Opening Ceremony of "MJ Gallery" in Macau

MJ fans will remember that in an auction last November, a businessman from Hong Kong won the bid on some iconic MJ items, the most notable of which was the Rhinestone glove that Michael was wearing when he performed moonwalk for the first time at Motown 25th anniversary concert.

Now the collectibles are kept in a showroom named “MJ Gallery” at Ponte 16 Hotel in Macau. The gallery had its opening ceremony yesterday, which was also a celebration of the hotel’s 2nd anniversary of opening. The MJHKFC was invited by the hotel to join the event, witness the ceremony, and be among the first to visit the gallery. I, for one, made all the necessary arrangements to make sure I would be there! Here I’m sharing the experience with you all.

It takes approximately one hour of ferry ride to travel from HK to Macau. Members of the fan club gathered at the harbour at 2pm, and got on the turbojet which departed at 3pm. It was then that I realized how inadequately passionate I was as a fan when compared with my fellow members there. I mean, just look at them! They were wearing the t-shirt that MJ wears in beat it MV, Thriller jacket bought from the exhibition at O2 arena and other tees with MJ on them. And they somehow found lovely MJ bags to use! Like these:

When we finally landed in Macau, we took a shuttle bus to the hotel that was arranged especially for us.

Once there, anything with the MJ sign captured our attention, followed by a series of photo shooting by every single one of us!

Then we waited to get our souvenirs!!!!!

The glove also served as a ticket to the “restricted area” which was reserved for fans.

Our sweet fan club committee who had booked rooms for the night generously let us rest in their rooms while waiting for the ceremony (and concert) to start

The stage was set and things were getting ready….somewhat slowly.

Finally, when it was fully dark, the event started with a talented boy performing Dangerous!!

Followed by a Macau singing group performing Thriller

As you can see, the VIPs were not seated yet but they soon would.

Then the chairpersons of fan clubs of HK, Guangzhou, and the group “Dreamwalker”, spoke to the audience about their love for MJ. It’s Jessie on the left – one of the chairpersons of HKMJFC, and a totally wonderful lady!!!

And the drawing on the right was a tribute made by Dreamwalker members who painted the portrait with their names.

Darren Julien taped a speech for the event telling us how he wished he could be here with us witnessing the ceremony, but he had the Grammys award to attend…

After that some more important people spoke, and finally the ceremony was officially done. Look at this picture – it’s Coco Lee (singer from HK) on the far left, and it’s Shaheen Jafargholi (famous for his cover of “who's lovin' you”) on the far right. These two amazing singers were about to perform!

Coco first told us her very very lucky encounter with MJ. It was a charity concert in Korea. MJ invited her to come and perform in the concert and of course as a long-time fan she was super excited. When she met him backstage, she told him “Michael, I’m Coco, and I’m your biggest fan in the world!” and he said, “Coco, Coco, I like your name!” and she was like “OMG Michael likes my name!”

Then she started singing “Rock with you”. Wonderful cover.

This was followed by an amazing duet with Shaheen, singing “You’ve got a friend”

Shaheen then took over the stage and went on singing “Who is loving you”. No doubt he was chosen by Michael!

Some more artists performed and they were all amazing!!! For example Louis Cheung. He told us he used to imitate MJ since he was very little. He would get a partner and play magic – the magician hid him in a box, cut the box with knives, and then he came out again not only intact but as Michael Jackson! Last night he sang a super rock version of Smooth Criminal as well as Bad.

And of course a performance by one of HK’s favourite singers Khalil himself (everyone here knows he’s a big fan of MJ)

Then it was nearly 9pm – the official time when the Gallery would be open to public. It took quite a while before we could finally finish the wait in the queue and got into the Gallery. And we were going wild! Let me show you the gallery and share some of the items there...

Most of the items were genuine but some were replicas. But as a whole, the visit was totally overwhelming.

Everyone was hunting at the souvenir shop

And this is what I got for myself – the exact replica of the famous rhinestone glove (they said it’s limited to a stock of 300 only!)

And this is it for the day. We left in a rush in order to catch the ferry back to HK… :(

Although it was very exhausting for a Monday of a busy week, it’s definitely a wonderful evening. If you ever get the chance to visit, do it!!!!!! And make sure you have reserved sufficient time for the Gallery!!!

Big thanks to the fan club that brought us there; to my fiancé who took leave from work to accompany me there and share my feelings; and to everyone in the blog team – you were all there with me, and the pictures were all taken with you in my mind.

Biggest thanks going to MICHAEL JACKSON! From every corner of the world…we love you, and we miss you so much…