Who would have thought it? Michael Jackson is to perform in the Millennium Dome - sorry, O2 Arena - at the age of 50. The thing is, will he still be able to thrill?

Michael Jackson is now half a century old, though his face is only around 30. He is to perform at the O2 in Greenwich, much to the delight of his diehard fans who have remained faithfully loyal to their idol through thick and thin.

There have been many accusations directed towards Mr Jackson over the years that have tarnished his image and the way that we feel about him, even though he has never been found guilty of anything more than using too much eyeliner.

Michael has moon walked in and out of so many weird situations that it is hard to keep track of them all. But then, when your best friend is a chimp, your ex-wife is the daughter of Elvis and your idea of showing your new baby a good time is by dangling it from a balcony, controversy is always knocking on the door.

Michael Jackson is a very talented man; there can be no argument about that. Who can forget the fantastic Thriller video, an absolutely groundbreaking piece that changed the whole genre of music videos forever? Then again, that was twenty-odd years ago.

Can his fans really expect a man of 50 to perform on stage with the same gusto that he did when he was a young man? By all accounts, his health has been suffering for many years and recent performances have been rather disappointing to say the least.

Even his appearance at Greenwich last week was a brief one, consisting of a few words that amounted to little more than, ‘I am still here. Please adore me’.

To be honest, I don’t think the hardcore fans would be disappointed if Jackson simply walked on stage and did an abridged version of the hokey cokey before walking off again; they would still talk about how wonderful was the time they saw Michael in the flesh, probably boring their grandchildren with the fact right up until the day they died.

So, what ARE fans expecting to see? Do they think that Michael will surprise everyone and prove the critics wrong by singing and dancing his pants off?

Surely, Jacko fans are not under the illusion that he will surpass himself and manage to perform through all his shows from start to finish without walking off stage for a breather.

Still, one only has to look at poor old Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, who spasmodically appears at festivals and mumbles his way through his old hits, much to the delight of his adoring public, to appreciate that fans look at their heroes through rose tinted spectacles.

Love him or hate him, Michael Jackson is a legend for all the right and wrong reasons. If you have the odd £20,000 to spare, why not go and see him?

As for myself, I think I would rather remember him as he was, before he was promoted to a god.