Wouldn't you have expected someone to provide the King of Pop with a more salubrious setup backstage to prepare himself? Someone should have told the Germans. Shame on you, Bremen in 1997!
Despite a gold lame catsuit that would have made Elvis Presley himself weep with envy, Jackson looks nervous, a surprise for an artist of his stature. There are visible crossings-out on the paper pinned to the mirror; perhaps last minute changes to the set, which he, as a perfectionist, would not have welcomed? Given the year the photo was taken, this is truly a moment in time; it comes towards the end of his HIStory tour- one of the biggest selling albums of all time, but also Jackson's final major musical impact on the world, before his personal life came to overshadow his incredible success.