Los Angeles police confirmed today that Michael Jackson's body will be on display as the biggest names in black American music give the singer a superstar's send-off.
Tens of thousands of fans gathered around Los Angeles's Staples Center – the sports arena where Jackson rehearsed the night before his death – for a public memorial show due to start at 10am (1800 BST).
Before then, Jackson family members were due to hold a private funeral ceremony at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the city.
But they will not actually be putting the singer, who died 12 days ago after collapsing at his home, to rest.
William Bratton, the LA police chief, said that the gold-plated casket carrying Jackson's body would be taken across town for display at the public memorial.
He did not say how it would get there, but the celebrity news website TMZ.com – which was the first to report Jackson's death – said that it would be taken by helicopter if any safety issues arose.
A total of 8,750 pairs of tickets were handed out to the memorial show after more than 1.6 million fans applied via an online lottery.
The family has already announced that participants will include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
Also taking part is Shaheen Jafargholi, a 12-year-old from Swansea, who came to prominence singing a Jackson song on the last series of Britain's Got Talent. The singer was reportedly enchanted by the boy's performance and had lined him up to take part in his ill-fated comeback concerts in London.
As Jackson's relatives left the family home this morning for the initial private service, Mr Bratton said that he had deployed an extra 1,400 officers for the occasion. “This is probably the largest event we’ve planned for since the 1984 Olympics,” he told CNN.
Although the event at the Staples Centre is limited to 20,000 ticket holders, authorities feared that as many as 250,000 people could flood the area just to soak up the atmosphere and glimpse the stars appearing in the service and have asked for fans to stay home and watch on TV.
“We have no idea how many people are going to show up here other than those who have the tickets inside the event inside of Staples,” Mr Bratton said. “We’re not anticipating disorderly crowds -- just anticipating very large crowds."
It was not just Los Angeles that was hit by Jacksonmania, however. The memorial show was to be rebroadcast live in theatres across the United States and fans around the world had made plans to say their own farewell to the singer.
In London, some fans planned to watch the event on a big screen outside the 02 Arena, where Jackson was to have performed 50 comeback shows starting next week. Others said they would watch at home after the BBC cleared the schedule on BBC Two.
The cast of West End tribute show Thriller Live planned to hold a minute’s silence before the curtain. The theatre said it would dim its lights in memory of the star.
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