Michael Jackson remains the world's most successful pop star, but maintaining that status gets harder all the time. His incredible achievements in the past have become sticks with which his detractors can beat him in the present. Sales of the current album, Dangerous, are routinely described as ``disappointing'', and yet after his Munich show, Jackson was presented with an award which recognised sales of no less than 14 million copies of Dangerous. Some disappointment.

Much therefore depends on the success of his European tour, which continues tonight at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam and reaches Britain on July 30 for the first of five nights at Wembley Stadium. It is not enough for these shows to be successful of course the 55,000-capacity venue in Munich was sold out, what else is new? they have to be seen to be successful.

For the most part, Jackson held his ground at Munich despite various technical difficulties. His pacing was suspect, with long gaps between numbers, and at times there was a feeling that he was putting on an action replay of the Bad tour, which ended in January 1989.

Many of the routines were familiar: the silhouetted gangster dance of ``Smooth Criminal'', the moonwalking steps in ``Billie Jean'' and the ghoulish troup surrounding him during ``Thriller'', now augmented by a gang of cute, computerised dancing skeletons.

Times Archive 1972 The Jackson Five live at Wembley

Michael Jackson's twinkling feet scarcely seemed to touch the stage

But there were new thrills and surprises too, none more astounding than the climax of the show, during which Jackson laboriously strapped himself into a jetpack/spacesuit contraption and then literally flew out from the front of the stage. There were gasps of disbelief as he hovered at about 30ft on a jet of compressed air, then swooped across a distance of 200 yards to an exit tunnel at the side of the stadium and disappeared into the night.

Whether it really was Jackson or a stand-in who performed the stunt, it was a coup de theatre without precedent, and won him a tumultuous ovation, dumbfounding the hard-bitten 900-strong media corps.

The logistics of staging this show are mind-boggling: an entourage of roughly 235 people will crisscross the continent for four months, carrying about 1,000 tons of equipment, including explosives, lasers and a multi-level stage that is a masterly feat of hydraulic engineering. The three generators required to power the operation provide enough juice to light a small town.

And that is just the European leg of the tour. Dates in the rest of the world have yet to be announced but it is thought this tour will be on the road for the next two years. The Jackson magic may be on the wane, but he is not going to surrender his crown without a fight.