Jackson's mirror image

Despite a sudden change of venue, protests from an angry MP calling for the show to be cancelled the Ultimate Thriller - Michael Jackson Tribute played before an audience of around 1,000 fans on Saturday evening - twice the number who turned up for its opening night 24-hours earlier.

Everything about its content, however, was meticulously planned and it was obvious within the first five minutes just how much work went into organising a stage show of such magnitude.

The tribute featured a live band and troupe of dancers and was choreographed by Mic Thompson, one of Michael's principal dancers and world famous choreographers.

The concert gave Jackson fans the closest experience they could hope for since the King of Pop's untimely death last year shortly before he was set for a series of comeback concerts in London.

The weekend's shows were part pantomime, part fantasy, part reality and part make believe ... but above all else ... thoroughly entertaining.

A selection of Jackson's hits was performed by impersonator Tej'ai Sullivan and his band and, of course, there was a lively display from his dancers. Some parts of the show were so 'spot on' that I actually had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't actually the original star reincarnated.

From the voice to the moonwalk, everything about the performance was pure Jackson. Tej'ai's make up was so immaculately 'whitened' I actually didn't notice his real skin tone until after the show, ironic really when you consider Michael's Jackson's youthful appearance!

"I thought the crowd was great, they had lots of energy and their energy gives me the energy that I need to put on a good show for them," said Tej'ai. "When I'm performing I am Michael Jackson, that's my job, to give people that image. This is Michael's show, this isn't my show, it's his show, so I do my best to make that as perfect as possible."

When asked about the controversy surrounding the show which fans say caused many to stay away from the opening night for fear of trouble, Tej'ai said that everybody was entitled to their opinion. "We're not here to cause any commotion, we just like to perform and we want to make this tribute to Michael because he was more than an icon to us, he really had a special place in each of our hearts.

"Since Michael died, the demand for impersonators is high because realistically the music industry is a very lonely place without Michael Jackson and in my opinion the world is a very lonely place without Michael Jackson."

For devoted Jackson fans in attendance, the experience was well-received and the show surpassed expectations according to Lucy Nicol, 23. "It was amazing it exceeded my expectations. I've seen the London West End Michael Jackson musical twice and this one was much better," she said.

"I so wanted to see Michael perform live and I was so excited when I got tickets for his 'This Is It' tour and when I heard that he had died I was completely gutted, I cried."

"Nothing will ever compare to the real Michael, but Tej'ai captured the spirit, you could tell he was a really big fan himself which was nice.

"Considering the bad press this event got in the beginning it was good to see people coming together and showing their love for Michael."

The tour will now move back to the US for the next leg but the show's producer, Robert Hyman, said that they would love to come back to Bahrain to give the fans another instalment of this tribute to the world's smoothest criminal ... MPs allowing.