A REVIEW: Justin Timberlake’s night in Fort Worth proves again he’s more than a popstar
If there is a crisis in the concert tour industry at the moment, it certainly isn’t affecting Justin Timberlake. The multi-talented entertainer delivered one of the most singular concert experiences performed at the nearly five-year-old Dickies Arena Tuesday night.
He sang, he danced, he played piano and guitar, and he cracked a few jokes during a magnetic two-hour show before a packed, ecstatic crowd of about 14,000.
And he did all those things exceedingly well, along with his versatile, eight-piece band, the Tennessee Kids, three background vocalists, and a team of dancers.
This was Timberlake’s 15th stop on his massive “Forget Tomorrow World Tour” in support of his sixth studio release, “Everything I Thought It Was,” released in March.
[ SETLIST: Justin Timberlake at Fort Worth Dickies Arena on June 4, 2024 ]
Instead of canceling shows or downsizing his tour because of a lack of demand, Timberlake has added shows. The tour hits Europe in July and returns to North America in October. He returns to Texas with shows in Houston on Dec. 4 and American Airlines Center in Dallas on Dec. 6.
After witnessing his 28-song show Tuesday in Fort Worth, it’s easy to see why.
Timberlake gets it right where many of his fellow pop superstars get it so very wrong. Although he’s the star attraction, he performs as a legitimate frontman of his band, with members prominently displayed on the stage, including a four-piece horn section, guitarist, bass guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer. Timberlake let them all shine and called out some of their names for a little extra love from the audience.
In stark contrast with many of his contemporary pop stars, Timberlake seemingly sees himself as a musician/singer/songwriter first and a household celebrity brand name second. The show is about his music, not his name.
Most of the night, he showed off tracks from the new album. He performed 11 of the album’s 18 songs, including the show opener “No Angels.”
He also drew heavily from his sophomore smash “FutureSex/LoveSounds” early in the night, including “LoveStoned,” “My Love,” and the title track, which included a smooth dance duet with his illuminated mic stand that would have impressed Fred Astaire.
The staging was deceptively simple but with eye-popping. Images and colors on a massive video board behind the stage. It helped underline the mood of each song while also giving fans an up-close view of Timberlake and his bandmates and dancers, wherever they were in the arena.
That included a seven-song set on a smaller circular stage at the other end of the arena floor. Timberlake and most of his bandmates and dancers followed him across the floor where fans sat performing “Play” on their way to the B-stage.
The stunt allowed many fans a shockingly close interaction with Timberlake, who deftly shook hands, high-fived, and smiled at stunned little girls while singing and dancing his way across the floor. Once on the B-stage, Timberlake used every corner of that end of the floor, providing a personal experience for fans often sitting too far away from the action.
The video board behind the main stage isn’t just a normal stationary screen. At least not all of it. A massive middle section of the video screen moved separately, up and over the main stage early in the show and again during the show-closing “Mirrors” from 2013’s “The 20/20 Experience.”
Timberlake, secured by wires attached to a body harness, surfed a massive slab of video screen section that floated and rotated, hovering above fans on the floor in front of the stage while singing. Near the song’s end, Timberlake’s suspended body was nearly parallel with the fans below him as the hovering stage tipped forward.
It was such awe-inspiring stage engineering and creativity that I’m willing to forgive Timberlake for thanking “Dallas” as he disappeared behind the stage.
(Fort Worth is now the 12th largest city in America, Justin!)
He earns a pass, too, because he’s doing pop music, right?
