The interior of The O2 Arena, where the concerts were set to have been held. Jackson was to perform from July 2009 to March 2010—which would have been the longest residency at the arena.[9]On March 5, 2009 at the O2 Arena, Jackson announced that he was to perform 10 concerts as part of a comeback.[10][11] Jackson suggested possible post-show retirement: "I just wanted to say that these will be my final show performances in London. When I say this is it, it really means this is it,"[12] although he may have just been referring to performing in London. On March 11, two days before pre-sale began, an extra 40 dates were added to meet high demand, bringing the number of shows to 50 — five of these dates were reserved in their entirety for the public sale. Jackson's 50 dates would make the concerts the longest residency at the arena. In May 2009, the tour was originally set to have begun on July 8, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. On May 20, 2009, it was announced that the first concert would be pushed back by eight days to July 16, and three other July dates would be rescheduled for March 2010. AEG Live stated that the delay was necessary because more time was needed to prepare, mainly for dress rehearsals. The revised schedule called for 27 shows between July 16, and September 29, 2009, followed by a three month break, and resuming in 2010, with 23 more shows between January 7, and March 6, 2010. The This Is It concert tour would have been Jackson's first major performances and series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour that began in 1996 and finished in 1997
