Musical tributes that struggled to hit the right note at Michael Jackson memorial

There had to be a lot of music at the memorial to one of the greatest musicians ever. The problem was striking the right tone.

Many memorial services take place some time after the person in question has been buried, the buffering weeks allowing space for a truly celebratory atmosphere.

This was Michael Jackson's actual funeral day, which crashingly hit home when his brothers wheeled out his golden, flower-strewn coffin for him to take centre stage one last time. No one would dare to sing Thriller, a song about rampaging zombies, with that in their direct eyeline.

Accordingly, in the same arena venue where he had been rehearsing for his comeback concerts just days previously, it fell somewhere strange between a funeral and a show — eulogies and the odd dance routine.

There was gospel music from the Andrae Crouch Choir, singing: "Soon and very soon we are going to see the king" as the coffin appeared, and Lionel Richie singing his Commodores song Jesus Is Love. Jennifer Hudson performed Will You be There, the Jackson composition with the strongest gospel feel, fitting on a day filled with much talk of prayers and heaven and thanking God.

Other guests who looked to Jackson's back catalogue inevitably went for the ballads. Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz did I'll Be There as a showy duet, never singing one note where 18 would do. Usher actually came down to the coffin to sing Gone Too Soon at it. If there had been a graveside he might have jumped in. Guitarist John Mayer wisely let the music do the talking with a restrained instrumental take on Human Nature.

The two genuinely touching performances came from those with the closest relationships to Jackson. Stevie Wonder's Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer, alone at the piano, was the song that will stay in the memory, the day's Candle In The Wind. Jermaine Jackson's brave stab at his brother's favourite song, the Charlie Chaplin composition Smile, also quashed the overriding feeling that this was a charity telethon without a hotline.

Aside from some brief clips of Jackson's career highlights and a remarkably assured performance of Who's Lovin' You by 12-year-old Britain's Got Talent contestant Shaheen Jafargholi, the music never matched the mood of the joyful spoken tributes of Jackson's Motown friends Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson. Perhaps in a few more months, enough time will have passed for an event that really celebrates some of the most uplifting songs ever.