{"id":38624,"date":"2026-07-30T14:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38624"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:43:17","slug":"history-starring-dynamic-george-st-kitts-delivers-the-king-of-pops-hits-to-thousands-at-town-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/history-starring-dynamic-george-st-kitts-delivers-the-king-of-pops-hits-to-thousands-at-town-park\/","title":{"rendered":"History \u2013 starring dynamic George St. Kitts \u2013 delivers The King of Pop\u2019s hits to thousands at Town Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

George St. Kitts is a dynamic performer and shares traits with the two most famous MJs in sports and entertainment history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the eye, St. Kitts has a remarkable resemblance to Michael Jordan as he leans into his songs center stage with the same ferocity that the six-time NBA champion would lean into hapless defenders on his way to another superhuman highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the ear, St. Kitts replicates the rich vocals of Michael Jackson, with remarkable precision and showmanship\u2014much to the delight of nearly 2,000 fans on Wednesday night at Town Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Kitts and his talented History ensemble, comprised of a trio of backup vocalists and a four-piece band, delivered a song list that appealed to a broad audience ranging from 7 to 87.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday\u2019s atmospheric conditions for an outdoor concert at Town Park were ideal for that wide-ranging demographic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A steady breeze kept things comfortably fresh and the setting sun made the park\u2019s maple and oak foliage shimmer\u2014complementing St. Kitts\u2019s own glittering apparel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18-degree temps and clean, cool air were in sharp contrast to last Wednesday\u2019s apocalyptic outdoor conditions which forced Queen Tribute band Sheer Heart Attack and its hundreds of fans into the Pfaff Arena at ARC due to toxic smoke from firestorms west of Thunder Bay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, the only semblance of fire on Wednesday night was a red-hot lead singer fully in charge of delivering the Michael Jackson catalogue of songs to an audience hungry for post-Jackson-5 hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Kitts glided across the stage and moonwalked hundreds of fans down memory lane\u2014all the way back to the late 70\u2019s when Jackson released his first solo albums.  He treated the boomers– in search of such nostalgia\u2014to a show-stopping, concert-closing version of MJ\u2019s MTV masterpiece \u201cThriller.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concert opened with a montage of Jackson-5 song fragments flowing into one another\u2014giving off a \u2018Stars on 45\u2019 vibe, but the dance floor filled immediately after the Prelude medley when St. Kitt\u2019s locked down on his first full offering of the night, \u201cThe Way You Make Me Feel\u201d, with its throbbing, catchy, and danceable basslines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Kitts kidded about his age, suggesting he felt good \u201cfor a 45-year-old,\u201d but the veteran showman moved seamlessly from self-deprecation into a rich and resonant version of \u201cI Wanna Rock With You\u201d backed superbly by his trio of vocalists. Bubbles flowed above the dance floor and the blended vocals helped the crowd \u201cDance the Night Away\u201d as per St. Kitt\u2019s invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talented vocalist switched costumes from a silver jacket to a shimmering sequined number that caught the band shell lights and set up an energized version of \u201cWho\u2019s Bad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Kitts slowed it down with the ballad, \u201cShe\u2019s Out of My Life\u201d, that featured the only shaky vocals of the night, but the consummate showman quickened the tempo and re-filled the dance floor by moonwalking through \u201cEnjoy Yourself\u201d and charming the assembly with \u201cHuman Nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stellar four-part harmonies powered the popular number, and GSK hit some of those high notes that might scare away lesser Tribute artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon noting that \u201cMichael Jackson is my all-time favourite artist,\u201d St. Kitts took the capacity crowd into the break with \u201cWhat About Us?\u201d, penned by Jackson as a more thoughtful, self-reflexive artist as the working title of his 1995 environmental anthem \u201cEarth Song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Kitts acknowledged that the timing of the intermission couldn\u2019t have been better by admitting, \u201cI gotta go the bathroom and it\u2019s a long walk.\u201d  After this moment of levity, Mayor Tom Mrakas took centre stage and the Town of Aurora team announced that the two main acts at this year\u2019s Ribfest would be Canada\u2019s Best Party Band Dwayne Gretzky on Friday, August 28.  Even bigger news was that Big Wreck would be rolling into Machell Park on Saturday, August 29 to deliver their catalogue of hits including \u201cThat Song,\u201d \u201cBlown Wide Open,\u201d \u201cAlbatross,\u201d and \u201cThe Oaf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George St. Kitts emerged from intermission in Jackson\u2019s regal royal blue and gold jacket and blasted through the monster hits \u201cBlack Or White,\u201d \u201cPretty Young Thing,\u201d and \u201cBillie Jean\u201d during which the lead singer donned the famous black fedora and white gloves. George made us know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that \u201cThe kid is not my son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After St. Kitts belted out a few lines from \u201cSweet Caroline,\u201d he curtailed the crowd\u2019s rhythmic reaction with \u201cNo, no, no\u2014wrong show\u201d alluding to other tribute performances he has delivered at Town Park.  Instead, he rolled into \u201cGotta Be Startin\u2019 Somethin\u2019\u201d and the throbbing bassline and hypnotic choral clapping helped move the lead singer seamlessly into \u201cShake Your Body Down to the Ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sing-a-long emerged from History\u2019 s delivery of \u201cMan in the Mirror.\u201d The timely lyrics \u201cIf you want to make the world a better place\/ take a look at yourself\/ and make the change\u201d resonated in a crowd that stretched all the way to MJ fans enjoying dinner and drinks at Slabtown Armoury\u2019s patio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sing-a-long energized the audience and St. Kitts who moved into a soaring performance of \u201cThriller\u201dduring which the personable lead singer invited audience members to dance with him on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the sun set on GSK and the History ensemble, the talented octet delivered its encore:  a pitch-perfect version of Earth, Wind, & Fire\u2019s \u201cSeptember\u201d led by St. Kitts\u2019s background singers whose soulful delivery gave the audience a final burst of energy so they could get their arms in the air, fold up their lawn chair, make a spirited exit from the park, and commence their trek to the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, St. Kitts brought his A-game to Town Park on Wednesday night \u2013 just as MJ did at any hard court for decades and as MJ did at any music venue during his equally unforgettable career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George St. Kitts is a dynamic performer and shares traits with the two most famous MJs in sports and entertainment history. To the eye, St. Kitts has a remarkable resemblance to Michael Jordan as he leans into his songs center stage with the same ferocity that the six-time NBA champion would lean into hapless defenders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-30-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a2Y","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-06 17:47:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38626,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38624\/revisions\/38626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}