Justin Timberlake grooved his way to the hearts of thousands of fans at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ for the second date of his solo “20/20 Experience World Tour” on Saturday, Nov. 11. With his slicked-back hair, Christian Louboutin flats, Tom Ford designed suits, playful charm and impeccable musical ability, Timberlake embraced the essence of the ‘30s and swooned the crowd from 9 pm until midnight.
By not having to share the stage alongside rap-sensation Jay-Z with their “Legends of the Summer Tour,” Timberlake seized the opportunity to individually embody what it meant to be an entertainer.
The Weeknd opened for Timberlake on a smaller, front-facing stage with his “reign of seduction,” as fans like to say, starting at 8 pm. His intoxicating melodies and flawless vocal arrangements were displayed in songs including “Wicked Games,” “The Morning,” and “Remember You.” The Weeknd’s dark and damaged lyrics resonated with some of the deeper, post break-up songs that were scattered throughout Timberlake’s performance, including “What Goes Around… Comes Around.”
Timberlake’s flirty and suave performance opened up with “Pusher Love Girl,” a single off of The 20/20 Experience. His voice graced the crowd, free of any strain, while his dance moves upheld an equal rhythmic elegance.
Timberlake showcased his abilities by playing the keyboard and guitar while singing along simultaneously.
He creatively drafted a large force of dancers, singers, instruments, lasers and background videos to decorate the arena. The dancers fluidly moved across the stage with Timberlake. Timberlake did not let his classy guard slip for one second to grind or knock them around, which shows respect for himself, his dancers, and his fans; it also shows that he does not need a raunchy display of choreography to distract the audience from his pure talent, which differs from performers like Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.
The timing of his performance was incredibly precise, with his dance moves perfectly syncing with the previously recorded video blowups that were projected on the overhead screens. The choreography of the “20/20 Experience World Tour” was beautifully executed.
Timberlake astounded the crowd with a large catwalk-like stage that navigated over the entire floor section of Izod, which allowed him to interact with fans that are usually neglected by performers in concerts. This suspended stage, supported by two huge hydraulic lifts, captured the attention of all of the approximate 20,000 fans that were present.
To say that women outnumbered men would be a severe understatement, so Timberlake used this to his advantage as a tactic to woo the crowd; he would throw the occasional wink into the mixture to draw some happy cries and squeals from the crowd.
His performance seemed to personify bits of Michael Jackson, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Al Green and Timbaland. Timberlake incorporated these influences along with his own identity to create his very own style.
Timberlake’s performance was mostly dominated with songs off of his new albums, but focused more so on songs off of the first “20/20 Experience.” Songs off of the sequel aren’t as popular, so he decided to select the more captivating ones, such as “TKO” and “Murder.” These songs allowed Timberlake to showcase his fiery and more intense, darker side.
He always did come back, however, with his deeper side swooping into the melodies and beats of livelier songs off of his first albums, “Justified” and “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” like “Señorita,” “My Love,” “Rock Your Body” and “Sexy Back.” The energy in its entirety never plateaued as Timberlake worked the stage with finesse.
Timberlake sang his gospel-like intro to “Holy Grail,” and fans were hoping that Jay-Z would pop out from behind the curtains to start the rap. Instead, Timberlake humorously tried to rap the beginning verse of the song, and then transitioned to “Cry Me a River.”
His music is a mix of gospel, hip-hop, pop, Latin, disco, rock, and even country now with his song “Drink You Away” off of “The 20/20 Experience Part 2 of 2.” Each segment from these different genres gently rolled and blended into one another to create a masterpiece of a song and of a performance, which essentially is the differentiation of him from artists of this generation. Timberlake isn’t afraid to stray from the norm, constructing just the perfect grooves.
There were surprise songs sprinkled throughout the performance including Bell Biv Davoe’s “Poison” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” He also sang a cover to Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” to honor the preceding talent that blossomed from Timberlake’s hometown, Memphis, Tennessee.
Timberlake’s flawless wiggling of his hips engaged the audience throughout his entire three hour performance. All good things must come to an end, however, with the performance closing with “Mirrors,” the soulful song that encompasses the completeness of being in a relationship. For all of the fans who are utterly in love with Timberlake, we all felt that his words of devotion and passion were dedicated to us.
It was a just little disappointing to fans that Timberlake did not allocate any time to perform an encore, which he did in previous tours including “FutureSex/LoveSounds;” but then again, the performance ended on such a great note that the fans were left speechless, and there really wasn’t anything left to perform by this musical sensation.
“The 20/20 Experience World Tour” will snake through over 60 states until July with future performances scheduled in New York, Tennessee, Ohio, Chicago, and Miami. This performance at Izod was paved by the start to his tour at Barclays Center in New York on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Fans have witnessed how Timberlake, now 32, has evolved over the years, with the beautiful transition from teeny-bop *N’Sync star to the pop royalty that he is today. It is apparent the appreciation that Timberlake has for his fans with his execution of every song and the endless desire to pour his soul into every lyric that escaped from his lips. This passion makes “The 20/20 Experience World Tour” a tour that will go down in history as one of Timberlake’s greatest tours.
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