Reviewed on Thursday October 2 (photo by Ashley Mar)
It’s hard to imagine what it feels like to be Justin Timberlake. At 33 years old, he has been in the game for over two decades, and The 20/20 Experience World Tour marks a comeback after a surprisingly successful foray into film. The accumulated star power inspires both awe and a vague sense of horror (after all, we are talking about a career largely built on lyrics where “sexy” is the major artistic theme).
JT emerges from beneath the stage in a suit, a questionable lightning bolt shirt and sneakers. Without saying a word he points at the crowd and the shrieking (note: median audience age looks about 30) reaches a dangerously high decibel. He stands for a bit and the noise intensifies. In fact, there are five full minutes of him onstage, not speaking. Finally, things calm down enough for him to get in a “What’s up Sydney?” and we’re right back where we started.
It was never going to be an intimate evening, but between insane audiovisuals and the 20-strong Tennessee Kids, plus dancers, it feels designed to overwhelm.
Even with this enthusiasm, particularly from the brass section, the opening half falls a little flat. ‘FutureSex/LoveSound’ doesn’t quite get people jumping, even when JT implores the crowd to “party”. The visuals are robotic, slick and high-def in a way that makes everything feel manufactured. When Timberlake takes to a white baby grand for ‘Until The End Of Time’, the audience waves its sterile blue phone lights. Like the absence of real lighters, it feels like the ‘soul’ in the evening has been replaced by the ‘neo’.
But things pick up by the second half, not least because the platform carrying JT and four dancers rises from the stage to travel over the heads of the crowd and to the back of the arena. Gimmick? Sure. But being a few metres below JT dancing on a moving Perspex stage gives the fans more than what they could have imagined. An extended ‘Take Back The Night’ and ‘Let The Groove Get In’ are just ambitious enough.
It’s telling that ‘Señorita’, performed without any visuals, is a highlight. But it’s the encore ‘SexyBack’ that seals the deal. Even if it feels contrived, fans want the Justin Timberlake experience: a slick showman, a sharp performer, cheeky but clean. That’s exactly who he plays – to a ‘JT’.
