There seem to be so many conflicting stories in regards to the true state of Michael Jackson’s health prior to his death on Thursday 25th June. It’s a well known fact that Jackson had been following a gruelling schedule in preparation for his much anticipated ‘This is it Tour at London’s O2 Arena.

After the announcement of the Concerts, demand for tickets proved to be enormous, and the run was eventually extended to 50 concerts, with hundreds of thousands of tickets sold. The dates were spread over several months, starting in early July and stretching well into 2010. The first four dates were later postponed, ostensibly because the singer needed more time for dress rehearsals in the venue. Some people close to the singer expressed doubt whether he would be able to pull off so many concerts.

In preparation for the London performances, Jackson had to undergo a five-hour physical examination. AEG Live Chief Executive Randy Phillips said in March that Mr. Jackson had “passed with flying colors.” Mr. Jackson’s agreement with AEG Live, owned by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, included an option to extend the concert series even further into a world-wide tour over three years or more. All told the tour could have earned him $400 million.

While rehearsing for the tour, reports began to surface that Jackson was addicted to several different ‘painkillers’. 10 hour-a-day rehearsals, depression and massive amounts of pressure to ‘perform’ at an optimum level have painted a picture that Jackson allegedly ‘upped the anti’ and relied heavily on these drugs in order to ‘get through each day’.

There are reports from sources who were in attendance at the Concert Rehearsals which give the impression that there was no evidence of any fatigue or health problems prior to Jacksons death. 

“He was working hard, setting the example, overseeing the choreography, kicking butt and taking names,” said Johnny Caswell, president of CenterStaging Musical Productions Inc., a Burbank sound stage where Jackson rehearsed until late May. “He was ready to blow everybody out of the water. This was going to be the biggest extravaganza, entertainment spectacle ever.”

On the night before he died, his rehearsal went into the early hours of Thursday morning. “He looked great and had great energy. He wasn’t singing at full level, but it was as beautiful as ever,” Ed Alonzo said, a concert magician/comedian hired by Jackson. “He didn’t even take a moment to grab a bottle of water or take a rest. He went from one number to the other. ‘Let’s do that again.’ He wanted to look at props for the ‘Thriller’ number, a gigantic spider. He was dancing, singing, joking with the crew. If he was having any aches or pains, nobody knew about it that night.”

Other conflicting reports are telling a much darker story. The Guardian’s Sam Jones reports on Jackson’s last hours of life.

‘At 10pm on Wednesday Michael Jackson arrived at the 20,000-seat Staples Centre arena in downtown Los Angeles to rehearse for a comeback tour that he would not live to embark on.

His band, backing singers and dancers had been kept waiting for three hours to go through the show that was intended to regild his crown as the King of Pop. They saw a thin, listless and lethargic figure take the stage.

Despite his frailty and increasingly fading resemblance to the vigorous showman he had been two decades ago, Jackson practised late into the night. If he was unusually ill or upset, those present at the Staples Centre say they saw no sign of it.’

With all of the speculation in mind, perhaps Michael Jackson NEVER intended to perform any of these concerts. He did, after all postpone them, which also gave fuel to the fire that his ‘health’ was to blame. If we think about it for a moment, if Michael Jackson had died of a ‘Cardiac Arrest’ without having had these Concerts scheduled, the gruelling rehearsals, and the pressure to ‘keep in shape’, wouldn’t we all be VERY suspicious? If he hadn’t been ‘working so hard’ at rehearsals, why then would we believe that he simply dropped dead at the young age of 50 with no prior history of heart disease?

The concerts scheduled in London were a perfect way to point the spotlight back to Michael Jackson in order to make us believe that they were the cause of his untimely death. The media, fans and the world were all very quick to believe that’s why he had a heart attack. Once again, a veil has been draped over our eyes, and we are only seeing what they want us to see. The story just seems too set-up and ‘rehearsed’ as it were, to be believable. It’s almost too convenient that as soon as Michael Jackson started rehearsing again, he started taking more drugs, worked too hard and had a heart attack.

What we are all forgetting is that THIS IS WHAT HE HAS DONE HIS WHOLE LIFE! If you believe the heresay, you will also believe that he has also taken drugs his entire life. Why is it now a defining factor in his death? If stress and drug taking was to play a huge part in his death, then wouldn’t he have died during the trial of Child Sex Abuse in 2005? That must have been an extremely stressful time for him. Much more stressful, depressing and taxing on his health than preparing for performances which is something that would most likely be second nature to him.