KING OF POP SETS
ANNIVERSARY SHOW

Not to be outdone by Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson announced on Monday (4/16) that he would celebrate his 30^th anniversary as a solo artist in an appropriately diva-esque fashion, with an all-star concert, reports E! Online.

The September 7 Madison Square Garden concert, conveniently titled Michael Jackson: The Solo Years 30^th Anniversary Celebration, will be Jacko’s first U.S. appearance since the Bad Tour in the late ‘80s. According to Jackson’s publicist Cheri Fine, Whitney Houston, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Marc Anthony, Jill Scott, Deborah Cox, Mya and Shaggy are all slated to perform.

Jackson will also reunite onstage with brothers Tito, Jackie, Marlon, Jermaine and Randy for a medley of classic Jackson 5 tunes. The Jackson brothers—curiously, all six of them—are currently working on a new album together.

The concert will be taped for future broadcast on TV, although specific information on when and where the show might appear was not available at press time.

"I am very excited to celebrate my 30^th anniversary as a solo artist with such a distinguished array of talent, friends and fans," Jackson said from behind a mask, inside an oxygen cocoon, from an undisclosed location, perhaps in a floating fortress somewhere off the coast of Madagascar. "I look forward to performing live and reuniting with my brothers on this special night."

Jackson was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has a long-awaited album now slated for a fall release.

Ironically, the show will be held the same night as Gary Jackson: The HITS Years Gala Celebration, which will be broadcast on local cable access.

Let it be noted that this story included no mention of either monkeys or young boys—except, of course, in this disclaimer.