A Michael Jackson memorial service will be held on the 7th July 2009 at Staples Center, Los Angeles.
A total of 1.6 million scrambled for the tickets..However, many were disappointed as only 11,000 tickets were given out free to the selected lucky applicants..
The 90-minute event will be a celebration of the life of Jackson, who died on June 25 at age 50 of an apparent cardiac arrest.
Among the memorial participants will be Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
Fans wait in line to sign a large poster of Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Monday..
About 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, for free.A motorcade has left the home of Michael Jackson's parents, apparently heading for a private service in advance of a star-studded memorial in downtown Los Angeles.
Numerous vehicles under California Highway Patrol escort headed out from the San Fernando Valley property shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday. The motorcade included five Rolls-Royces, three Cadillac Escalades and 10 identical black Range Rovers.
The motorcade is believed headed for Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills for a private ceremony where the body of Michael Jackson is rumoured to be laid to rest.
A freeway has been shut down amid Los Angeles' morning rush hour for the motorcade.
Los Angeles was the epicenter of Jackson-mania, but the outpouring of emotion was worldwide.
All around the world, countries are showing the event "live"..
Belgium's two national public broadcasters were to broadcast the memorial live later Tuesday and several hundred Jackson fans gathered at a Hong Kong mall late Tuesday.
Fans in Asia planned to stay up into the wee hours, bars across Europe were holding Michael Jackson theme nights and television stations from Sydney to Paris were clearing their schedules Tuesday to broadcast the King of Pop's star-studded memorial service live from Los Angeles.
In London, some fans planned to watch the event on a big screen outside the 02 Arena, where Jackson was to have performed 50 comeback shows starting next week. Others said they would watch at home after the BBC announced it would cancel scheduled programming and show the ceremony live.
Fans were gathering at Berlin's O2 World arena and at a restaurant just off Paris' Champs-Elysees, where screens were being erected and Parisians were invited to bring their own music to ensure a steady Jackson-only soundtrack for the event.In Sweden, fans were planning candlelit gatherings in central squares in the three biggest cities: Stockholm, Goteborg and Malmo. A sports bar in Oslo, Norway was hoping to put together a special Jackson-themed menu to accompany its celebration.
Several Australian TV stations also planned to carry the event live, and the memorial was being broadcast on a giant screen in the southern city of Melbourne at 3 a.m. local time.
In Hong Kong, a suburban mall planned to tune its TV screens to the event at 1 a.m. as part of a celebration featuring performances of Jackson's signature "moonwalk" and a nonstop broadcast of his videos.
In Japan, home to some of Jackson's most passionate fans, about 100 people gathered at a Tower Records store in downtown Tokyo to watch his videos on a big screen hours before the Los Angeles memorial. The store, which Jackson visited twice, displayed his hand print in a cement block and large posters celebrating his performances. Several shelves dedicated to the pop star were stacked with his CDs and DVDs.
In the Philippines, the country's longest running noontime television variety show, "Eat Bulaga," said it would hold a Jackson dance contest Wednesday in honor of the pop icon after the Los Angeles memorial.
Even in reclusive, military-controlled Myanmar, a dance group held a memorial service for Jackson and nearly 200 fans staged a candlelight vigil in a Yangon park last week, the local Weekly Eleven News journal reported.
It has become a global event!
Jackson's fans from all over the world are definitely not going to miss this global event..
Me included..
I'm one of them who's gonna stay up to watch the "live" telecast showing on Singapore Television, Mediacorp Channel 5 at 1.30am later!!!
How I wish I was 1 of the lucky 11,000 who were selected to have the free tickets to access into the Staples Center, Los Angeles to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service..
