Crítica de FutureSex/LoveShow: Anaheim, 8 de enero

Crítica de WritingHarmonies19:

I know a lot of people don’t have either VIP or GA – I was at the Anaheim show, up on the upper terrace (fourth and last level) but in the first row. So it was pretty much the best crappy seats you can get I figured I should do a review of someone not in «prime» location.

The show was AMAZING! I’ll have some pictures of my view as well as a review up later today. I have a 9am class I’m still trying to go to, so hopefully it will all be up by 1 or 2 pm. All I can say is…best concert I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to several.

Edit (2:23pm): Okay kids, here’s the written review! I’ll upload photos in about 10 minutes
Edit (4:12pm): Photos are up finally! All is done

So here it goes, the big review. I’m a wordy person, so this will be long

First of all…the entire show was amazing. Just…AMAZING. His show is honestly the best concert that I’ve ever been to, and the two friends I went with agreed with me. Together we’ve been to shows that range from *NSYNC to Counting Crows to Reba McEntire to Taking Back Sunday to Brand New to P!nk to John Mayer to those random obscure little-known townfolk – Justin topped any and all.

The beginning:
I left my apartment at 6:15ish, and I live about 20 minutes from the Honda Center. Amazingly, I made it into a parking spot and was ready to head over by 6:50. It really wasn’t all that bad, or at least less than what I expected. The line to get in, however, was pretty damn crazy…my friend and I knew the entrances to the venue though and which ones would probably have smaller lines. VIP and GA have a separate entrance from the rest of us, so definitely look for white paper signs that will have arrows. I was inside at 7:45.

Security was not tight at all. I put my camera into my friend’s side zip pocket in her purse, and the lady didn’t even ask her to open it. We both had to open our purses, she took a little pocket flashlight and shined it inside, then waved us through. If you’re going to do that holding your camera under your bag thing, I’d advise being careful – right after the purse search they wave you onto people who wand you down, and they make you move your arms and purses somewhat, so you’ll have to be quick to move the camera or shove it into your purse without being seen. I didn’t stop at merch tables because it was WAY too crowded, so I just went up to my level, used the bathroom, got some nachos…that was that.

Stage/Opener
The stage is @#%$ GANGSTA! I happen to like it, despite the craziness of it. When you looked at it from my height, you could see all the trap doors and mechanics of it, so I could only anticipate what was going to happen during the show. Where I was sitting (upper terrace, front row – see the seating chart I put up) I could see all the stage, floor, pretty much everything. And, during the concert, I could see everything, no matter where he was. So that was pretty cool.

P!nk came on around 8:30, I think, half an hour after it was scheduled. I’ve seen her four times in concert (opening for *NSYNC and her own tours), and she’s still a damn good performer. She performed U + Ur Hand, Just Like A Pill, Family Portrait, Dear Mr. President, Get the Party Started…not in that order, and there were more, but I can’t remember. Nor do I think we care, since this is in fact a Justin review . All in all, she was good, and I really liked the acrobatics she did – very Cirque of her .

So there was about a 15 minute break between her and then Justin came out.

The Show
I can’t even describe to you how absolutely AMAZING this show was. His dancing, his outfits, his personality, his singing, the lighting, the stage…everything was so awesome. I’m still marveling at how amazing Justin sounds live. It’s definitely something when a man can sound better in person than he does on a CD – he has true talent, I think. He danced his ass off, worked the stage, performed, smiled, laughed…I think he definitely had fun doing it.

He took a shot again, when the piano first came out. He and the band came together and all took a shot, and his face was too cute He also said at the end that Anaheim absolutely KILLED the San Diego show. I’m sure he says that at a lot of his shows, but I’m going to be naïve and choose to believe he meant it . I laughed since I live in San Diego but am currently schooling in Orange County, so I had a link to both of the shows. But anyhow…he pointed directly to my section! At the very end of the show, he said, «And don’t think I don’t see you guys up there in the nosebleeds, because I sure as hell do!» and he pointed DIRECTLY at my section. And my friend and I were in the front row (and the only ones in the front row), so we were freaking out and waving at him. I’d like to hope he saw how much we were enjoying it, but yeah…who knows.

