.gif)
Scattered power outages and strong winds could not dim the mood on Tuesday as the elements conspired to give Michael Jackson a typically dramatic final bow at his posthumous movie premiere.
Family, friends and celebrities lit up a gala red carpet at the city's Nokia Theater for the premiere of "This Is It" but powerful winds almost upstaged the event as blackouts plunged parts of Tinseltown into darkness.
While the outages did not affect the event -- one of 18 simultaneous screenings being held across the globe -- the foreboding weather amused Jackson's former manager Frank DiLeo.
Gesturing to the gusts buffeting the carefully coiffured celebrity arrivals and journalists, DiLeo joked: "He's happy. You can feel him spinning around in the air here ... He's looking down right now laughing his read end off."
DiLeo said the global rollout of the Jackson movie was a fitting tribute to the tragic King of Pop, who died aged 50 on June 25, triggering a worldwide outpouring of grief.
"I've seen the movie three times and it's been emotional at every screening. Sometimes I have to leave the room because I'm crying," DiLeo said. "But we're not going to cry tonight. Tonight is a celebration of Michael."
Among the other guests in Los Angeles was Thomas Mesereau, the silver-haired defense attorney who helped secure Jackson's acquittal of child molestation charges at his 2005 "Trial of the Century."
"I expect to see a great genius at work," Mesereau told AFP. "(Michael) combined genius with being a kind human being. That's what Michael was."
Other guests included several performers who had been due to take part in Jackson's comeback, scheduled to get under way a few weeks after his death.
Dancer Shannon Holtzapffel described dancing alongside Jackson in rehearsals as "the best moment of my life, of our lives."
Holtzapffel acknowledged that Jackson -- a renowned perfectionist -- may not have been happy for his fans to have seen raw rehearsal footage rather than the finished article.
"The question answers itself," Holtzapffel said. "But he'll be smiling down on us anyway... I started dancing because of him. I was the last of the king's men to see him."
Dorian Holley, a back-up singer who sang at Jackson's memorial service at the nearby Staples Center in July, admitted he had been apprehensive about seeing the film.
"I had a lot of trepidation. It tore my heart out when he died. I wake up in the morning and still can't believe he's gone," Holley said.
"I believe this will go down as the best music film of all time. I'm really glad for people to see this -- and to see how healthy he was."
Asked about whether Jackson would be happy to see the rehearsal footage released, Holley replied: "Who can say? But I think the family's reaction will be favorable."
Meanwhile Jackson fans gathered around the venue ignored the gusty conditions as the premiere got underway
"Maybe there is a connection there with the wind; something ended, something new," said 34-year-old schoolteacher Carolina Moreno. "I would like to be part of history and see this."
Antoinette Albert, a 22-year-old student, brought her mother to the screening and was one of many people who secured tickets after camping out near the Nokia Theater when tickets went on sale last month.
"I've already had closure; it's just something to remember him, remember his genius," Albert told AFP.
Charleen Battin brought her husband and daughter to see the movie after she slept for two nights to get tickets for tonight.
"It's hard to accept that he's gone," said Battin, a 52-year-old nurse. "I just wish he was alive."
