I still can’t quite believe it but Michael Jackson is forging ahead with his This Is It concert tour, regarded as the finale to his career. What’s more, he’s beginning the world tour with a residency at the London O2 Arena for 50 gigs. Is this a train wreck just waiting to happen?

For a man who hasn’t sung live for over a decade, is a shadow of his former self, and has been a virtual recluse for the last four years, this should be fun. With 50 nights of performances now sold out, Jacko needs all the help he can get.

There have already been rumors that Jackson is seeking to secure the services of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, although I can’t see why they’d give up their own tours to be bit-part players for This Is It.

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2009 is approaching fast and so it’s time to look back at 2008. Here we’ll see the high and lowlights of the first three months of the year, with a selection of stories we covered between January and March.

January

The month began with Queen being named as the best British band of all time, beating The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Take That, and Oasis. Sad news in the middle of the month when Lily Allen suffered a miscarriage. She later split with boyfriend Ed Simons.

Geri Halliwell claimed that the Spice Girls wouldn’t make a penny from their huge world tour despite it selling out everywhere. She was later proved a liar when it was revealed the girls had made $20 million apiece. Then the once-great girl group canceled the tour and split up again.

The Cribs took Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, on as a fourth member, while Amy Winehouse finally entered rehab.

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The fight for Christmas number one in the singles chart is a British tradition that I’m unsure has traveled to America or not. In the UK it’s always been the utmost honor to nab Christmas number one, a position Alexandra Burke seems guaranteed to capture this year.

I recently held a poll to find who Brit Music Scene readers thought would be Christmas number one, and the results show how much The X Factor dominates proceedings at this time of year.

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I have a lot of respect for Leona Lewis. She’s come from a reality television show and proved she’s capable of holding her own with some of the most accomplished female artists out there. She’s also the first true female diva the UK has had since Shirley Bassey.

Leona is a great singer, and will probably have a long career completely sailing against the wind of the usual fate which befalls winners of The X Factor. But this particular song may be a bit of a stretch because she’s covered a song known by everyone, and loved by most.

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I’m going to be reviewing Leona Lewis’ cover of Run by Snow Patrol tomorrow, having waited until the official video became available. But the single has already been released, being available to download since Nov. 30. And 70,000 people in the UK have already done exactly that.

BBC News reports that Run has become the fastest-selling digital-only track in the UK. Estelle’s American Boy was the previous record-holder, selling 51,000 downloads in the space of a week. But The X Factor 2006 winner Leona Lewis has smashed that, making her virtually guaranteed of grabbing number one on Sunday.

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After the disappointing tally of award wins at the recent 2008 MTV Video Music Awards in Liverpool, where only Leona Lewis, Paul McCartney, and Rick Astley won, it’s nice to be able to report how British artists fared better at the World Music Awards in Monaco over the weekend.

Coldplay were named as ‘Bestselling Act of 2008′ thanks to their new album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, hit the top of the charts in countries around the world, including the UK, the US, Japan, France, and Germany. Chris Martin and chums were also named ‘Best Rock Act’ although I’m not sure I’d really class their brand of indie pop as rock necessarily.

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The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have just come to an end with a truly spectacular closing ceremony. And who did they choose to bring down the curtain on this very successful Olympics? British stars Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page of course. Oh, and David Beckham was also there.

Obviously the reason the UK played such a big part in the closing ceremony of the Olympics this time around was because it’s our turn next time. Yes, the Olympic Games in 2012 will be coming from Great Britain, with capital city London as the centrepiece.

So this meant we had the strange spectacle of seeing a red London double decker bus in the middle of the Beijing 2008 Olympic stadium. That is at least until it opened up to allow a resplendent Leona Lewis in the longest dress in the world emerge on a podium.

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Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday concert, held to pay tribute to the freedom fighter and former President of South Africa, as well as to draw attention to raise funding for and awareness of the 46664 Campaign, Mandela’s HIV and Aids charity.

The concert included appearances from the cream of the crop of British music talent. This included Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Queen, Simple Minds and Annie Lennox. Other stars from the world of entertainment introduced the acts on stage, including Will Smith, Quincy Jones and Lewis Hamilton.

The concert was held 20 years after a similar concert was held in 1988 to celebrate Mandela’s 70th birthday, and to call for his release from prison which he was being held because of his anti-apartheid views. While the main emotion on show back then was frustration and anger, this time around saw happiness and optimism shine through.

Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990 and went on to become South Africa’s first black President. He now spends his days promoting awareness of the huge HIV and Aids problem around the world in developing countries, and Africa in particular.

The concert had a hard time competing with the first day of the 2008 Glastonbury Festival, but 46,664 people turned up to show their support for the cause, and to see some brilliant musical performances. The 46664 is an important number due to it being Mandela’s prisoner number while in jail.

The biggest performance at the gig came from Amy Winehouse, who was released from hospital, where she is receiving treatment for the early stages of lung disease emphysema, just for the concert.

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It’s a long way from being a contestant on a Simon Cowell produced reality show to becoming a number one artist on the US Billboard charts, but that is exactly what Leona Lewis has achieved, and oh, how she deserves her success.

Lewis, from Hackney, in East London, entered The X-Factor competition in 2006, and instantly blew the judges away with her beautiful voice, and subtle way of changing classic songs and making them her own.

She went on to beat Ray Quinn in the final, and what a good result that has turned out to be.

Bleeding Love has already topped the British charts, spending seven weeks there at the end of 2007, and becoming the best selling single of the year with 1 million copies sold.

It has also topped charts around the world, but it’s taken North America a little time to catch on to the phenomenal talent Lewis possesses.

The song had been at the top of the US iTunes chart for two weeks, and finally made it to the top of the big one this week.

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9.00pm - Leona Lewis performs Bleeding Love after a fawning eulogy from Ms Osbourne. She doesn’t put a step wrong, but there’s no excitement, just a purple dress.

9.05pm - Denise Van Outen and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber come on stage to present the award for Best International Group.

Nominations - Kings Of Leon, Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, White Stripes, The Eagles. And the winner is…

Foo Fighters! Who unsurprisingly can’t be there.

Dave Grohl is a top bloke though, so he’s forgiven.

9.08pm - James Nesbitt announces the winner of Best British female.

Nominations - Kate Nash, Bat For Lashes, PJ Harvey, Leona Lewis, KT Tunstall. And the winner is…

Kate Nash! Brilliant… very much deserved. A favourite here at Brit Music Scene.

She does the normal thanking thing, and gives a shout out to the Brit School people.

9.11pm - International Album, presented by ex-Eastenders star Michelle Ryan.

Nominations - Kylie, Arcade Fire, The Eagles, Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon. And the winners is…

Foo Fighters! Again, the right choice, and Dave Grohl even manages to make a joke by taking the piss out of the Brits themselves. Nice.

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