Newsweek digs up story on Michael Jackson’s 1984 tour kick off in KC

Yesterday, we posted a video from the Jacksons’ 1984 Victory Tour, which started at Arrowhead Stadium. Newsweek dipped into its archives and dug up this cover story on the Michael Jackson phenomenon in the ’80s. Here’s how crazy people were for the King of Pop back then:

In Kansas City, the hoopla began in June. When newspapers containing the first official ticket order forms rolled off the presses in the early hours of June 19, fans were lined up to buy them. “It’s ridiculous!” said disc jockey Roy Leonard, who has been following the Jackson craze for the Chicago radio station WGN: “People were stealing papers off other people’s front lawns.”

Big Brother: As every newspaper thief soon learned, Michael’s show was no easy mark. Anxious fans were instructed to mail a money order (four tickets for $120), with no guarantee of a specific date, a good seat—or even any tickets at all. Despite the stiff price and chancey prospects (tickets were to be randomly distributed), customers in Kansas City jammed into post offices to buy money orders—15,000 in one day.

Post offices yearn for those days. Read the full story here.