Snob Reviews By Gianni Fiasche

This past weekend was jam-packed with festivities around the city, the main event being the Montreal Grand Prix and what better way to end it all off then with music royalty. The Jacksons graced the stage of L’olympia de Montreal Sunday night with a non-stop party of hits to cap off Grand Prix weekend. Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie and Tito gave a rare, intimate performance that had the sold-out crowd up and dancing throughout the whole set; and boy can they still dance! Kicking off the night with their 1981 hit, “Can You Feel It”, they came out guns blazing and ready to slay the crowd. The famous brothers didn’t show signs of slowing down either; with hits that followed up like “Blame It On The Boogie”, “Enjoy Yourself”, “This Place Hotel (A/K/A Heartbreak Hotel)”, and even a cover of their late brother Michael’s classic track, “Rock With You”, which had the crowd swooning and singing at the top of their lungs.

Other hits came not too long after with what Marlon calls “the early hits”, the brothers played a medley from the famous Ed Sullivan performance, and for those familiar that meant it was time to hear, “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “The Love You Save”, and “Never Can Say Goodbye”. There was so much nostalgia and happiness in the air it was infectious. If you looked around the room, not a single person looked unhappy; smiles galore. As much as you’ve got to love The Jacksons, the obvious main ingredient was missing, and that was Michael. Jermaine paid a fitting tribute to him while performing “Gone Too Soon”, a track off MJ’s iconic “Dangerous” album. The performance also featured photos of Michael and his brothers projected up on screen with the words, “Michael Forever” across it. The crowd went nuts! Not too long after that, another touching moment came about when “I’ll Be There” was performed, with the audience singing out every word, almost overpowering the brothers on stage.

A small break took place in between the set and it was time for brother Tito Jackson to show off some his tracks from his new album, which people actually dug. The rest of the brothers took the chance to switch up outfits, and then it was time to get back to the hits. The brothers were then joined by two finalists from “La Voix”, Rebecca and Margo for “Can’t Let Her Get Away”, a deep MJ cut from 1991. The Jacksons played another MJ cover, “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” off “Thriller”, and we simply couldn’t wait for the “Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa” part to come up, and when it did, the clapping, and singing, the room became so alive. It was definitely one of the highlights of the evening. “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” closed off the massive dance party, interpolating a big jam session with the band and the brothers playing along with the crowd. After the Jacksons left the stage, they were invited to come back and were given an honorary recognition award for playing a huge part in urban culture in Canada. There were five awards on stage, one was for Michael. What a night to remember and a hell of a way to close out the most beautiful weekend of the year of the so far.