Michael Jackson London June 2002 - Day 7 June 18

 Day 7 June 18 

I arrive at hotel around 10 am and as I walk up the street I see hardly any fans and that the barriers have been moved. Michael had left about an hour before and I had missed him.

 I find Jenny and collect my sleeping bag from the fans that had slept out. It had rained last night and they had got soaked.

As usual when Michael leaves, all the fans leave too. Suddenly being at the hotel feels totally different, like something is missing. There is a different feeling in the air, emptiness and silence.

Since the last time Michael was in London, in March 2001, things had changed a lot in the fan community.  There was a lot more cliques and small groups, fans were not as friendly and were not sharing information as much.  I didn't enjoy this trip as much as the previous times.  We found out afterwards that some fans had booked rooms in the hotel. This meant that they were allowed on hotel property while the rest of us were not. It was the fans who were staying in the hotel who met Michael every time he left or came back, while those of us at the barrier could not even get to see him.  It was the fans who were staying in the hotel who knew where Michael was going, i.e. to Harrods or to Hamley’s, while those of us outside the hotel, at the barriers did not know anything.

This caused a lot of hostility between the fans outside the hotel and the fans who were inside the hotel.  Like the majority of fans, the only time on this trip that I actually saw Michael was at Exeter Football Stadium, the Sony demo and at Killer Thriller. Things just didn't go right for me on this trip, a combination of the heat, the fan situation and not being able to see Michael just made me very unhappy.  I decided I would have one more go, that if I felt the same after the next trip, then I wouldn't travel any more to see Michael.