MICHAEL Jackson's life was a circus...and so was his death.

His oppulent golden casket lay on stage in front of 17,500 sobbing fans lucky enough or rich enough to get a ticket in to the Los Angeles Staples Centre memorial.

Behind the rose topped coffin, giant images of the 'King of Pop' allowed him to act as ringmaster at his own funeral - his trademark poses seeming to point to the cavalcade of stars who stepped up to perform in his memory.

The size of the screens plotting this most bizarre of lives befitted the monster scale of the whole event.

While the fine looks, the megabucks and the energy that set him apart as an entertainer may have deserted Michael Jackson at 50, his knack for creating a spectacle never did.

Being Michael Jackson's memorial there was not one minute's silence but twenty which ended as the show began. Smokey Robinson read tributes from Nelson Mandela and Diana Ross.

Then, a choir sang 'We're Going to See the King' as the casket was brought in, and the fans cheered as if the choir were singing about Michael Jackson, when they were actually singing about Jesus.

Liz Taylor wasn't there - but the cream of US entertainment was, particularly from the black community which has reclaimed him like a lost sheep of showbiz.

In a show as carefully choreographed as one of his electrifying routines, stand-out tributes came from Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Queen Latifah, who read Maya Angelou verse.

Mariah Carey, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson, basketball stars Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson also lined up to pay tribute before the fans.

The darkened stadium seemed heavy with clawing emotion as one by one the tributes rolled by - many bordered on the mawkish and all chose to push Jackson's controversial life into soft-focus view.

Perhaps the most cringeworthy moments came when the star's 11-year-old daughter Paris was thrust in front of a wincing world to make a tearful tribute to her daddy.

In contrast, her 12-year-old brother, Prince Michael I, appeared to chew gum nonchalantly throughout. Poignant memories came from Berry Gordy, and Brooke Shields delivered, between sobs, a tribute shot with all the fascinating detail of an exclusive interview.

Then, Michael's brother Jermaine Jackson, wearing just one glittering glove, sang Smile, in the sweet voice that people had forgotten he had.

Popping up in between all the Americans was Britain's Got Talent finalist Shaheen Jafargholi, an adolescent thrust into the limelight, just as Jackson was forty years ago.

The Rev Al Sharpton raised the roof, though at times he seemed to forget that MJ was a musical megastar, and not a second Malcolm X or Martin Luther King.

The video backdrop switched between sunset shown through a stained glass window, images of the young Michael, and snapshots of him in his prime - a prime Jackson had so dearly wanted to reclaim with his comeback concerts.

They were a poignant tribute to a man martyred to fame, a man whose music, fans hope, will outlive his Wacko Jacko image.

If the service set out to sweep aside controversy than it may well have failed. In life, as in death, Michael Jackson had a talent for stretching boundaries - of popularity, self-indulgence, and taste.

Loved for his iconic ability as he was loathed for his eccentricities, his music touched millions of hearts....and his death was always destined to be a big deal.