Anyway…the screens. I absolutely loved them. I can see how it could be an obstruction, but I thought it was really well placed, and I liked that he was on them so no matter where he was you could see him. They were huge and so technically smooth. I liked how they would put random pictures or something up there as well. From someone who was sitting above it all, the screens added to my experience.

Justin and Timbaland are so cute together! I like that Timbaland was a part of the show, but it was still obvious it was JUSTIN’s show. Timbaland put some awesome energy into it and you can see that he and JT are just…good friends and respect each other immensely. They do the dancing together shindig (another poster has video of it during Chop Me Up), and it’s just amazing.

The intermission was…extremely random but still really good. It was just beat after beat, songs remixed and mixed and it was so crazy. I really did feel as though I was in a club, and I saw all these people down in VIP and GA just rockin out and jamming to it all. All the images on screen were so weird: The Ring, The Grudge, Eyes Wide Shut, Monster House…such random things thrown together. Aaliyah tribute (not five minutes like others were saying though), Nelly Furtado…he remixed The Fray! It was SO weird to hear The Fray and another person singing Since U Been Gone. But it was still pretty awesome. A good intermission, in my opinion.

I don’t know what else to say about his show, other than it was much more than I could ever have expected, and he pulled it off amazingly. I loved all the sexual dance moves and the insinuations and the raciness of it all…SO hot. During LoveStoned he makes gestures as though he’s smokin a roll or something, and even though I’m totally against drugs, he made it SO hot . Seriously, the only man to ever make me want to do sex, drugs and alcohol .

I think he did very well with the set list as well, just the flow of it all and bringing his old stuff. I flipped when he did Gone, because I love that he can still acknowledge his background. His introduction went something like «Now I’d like to slow it down, play a song that’s close to my heart because it built me to be what I am and helped me get here today.» I just…I love that he still includes this song. I liked how he could do some upbeat club songs and slow it down a bit and then go right back into rockin out and then move into a low key feel.

Something I absolutely loved was the end. I love that he did SexyBack (AMAZING performance, so high energy) and then decided to come back out to do Another Song. A lot of people left after SexyBack thinking that was the end, but they raise a piano in the center with a light on it (see my pictures), so you had to know he was coming back out. But he just comes back out in his hot ass self of jeans and a t shirt, smiled and talked with the crowd. This is when he talked about Anaheim killing San Diego and about the nosebleed seats and whatnot. His voice was amazing on the last song, and it was a nice chill way to end. I also like that when he was done, he brought up the band and his dancers, they bowed, and then he just started prancing around stage waving good bye and playing around. You could tell he really didn’t want to leave the stage, just by him keeping walking around and goofing off and he was singing along with the song that was playing. It was really sad when it ended, but I honestly think he enjoyed himself.

Umm…random comments: The camera in his face during the What Goes Around Interlude is GENIUS, just to see his face so close and the passion in his eyes and expression while he’s singing it. And when he flipped off the camera after, we all went crazy and basically sh!t hit the fan . I’ve never met a man who could make a keytar and cursing so hot and sexy . I liked how much he played the piano and guitar – he actually did it A LOT during this tour, which was cool. He was at the center of the stage the most, with his instruments or dancing. He did seem to favour one side of the stage and one ramp more, doing most of the dancing there, but he was still all over it a lot. A girl grabbed his ass, which I’m sure will turn into common occurrence on this tour, seeing as how close he gets to VIP and everything .

I guess that’s it…I can’t even touch upon the awesomeness of this show though. I’ll never be able to do it justice in a review, because it’s just THAT awesome. He did an amazing job with the stage, the dancing, reaching everyone in the audience no matter what…it’s just…it’s the best show I’ve ever seen.

And onto the pictures! Some are zoomed in like crazy, others are not, and others are taken at or around different heights where I was. You can still tell what view I had of the stage though.