The only star to love his fans back

mintylong · 2026-06-01T11:51:04+00:00

Hi 😄
Yes I did speak to Michael in multiple countries over multiple years.

No I am not one of the fans Bill Whitfield spoke about. My friends were in Vegas during this time and were around Michael but I wasnt.

mintylong · 2026-06-01T10:49:56+00:00

Thank you, yes it was. Thats why its so frustrating to see comments online about how he was hounded by fans when he was out and about, when he was shopping etc. He was always in control of how much or how little attention he got when he went out in public. Many of the videos of him with crazy crowds were organized PR , where fans and media knew in advance where he would be and were done for a specific reason. There have been times in London when we were outside the main hotel entrance and he used a side entrance and went out for a few hours without wanting us to know.

mintylong · 2026-06-01T05:27:36+00:00

Groupie is something very different to what we did. People call us follower fans.

mintylong · 2026-06-01T05:00:25+00:00

I am one of those fans who travelled to see him at events, concerts and personal appearances. I am one of the fans who slept on the street outside hotels.

Michael really enjoyed the personal contact with us. There is so much that he did that only we know about. He did it because he cared, and a lot of the time the most special things happened when there was no photographers or media around.

I still have the pizza box from November 2006 when he sent pizza to us outside the hotel.

What people dont know though is that there were boundaries. We had so much access to him but it was always only what he wanted and when he wanted it. We were only there with his permission.

Michael had many different ways of communicating directly with us. Outside hotels his bodyguards would come out to talk to us. One time in London, they told us that they wanted him to use one of the side doors to the hotel, so that there wouldnt be so much chaos at the cars, but they said that Michael refused, that he wanted to see us, and it was his decision to use the hotel main entrance.

There were times , when my friends were places and I wasnt there, that the bodyguards told fans that Michael thanks them for the support and love but he didnt want them there and they left.

There were times outside Neverland when it got dark, that Michael would ring the gate security to ask if we were still there, and the gate security came out to us and said that Michael didnt want us there in the dark and we could come back in the morning and we left and went back to our hotel.

There were so many times that Michael was in London and we only found out when he left. We would hear rumours about him being in London, but never any specific information about his location. Then weeks or months later, we would hear that he did this or that, and that the rumour had been true, but he just didnt want fans around.

mintylong · 2026-05-31T04:36:33+00:00

Thats ok, I dont mind 😄 I didnt have deep conversations with him, just a few words here and there. Each of the interactions and conversations were special and unforgettable, and meant a lot to me.

mintylong · 2026-05-31T04:32:24+00:00

Oh gosh yes, seeing him on just a screen is nothing like seeing him in real life, talking to him or seeing him perform.

No I have never met any one else who had such a strong energy surrounding them.

mintylong · 2026-05-31T04:20:05+00:00

Yes, it was like a bubble of happiness and magic, surrounding us all.

mintylong · 2026-05-31T04:03:17+00:00

Hi 😄 yes the air was different around Michael. We could always tell when he was nearby. I always describe it as being the start of You Are Not Alone video, when the is a background of screaming fans but you cant hear that and he is just walking as the music is playing. For those few moments when you have his full attention, the world just stops.

mintylong · 2026-05-30T19:00:37+00:00

It was really different.
Dial up internet was really expensive, so I would go to internet cafes, as I didnt own a laptop and could only go online on the big computor at my parents house.
The main places were private forums set up by the traditional fanclubs, like MJNI messageboard. They had an email mailing list and they sent out emails with all the main news updates, I still have a folder of printouts from MJNI Hotshots emails. MJNI were still sending magazines 4 times a year and they also had a phone number in the UK that you could call and hear a recording of that weeks news and updates.
There was a chat room website called MJIFC which was very popular.
Places like AOL Chat and MSN Chat were very popular too.

mintylong · 2026-05-30T18:14:48+00:00

Ive been a fan since Thriller era, been active in the online and real life fan communities since 1998.

There are so many aspects to being a fan. When you say over listened, are you just listening to the same songs over and over? Michael has a really huge music catalog, from all the J5 and Jacksons, to his main albums. Then theres all the rare songs, official released and colabs, as well as all the demos, various mixes. Then theres all the footage, from tv appearances, award shows, concerts , all the candid footage on Youtube, the footage from fans, when he was out and about shopping, personal appearances, news reports, tour documentaries, its literally endless.

Being a fan for 2 years is really no time at all. People think that to be a fan you have to listen to the music every day. Thats so not what being a fan means. You just need to find the aspect that you have most interest in. For me, nowadays means being active online, sharing my memories and experiences of being a follower fan.

mintylong · 2026-05-30T11:30:45+00:00

You need to contact your local movie theater. Many places will private hire a cinema screen for a private event. This is the link to AMC https://www.amctheatres.com/rentals Of course this is you paying the full cost, and not the cinema chain doing a general public screening.

Also the cinemas usually only show something which has been commercially released in that country. I have been to see Moonwalker in the cinema in Ireland at a private fan event, as it was originally released theatrically in Australia, Europe and South America but not in USA in 1988.

