A TRIBUTE act promising something to surprise even the most dedicated of Michael Jackson fans is keeping the star's legacy alive with a show at Weymouth Pavilion.

Michael starring BEN will deliver all of MJ's hits plus some unexpected moments at the resort theatre on Friday, December 6.

Feedback to the show, which has been touring for nine years and was previously known as Jackson Live in Concert, has been overwhelmingly positive.

"People really go wild for it," says performer Ben Bowman, who grew up on the Isle of Sheppey, off Kent.

"People say they saw Michael Jackson live and it's just like that experience. That to me is amazing, it's wonderful. That's what we do it for."

Ben and his business partner James have been bringing shows to Weymouth Pavilion for years. The show will include Michael Jackson hits spanning the decades combined with some of the material from the star's planned O2 concerts in London, which never took place because of his death in 2009.

Ben says: "A lot of shows directly replicate Michael Jackson's shows but we like to give the audience a bit of a surprise. This time of year the theatres are busy and we're performing to around 1,000 people everywhere we go, selling out the smaller venues. There's a huge demand for Michael Jackson, his music and his legacy."

Billie Jean is Ben's favourite song to perform, he says, closely followed by Smooth Criminal.

The tribute came about when Ben was around 16 and sang a line from a Michael Jackson song and a friend told him he sounded a lot like the pop idol.

"I went off to performing arts college and was rolling around pretending to be a log. At the time I remember thinking 'I don't want to be a log, I want to be a Michael Jackson tribute act.'"

Highlights of Ben's time as a tribute act so far include performing for Manchester United in Hong Kong and to 20,000 people at a music festival.

And Ben hopes that if Michael Jackson were alive today he would approve of his act.

"I would hope he would like it," he said. "There was a guy who had a lot of plastic surgery to look like Michael and I remember Michael saw him perform and said 'this is eerie, it's like looking in the mirror'. So I hope that through the efforts we put in Michael would approve of our show."

Ben is so used to touring now he says he could 'sleep on an ironing board' and always has a great time on the road and that always translates to a great show.

He added that Michael Jackson's music has endured so well because he completely 'conquered the market'.

"People like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Tina Turner, they conquered the market over a period of decades. Michael Jackson has hits throughout his life. He had a way of knowing what would astound people."

*Michael starring BEN is at Weymouth Pavilion on Friday, December 6 at 7.30pm. Call the box office for tickets.