There are three types of people at a Justin Timberlake concert. Adult women in fuck-me- boots who Timberlust when they’re in bed with their boyfriends; said boyfriends, who desperately try to pretend that the show is just another Knicks game and spend the whole night chugging beers; and dudes like our friend Jon who gamely sing along to the falsetto parts of “Like I Love You” without worrying that it’s a threat to their masculinity.
But all of the 20,000 people filling New York’s Madison Square Garden last night screamed in prepubescent rapture when, towards the end of his two-and-a-half hour long set, Timberlake pulled out the surprise everyone had been waiting for since the New York Post let the cat outta the bag that morning: The Color Me Badd-esque duo that Timberlake and Andy Samberg immortalized on SNL earlier this year, gracing the stage in all their chiseled-facial-hair glory to reprise the sleeper hit “Dick in a Box.” Granted, Samberg hardly has the pipes to fill an arena, but no one seemed to mind.
Rocking everything from “My Love” to “Cry Me a River” in a sleek white suit, Timberlake worked the stage surrounded by billowy white curtains and a crew of limber dancers. Appearing at MSG for the first time in six years, J.T. invited his entire band onstage three songs in to toast his triumphant return. Downing what appeared to be the quintessential girly shot, a fruity liqueur in a test tube glass, J.T. quipped, “I felt like such a man before that.” Somewhere, Cammy Diaz is crying herself to sleep.
Timberlake resurrected the keytar on “Sexy Ladies,” getting down on his knees in a C.C. Deville moment of emotion. And for “What Goes Around Comes Around” (arguably the best track from his sophomore solo record), the singer showed off his technical chops, twisting and turning the piano melody around his full backing band’s accompaniment like a taller, hotter, younger Billy Joel.
The only lull in the show came when Justin went backstage for a lengthy “costume change,” leaving the crowd with a Timbaland commercial break. No offense to the hitmaking Midas, but a 20-minute tribute to your own Greatest Hits — he teased the crowd with clips of Nelly Furtado’s ‘Promiscuous Girl” and Missy Elliott’s “Work It” — is no way to keep the crowd pumped.
Luckily, Timberlake returned to to rock his body through “Love Stoned,” “Damn Girl,” “Losing My Way” and a raunchy rendition of “SexyBack” (among others). He closed the show on a mellow note, sitting solo at the piano for “(Another Song) All Over Again.” Ever the Southern gentleman, he thanked the crowd for sharing the night with him, acknowledging that only one in a billion gets to do what he does. It was a back-handed sort of humility, but after a show like that, we forgave him.
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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