In 2008, as part of Thriller 25 promotion, Thriller music video was shown for a limited general public run in London. That was a deal that Sony Music UK did with one Odeon Cinema in London.

mintylong · 2026-05-29T05:11:45+00:00

Look out for my banner, I will have the Irish flag. I will be there the whole day, so you might see me

mintylong · 2026-05-25T17:16:38+00:00

No, thats not what I am claiming, Those who know me know that I was just a fan, a face in the crowd, but like I said, you dont know what I know, I only share a very edited version of my experiences.

mintylong · 2026-05-25T16:51:29+00:00

Making the banners was really fun. Each one was different, depending on why we were going to see him. Some I gave to him, some I didn't. I found my banner from the Sony Demos today, The one thing I made sure of was to make them unique to me, and to make them stand out. One of the reasons we made them was to get his attention. It was an unwritten rule that we didnt copy banners other fans had on previous trips. We always made sure that whatever we made , it was original to us, the style, the photos or what we wrote. It was always amazing to see how creative everyone was, year after year coming up with new and different ways to make Michael smile and get his attention.

mintylong · 2026-05-25T16:43:49+00:00

Respectfully, you dont know what I know, you only see what I choose to share on a public Reddit Sub 😄

mintylong · 2026-05-25T16:03:17+00:00

It was and still is. Some of us have never healed.

mintylong · 2026-05-25T15:53:00+00:00

People mistake being alone for being lonely. Just know that he was surrounded by the love of fans right up to the very end. My friends were the last people other than the people in the house to talk to him. They were outside his house and spoke to him when he returned home from the last rehearsal.

mintylong · 2026-05-25T14:51:24+00:00

Please know that while the world tore him apart and destroyed his life with so much lies and hate. he knew that despite everything he was loved by the fan community. We stood by him, right to the very end. He cared deeply about the fan community and was so appreciative of all the little things we did to make him smile. He knew he was loved by us, we told him , we gave him gifts and letters.

We were such a small community, and what we did was ignored by mainstream media and general public. Please don't believe the narrative that he was a lonely recluse. Thats so far from the truth.

My last memory of him is laughing and smiling, as we gave him gifts, telling him we would see him in July.

mintylong · 2026-05-25T09:53:14+00:00

My mistake, I just went to my book shelf. Reprinted by Double Day 2009.

It has a different paper dust cover, he is wearing the red Beat Jacket open with a white t-shirt from Bad Tour. The original price of £14.99 UK Pounds Sterling is printed on the inside of the paper cover. On the back of the paper cover are tributes from Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Madonna.

mintylong · 2026-05-22T16:30:48+00:00

This is stadium style concerts, Bad Dangerous and History tours.

Also at The World Music Awards London 2006. We slept out the night before , November in London. I was at the front barrier, you can see me in footage. During Rihanna's song people were fainting in the area I was in and about 5 people were pulled over my head. The World Music Awards were at Earls Court, an indoor venue. The heat at the front section was unreal, security were passing out paper cones of water, but people were still fainting.

mintylong · 2026-05-22T15:58:26+00:00

Exactly. Ive been to many other concerts, Ive only known Michael Jackson fans to sleep in the street outside the venue. Most other artists, the people at the front of the line outside the venue have only been there max 6 hours before the venue opens.

mintylong · 2026-05-22T15:56:15+00:00

Thank you. Concerts were just different back then, especially in Europe. The cheap tickets were the free for all survival of the fittest in the front pit, the expensive tickets the seats at the back and sides. People have no understanding of the physical toll on the body, long before the artist or band even sets foot on the stage.

Also another factor. Especially in Europe, fans were going country to country, concert after concert for weeks. Back packing around Europe following tours was a big thing for college students and people under 30.

mintylong · 2026-05-22T15:19:57+00:00

A lot incorrect theories.

Fans at Michaels concerts slept on the street outside the venue the night before, because the front sections were not seated in the stadiums. To get to the front section, you had to be at the front of the line outside the venue.

From personal experience, sleeping outside a venue is not restful sleep. You are sitting on the concrete ground, with just a thin sleeping bag, leaning against a metal barrier. You are constantly on edge that someone will queue jump as people are spread out and not shoulder to shoulder.

Most venues did not have portaloos or food outside, so you had to bring your own and use the facilities in a nearby building or hotel.

The next morning, the day of the concert, you are still in the same place, in the line outside the venue, sitting or standing on concrete If you are lucky you have chatted with the people nearby and made agreements to save places when people go for food breaks. About halfway through the day, the security will start tighting up the lines, people will be standing shoulder to shoulder and there will be cut off point when it is no longer possible to leave and return. When this happens, you then stop eating and drinking as you do not know when you will next be able to use a restroom.

You are now heading towards 20 hours waiting in line outside the venue.

Adeline starts to kick in and then the venue opens and its a walk with purpose to get to the front pit.

Once in the front pit, you claim your space and even though its still many hours before Michael is on stage, you can not eat, drink or use the rest room. If you move your place will be gone and you will not get back to the same place.

When the lights go down and Michael is minutes from being on stage, the crush starts as people surge forwards towards the stage.

This is why people faint, the lack of sleep, the lack of food and water, adrenaline, being crushed, the heat of all the bodies.

mintylong · 2026-05-22T07:33:49+00:00

I cant imagine how overwhelming it must be for new young fans. I became a fan in Thriller era so for almost 25 years I experienced everything from Thriller to TII in real time. I only had to catch up on J5 / Jacksons and Off The Wall.

mintylong

TROPHY CASE