Michael Jackson‘s music is getting a completely different treatment this fall, and it’s happening inside one of LA’s most unexpected venues. 👀 🐎
Tucked into 75 sprawling acres near Griffith Park, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank is normally home to stables, riding arenas, and horse show grounds.
Come showtime, though, the venue transforms into something else entirely: a candlelit concert hall glowing with thousands of flickering flames, all set to the King of Pop’s biggest hits, reimagined by a string quartet.
22 August 2026 18:00 + more dates
Happening for only four nights until October, it’s quickly becoming one of LA’s hottest music details — and we have all the details here.
More than horses and hay
Long before it hosted glowing string quartets, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center built its reputation as one of LA’s go-to spots for film and TV shoots, with crews regularly borrowing its ballrooms, barns, and open lawns to double as everything from rustic countryside to elegant event space.
It’s also just a few miles from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where Michael Jackson played his final mainland U.S. concert back in January 1989, closing out the Bad World Tour in front of roughly 90,000 fans.
Decades later, his music is returning to the same stretch of the city, just reimagined for string quartet and candlelight instead of stadium lights.
Strings where the synths used to be
The Orchid Quartet, a Los Angeles-based ensemble, is behind the arrangements for this show.
The quartet’s collective résumé includes touring stints with Adele and Ariana Grande, plus recording work on soundtracks for The Lion King, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett.
Their setlist reads like a greatest-hits run through Jackson’s entire catalog, including “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” “Man in the Mirror,” “Smooth Criminal,” “Black or White,” and “Earth Song,” all stripped down and rebuilt for strings.
The result isn’t a cover band doing karaoke-style renditions.
It’s closer to hearing these songs for the first time, minus the drum machines and synths, replaced with the kind of orchestral texture usually reserved for film scores.
From stables to string quartets
Candlelight concerts have built a reputation across the country for turning ordinary spaces into something cinematic, and the equestrian center fits that formula perfectly.
The show runs a tight 60 minutes, with doors opening 45 minutes early and no late entry once the music starts, so the whole night feels intentional rather than sprawling.
Seating is first come, first served within each assigned zone, and the venue is ADA compliant. Anyone under 16 needs to come with an adult, and the minimum age is 8.
Every song you can expect on the setlist
Keep in mind this setlist is tentative and subject to change, so the exact songs performed on any given night may vary slightly, but here’s what you normally can expect:
- I Want You Back
- Rock With You
- Human Nature
- Billie Jean
- Say Say Say
- We Are the World
- Man in the Mirror
- Smooth Criminal
- Black or White
- Heal the World
- Remember the Time
- Bad
- Earth Song
- They Don’t Really Care About Us
- Thriller
This isn’t a one-time thing
The Los Angeles Equestrian Center has quietly become an unofficial home base for Candlelight tributes, with upcoming shows honoring Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, Thom Yorke, Adele, and Maná also on the calendar this year.
Reviewers from past Candlelight shows have called the experience “exceptional” and described the venues themselves as “heavenly,” and the series holds a 4.8-star rating across more than 140 reviews.
Worth noting: this is a tribute concert experience, not an event affiliated with or endorsed by Michael Jackson’s estate, and the setlist above is tentative and subject to change.
🕯️ Tickets for the Michael Jackson show are already live, with prices starting around the mid-forties depending on the date and seating zone.
