"Those Flashing Lights..."

Three years ago, I read Anil's post about Justin Timberlake's show after the 2003 VMAs & have wanted to see Justin in concert ever since.

And then, a couple of nights ago, Mena & I saw Justin in concert on his FutureSex/LoveSounds club tour. And it was the best concert I've ever seen. That's E-V-A-R, people. [1]

Some notes (and photos, all of which Mena took):

1. The audience inside of a JT show is very different from your standard indie rock show (which is what I'm much more used to). This was evident as soon as we joined the line, which line stretched around the block from the Roseland Ballroom. We spent two hours behind the most obnoxious girls on the planet.

As soon as we got into line behind them, it was quite obvious they were completely drunk. But that wasn't enough, I guess--about 45 minutes into the line, two of them headed out to a liquor store to fill up on a twelve-pack of Miller Light, which they proceeded to chug, two per girl, dropping bottles & cans all over the ground as the line progressed. It was fucking disturbing, but thankfully, we didn't see them once we entered the concert.

2. JT started with a rock version of "Cry Me a River" [2] and from the beginning, two things were absolutely clear: one, the band behind Justin was incredibly tight, absolutely the best I've seen in concert [3]; and two, the sound was brilliant, just crystal clear vocals & guitars, thumping bass & drums, &c.

Well, and three, I guess: "Cry Me a River" is one of the greatest songs of all time.

3. Justin Timberlake is the most amazing performer I've ever seen in concert. & just for the purpose of edification, I define that as someone who I can't stop watching, even when he is not--ostensibly--the center of attention. Can you imagine having other artists perform with you, and not only perform your songs, but perform their own songs, at your concert?

It must take an extreme amount of confidence, which JT obviously has, to pull that off (Will.I.Am, T.I., Three 6 Mafia, JC Chasez, and Timbaland all performed with him at this show). And he's right in being confident, e.g. he played keyboards while JC Chasez performed a song from his upcoming new album--a really good song, btw--and the entire time, I couldn't take my eyes off of Justin, because he's such a clearly magnetic performer, even just playing keyboards. [4]

4. It was invaluable to've listened to FS/LS for a week or two prior to the show, because it's always preferable to know the songs going in. My only complaint about FS/LS, so far--and granted I've only really been listening to the full album for about a week, but still--is that it sounds less "live" than Justified. It sounds almost too polished, and while I'm generally a fan of quality production, it's possible to sound a little too good.

Which is why it was such a delight to hear those same songs performed live, with (again) that extraordinary band backing Justin. In particular, "Chop Me Up" and "LoveStoned" sounded deeper, looser, and just overall much more fun than on the album.

5. My favorites of the show: "Cry Me a River," because even though I figured that it'd be a rock version, it completely blew me away anyway; "Like I Love You," because Justin on the acoustic guitar is really fun to see, and because he's actually quite accomplished, and because it was incredible to watch him jam with his backing band on the song, particularly when they spontaneously launched into "Smells Like Teen Spirit" mid-song; and "LoveStoned," from FutureSex/LoveSounds, which ends with an interlude that's basically the best Coldplay song ever (and which best song is, understandably, not by Coldplay).

6. The shame of writing about this concert--any concert, really--is that it's impossible to capture the fun/enjoyment of a Justin Timberlake concert in text, or photos, or even video. E.g. the way the crowd sang along to the ladies/guys back-and-forth of "Senorita"; the general roar that accompanied the beginning of every song as the crowd raised their hands (and cameras) in the air ; the way that Justin interacted with both the crowd and the band, playing off them, directing them, playing along with them on keyboard and guitar, and just generally looking like he enjoyed performing.

And not only that, but watching the audience scream, and dance, and clap, and sing--and not only our fellow audience in General Admission, but all of the celebrities [5] gathered round the mezzanine watching the show: watching them dancing like kids enjoying their first concert, it was obvious how talented & incredible & magnetic a performer Justin Timberlake is.

It was an amazing concert.

[1] And despite what you may've heard--Mena said yesterday that she doesn't trust anything I say that contains "best" and "ever"--I don't say this lightly--this concert seriously bested any concert I've seen, and I'm quite serious about that.

[2] I'm most accustomed to seeing indie rock bands in small clubs in concert, but all the same, seeing an artist mess about with the studio recording when played in concert is a relatively normal thing, even and only if I've watched the Fiery Furnaces too many times for my own good. But as much as I love the FF, there's sort of a self-conscious thing about the way they re-interpret their own songs. That said, I certainly appreciate them for trying.

But so seriously, this version of "Cry Me a River" was fucking incredible.

[3] Mena and I were talking about this today, and I was saying how great the band was, and how it's such a pleasure to watch such a group of musicians that can play off of each other and watch each other for cues, and who are just so fucking proficient. I mentioned this a little bit in reference to the Ark show that I went to a couple of months ago, and the Ark are an incredible & professional band, but there's something extra special about seeing a backing group of musicians like those that played with Justin in a club with sound that good. And as much as I love Cafe du Nord for atmosphere, it's a little bit lacking in terms of the acoustics.

But so anyway, when discussing this with Mena, I had to ruin it by likening JT's backing band to the set of studio musicians with which Steely Dan played in the mid-70s, e.g. on Aja, to which Mena lost it. "I don't fucking care about Steely Dan!", she said.

[4] Justin introduced JC by saying something to the effect of, "I've never done this before, but I'm going to do it right now. This isn't no 'NSync shit. Let's just do it.", to which JC walked out on stage to huge shock & applause, and performed this really good song.

And besides the obvious observations about who's the better or more magnetic performer (e.g. mine, above), it was undeniably sweet to see them performing together. I mean, I'm sure there are millions of people clamoring for 'NSync to get back together, and I'm not one of them, not because I didn't like 'NSync, but because I like Justin better as a solo artist. But I couldn't help but feel a little bit emotional about Justin bringing JC on stage to perform his own song, which song is really good, particularly after seeing Justin's comments about JC, how he'd helped out in a production capacity on his new album, and how he thought JC was the best vocalist of all of the so-called boy bands.

[5] Despite the ban on cameras at the show, everyone in the audience managed to smuggle one in. And the funny and/or sad thing, depending upon how you feel about celebrities--I'm trending towards sad--is that, prior to the show actually starting, the entire audience amused themselves by pointing their cameras at the mezzanine level and taking flash photographs, thus serving to illuminate the faces of the celebrities but at the same time make their lives--presumably--sort of a living hell.