Crítica «FutureSex/LoveShow»: Detroit

Justin Timberlake thrills crowd at Joe Louis Arena
Justin Timberlake, pop music’s (and pop culture’s) reigning king of cool, did more than bring sexy back to a near capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena Saturday night.

The former *NSYNC-er also brought showmanship, confidence and swagger back in a thrilling, nearly two-and-a-half hour show, in which he performed his smash sophomore album «FutureSex/LoveSounds» in its entirety.

Timberlake — who performed with a full band, four backup singers and nearly a dozen dancers on an elaborate stage set in the middle of the arena — took the stage wearing a snazzy three-piece suit, accentuated with a pair of white sneakers. He kicked off with the new album’s title track, which rolled into «Like I Love You», one of a number of songs he performed from his 2002 solo debut, «Justified».

Timberlake’s performance came at a time when he’s proven himself to have pop culture’s Midas touch, as he’s followed up the success of «FutureSex» — nearly 3 million sales and counting — with a wildly successful hosting gig on «Saturday Night Live» and a pair of well-received film roles. In doing so, he’s transcended his boy-band past and bubblegum roots and crossed over to experience full-blown, unmitigated and unqualified acceptance from the masses.

At Saturday night’s show, dudes who would have derided him as cheesy several years ago gave each other un-ironic high-fives over his performance, and women for whom *NSYNC may have been a guilty pleasure no longer had to be ashamed of their fanfare of the singer.

Women made up the overwhelming majority of the audience at the show, and their screams for the singer may well leave many with scratchy throats come Monday morning.

Timberlake earned the cheers, unleashing an arsenal of Michael Jackson-esque dance moves — including an impressive stuttering dance solo during «My Love» — while also showing proficiency on the piano, keys, acoustic guitar and even the keytar.

Timbaland, Timberlake’s «FutureSex» producer, also joined in on the festivities, duetting with Timberlake during «Chop Me Up» and «SexyBack», and performing a brief set during a mid-show intermission. Timbaland was celebrating his 36th birthday on Saturday, and Timberlake led the crowd through a rendition of «Happy Birthday» late in the set.

And yes, the set did run late, and half the house had left by the time Timberlake reached his encore, «FutureSex’s» touching closer, the Rick Rubin-produced «(Another Song) All Over Again».

But by that time, the sexy had already been brought, and people had to get back home.

Timbaland’s Birthday Party and Justin Timberlake After-Party at Confidential & Plan B Nightclub, 211 and 205 W. Congress St., Detroit. (313) 962-1200. Celebrate notorious producer Timbaland’s birthday at these downtown joints Saturday night. This shindig also serves as an after-party for the Justin Timberlake concert happening the same night at Joe Louis Arena. Doors open at 10 p.m.

Timberlake gets crowd screaming
The earplugs they handed out to concertgoers before Saturday night’s Justin Timberlake concert weren’t for muffling the music. They were meant to protect fans from themselves. A capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena poured lots of loud love onto the pop idol in the latest stop on his world tour, a familiar reception for a man who’s heard little else since his late teens. Taking the sprawling stage at center floor shortly before 9 p.m., Timberlake was greeted by the sort of collective, deafening shriek that probably hasn’t been hear in Detroit since the last visit by his group ‘N Sync half a decade ago.

It was enough to drown out the spacey title track from his album «FutureSex/LoveSounds», a high-tech dance number that fittingly introduced what would be a tightly choreographed two-hour evening.

Crisply attired in a black suit and white sneakers, 26-year-old Timberlake looked every part the grown-up star as he piloted his way through a set list dominated by material from the new album, and ably revealed how he has separated himself from a pop-music culture that has become inexorably personality based.

Timberlake bears a sharp poise honed through years of big-stage work, but his demeanor Saturday was also naturally affable – a kind of aw-shucks presence that played against the show’s more sexually suggestive moments. Flanked by a limber cast of dancers and backed by a seven-piece band that included Detroit native Charles Wilson III on piano, he leaned hard into the sound that has brought him solo success, a kind of advanced urban pop both glossy and gritty. It was also his chance to revel in his love of black music: «Senorita» moved the mood into ’70s soul, «Sexy Ladies» took it into ’80s electro-pop, «Losing My Way» brought it to a gospel crescendo.

Timberlake’s much-ballyhooed embrace of instruments onstage is overrated; his work on acoustic guitar and electric piano Saturday night was best described as sufficient. This singer-dancer’s real gifts remain in his moves and his voice – which got its best workout during a medley of ballad material that included a glimpse of ‘N Sync’s «Gone».

Oddly, on a night that was all about exerting autonomy, Timberlake himself seemed obscured by the busy production on the multi-tiered stage – a smoke-and-lasers spectacle with mammoth scrims that often literally concealed him. The pace stepped up as the show rolled to a finale, with a closing stretch of mega dance numbers that included the hits «SexyBack», «Summer Love» and the night’s most intense piece, a rock-flourished «Cry Me a River». Lively pop-rocker Pink kicked off the night with an athletic 45-minute run of feisty fare, and Timberlake’s set bracketed a 20-minute intermission featuring hip-hop collaborator Timbaland spinning hit tracks.

Justin Timberlake: Set list
FutureSex/LoveSound
Like I Love You
My Love
Senorita
Sexy Ladies
Until the End of Time
What Goes Around
Chop Me Up
Intermission: Timbaland performance
Rock Your Body
Medley (Gone/ Take It From Here (featuring snippet of «I’m Easy»)/ Last Night)
Damn Girl
Summer Love
Losing My Way
Cry Me a River
LoveStoned
SexyBack
Snippet: D— in a Box
(Another Song) All Over Again

Detroit News, Free Press