CHARLOTTE — Don Boyette was hand-picked by Michael Jackson to play bass guitar on the “Bad” and “Dangerous” tours. Since Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour” is creating an experience of Jackson’s music, Boyette was a natural choice to play in the live band.

How does playing the songs without Jackson compare?

“It’s completely different because he’s not here,” Boyette said. “The level of integrity, it’s hard to compare. But at the same time, this particular show is something Michael would’ve wanted.”

The live music is what carries the show.

“It had to feel a certain way,” Boyette said.

In mid March, The State was given a set tour at the Time Warner Cable Arena. A few days earlier, “THE IMMORTAL” had its 100th show in Raleigh.

“It’s the biggest (Cirque) touring arena show and the best selling,” said Maxime Charbonneau, a Cirque publicist and our tour guide.

Industrial fans were blowing air onto costumes hanging in road cases. The cases themselves, placed side-by-side, formed makeshift dressing rooms for quick costume changes. In the empty arena, “They Don’t Care About Us” played through the speakers as dancers, marching like soldiers, worked on a routine on the multi-level stage. The scene is repurposed choreography from “This is It,” the string of concerts Jackson was planning before he died in June 2009.

A catwalk allows the show’s action to extend deep into the audience and multiple LED screens project images from Jackson’s life and career. (Fortunately, there isn’t a Michael Jackson hologram — yet.) A replica of the gilded gates of Neverland, Jackson’s former ranch home, opens the show.

The costumes — from the dancers’ “Tron”-like LED suits to blown-out afros — are handled by the wardrobe department. They’re easy to spot, what with scissors, pens and glue guns holstered to their waists. As one wardrobe assistant patted an afro wig into shape, another was using a steamer to style a curly-haired wig. It has to be done before every performance because the synthetic fibers stretch.

There’s an attractive visual component to the show, but there isn’t a narrative like other Cirque productions.

“There’s not much of a story,” Charbonneau said. “It’s more of a presentation of music.”

Kevin Antunes, the musical designer, was given access to master recordings so he could extract Jackson’s vocals. It gives the show added punch with the live accompaniment.

During the performance Boyette, one of five musicians who played with Jackson, is positioned with others on the stage’s highest level, what is called the barbecue deck. (It’s called that because if you’re playing on the black steel surface outdoors in the summer, you’re going to cook like barbecue.)

The producers have taken some musical liberties, like adding a percussionist in Taku Hirano. According to Hirano, who plays conga, tambourine and finger snaps in songs like “Man in the Mirror,” a lot of the sound he creates was once generated by sequencers.

“Anything I can cover live, they want me to,” said Hirano, who is essential for the fills on “Human Nature.” “I can’t mess up. It’s inherent to the song.”

Tara Young (Tar-ah, not Terra, she’ll tell you), the artistic director, said the show’s thread is a celebration of Jackson and his music.

“You will really feel inspired after seeing this show,” she said.

And you don’t have to be a Jackson fan. If you’ve seen Jackson in concert — or even the concert film “This is It,” released posthumously — you know that he had a singular magnetism on stage. There’s a mime, who, according to production notes, is said to inhabit Jackson’s spirit, but he can’t possibly command the stage like Jackson.

There are plenty of routines, like the lean motion during “Smooth Criminal,” that invoke Jackson’s superior dancing skills. The audience hears Michael Jackson, but it would’ve been nice to see him portrayed on the stage.

There are less acrobatic displays than “Alegria,” the Cirque production that was at the arena last April, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t jaw-dropping performances. Watch out for Jean Sok, who dances on one leg with the aid of crutches.

His performance alone was inspiring.

Reach Taylor at (803) 771-8362.