The lineup is set to be announced prior to the start of ticket sales – slated to go on sale on August 20th.

Ode To Michael Jackson by Apollo Poetry (TravelingPoet.com)

“Society. I must ask you now.
Do you Remember The Time when a man inspired us to not Stop until We Had Enough?
And once we did, he told us to Beat It.
The Man in the mirror saw himself in Black and White.
Because he realized it would take a Thriller to Heal the World.

Do we mourn the loss of an icon? Does death seem more real to us now?
Heroes aren’t supposed to die.
They’re supposed to live forever.
Our childhoods were supposed to always last.
Our dreams are suppose to keep us alive.
Perhaps the part of us that still believed in Neverland died a long time ago.
And since we stopped believing in our imaginations, we had to destroy anybody who didn’t give up on theirs.

I wonder if the jokes will stop now.
Now that he has lost his face, is he finally beautiful enough for society?
Now that he has angel wings, is he finally white enough for the media?
Now that he is gone, how many comedians have to re-write their act?
This is what we do humanity.
We take something beautiful and destroy it.
We do it to our bodies. We do it to our God. And we do it to our Earth.

So today, we don’t mourn the loss of an icon.
We mourn the loss of what the icon represented in our own consciousness.
We mourn the loss of our dreams. Our imagination. Our childhood.

Do you remember the time? Do you remember the time?
Back when we can play without fear of being judged.
Back when we can fly without the fear of falling down.
Back when we could smile, for absolutely no reason at all.

We have spent so much time working, that we have forgot how to play.
We have spent so much time standing still in our lives, that we have forgot how to dance.
Not only have we robbed ourselves of our childhood dreams, but we have criticized others for following theirs.

Perhaps Michael is now singing with God.
Perhaps he is flying with Peter Pan.
Perhaps he is now moon walking on the clouds of heaven.

Wherever he is, I know that he is finally free.
Free to be who he is, rather than a prisoner of who he was.
We haven’t lost an entertainer. We have lost ourselves.

And his death didn’t happen in June of 2009. It happened many years ago.
The killers of our inner child. The judges of our own fate. The builders of our own prisons.

Michael Jackson.

I pray that you don’t rest in peace…..
I hope that you dance in it.”

• Stevie Wonder
• Mariah Carey
• Usher
• Lionel Richie
• Kobe Bryant
• Jennifer Hudson
• John Mayer
• Martin Luther King III

In addition, it has been reported that more than 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kan., to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast Michael Jackson’s memorial live. It is estimated that Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service will probably be bigger than that of Elvis or Princess Diana.