Music promoter Peter Aiken has said he had been hoping to bring Michael Jackson to Northern Ireland in the future.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph about the pop star’s death, Peter said he had hoped Jackson would announce a tour after his sold-out shows at the O2 Arena in London.

He also spoke about his one and only meeting with Jackson — and how his music would still be relevant in 200 years time.

Along with his late father Jim, Peter brought Michael Jackson to the RDS in Dublin in July 1997.

The superstar had played two previous gigs in Ireland, but this was the first time Aiken Promotions had looked after him.

Recalling the moment backstage when he met Jackson for the first time, Peter said: “He pulled up in a passenger van and got out, playing some type of Nintendo. It wasn’t a fancy limo or anything like that, there were no airs and graces about him.

“We welcomed him to Ireland and he thanked us. He was very softly spoken and very childlike.

“He then went off backstage where he had a few private rooms.

“After the show he did some meet-and-greets and was very civil with everyone. I watched him greeting his dancers and the band and he was the same with all of them.

“There was no hanging around afterwards, he then flew out of the country. I was also struck by how good the people were around him. I was surprised when things started to go wrong for him, I couldn’t understand how that had happened.”

Peter said that while he had never been a huge fan of Jackson’s music he was impressed by how spectacular the RDS show was.

“I don’t exactly listen to Michael Jackson records over and over again, yet I can remember standing there at the side of the stage watching him perform Thriller,” he said. “When he did that dance with the band and the dancers, I just stood there thinking ‘we’ll never see anything like this again’.

“It was pretty mind-blowing.”

Peter said he would have loved to bring Jackson to Northern Ireland and had hoped this might happen after the announcement of the O2 gigs in London.

“He never played Belfast, but of course I would have liked to bring him north,” he said. “I hoped that if the O2 dates went well he might have announced a tour that would include Belfast.

“It’s devastating news for the business as well. As a promoter I can imagine how the organisers of the O2 gigs are feeling now. I’d heard from insiders that his shows were going to be unbelievable and would have raised the bar for concerts. Now we’ll never get to see them.

“Michael Jackson’s music will live on. There’s not many acts they’ll still be talking about in 200 years, The Beatles and Rolling Stones maybe. But definitely Michael Jackson’s.”