MORE THAN 1.6 million people have applied for just 17,500 tickets to Michael Jackson’s memorial service tomorrow.
Los Angeles authorities are preparing for massive crowds and there will be no funeral procession. Fans without tickets will be excluded from a wide area around the Staples Centre where the service will take place.
The Los Angeles Police Department fears, however, that between 250,00 and 700,000 may try to reach the arena in an effort to glimpse the arrival of stars.
The free tickets will be distributed today following an internet lottery and in an attempt to stop scalping, ticket-holders will have a tamper-proof wristband attached to their hand when they pick up their ticket.
Jackson, whose death on June 25th remains unexplained, will have a private family funeral before the public memorial service. By yesterday, the family had not specified where the singer would be buried nor announced details of the line-up at the Staples Centre.
Ken Ehrlich, a former producer of the Grammy Awards, is producing the memorial service and Kenny Ortega, who was to have co-directed Mr Jackson’s series of 50 concerts in London this summer, will direct it.