: Jonathan Moffett
Additional Guitar: Bud Rizzo
Bass: Michael McKinney
Keyboards: James McField
Horns: (East Coast Horns): Wesley Phillips, Cloris Grimes, Alan (Funt) Prater, Roderick (Mac) McMorris
LIVE ALBUMS/TV BROADCASTS/COMMERCIAL RELEASE
To this day, no full concert from the Destiny Tour 1979 has ever been officially released on video (VHS, DVD, Bluray or YouTube).
The Jacksons – Destiny Tour Live in Amsterdam (February 26, 1979) Audio only.
Destiny Tour Live in Uniondale (November 8, 1979) (filmed for ABC’s 20/20 TV show that will air in January 1980)
Destiny Tour – 3rd Leg – December 16th, 1979 – Oakland – Oracle Arena – 8.mm
Destiny Tour 1980 – Hawaii Report 1980 Hq
Dancing Machine Live – The Jacksons ( 1980 ) Hawaii | HQ |
Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at Park City, Utah on January 24, 2016. It was shown on the American television network Showtime on February 5, 2016. The film was released along with a reissue of the original Off the Wall album on February 26, 2016. It features never before seen pro HQ footage from Destiny Tour 1979 (December 16, 1979 at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland) and Triumph 1981 (September 26, 1981 at The Forum in Inglewood).
Jackson Dynasty 