Live Review: Justin Timberlake - Indigo at the O2 ‘Timberlake can’t stop the feeling of joy in a rare intimate gig at the indigo
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
INDIGO AT THE O2
[03/10/16]
Capital FM kicks off their new intimate gig series with a sold-out show at the indigo at O2 with an up-close concert with one of the world’s biggest pop stars, Justin Timberlake.
★★★★★
It’s been two years since Justin Timberlake last performed in London, that was a large performance just next door inside the O2 arena, but tonight Capital FM have managed to bring one of the world’s biggest popstar’s into one of London’s smallest gig venue’s in the Indigo. For fans this is a real treat and a chance to see Justin from just feet away.
Justin brought with him a career spanning setlist alongside his American humour as he made jokes about Snapchat as well genuine joy at the small crowd’s reactions to all his hits. the band made their way to the stage in darkness with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” blaring through the speakers with the audience loudly singing along, I think it’s fair to say as a showman Justin is Frank’s equal in the same way as a performer he is the closest thing going to Michael Jackson, all these statements are justly proven tonight.
The set kicks off loud with “Only When I Walk Away” setting everyone (especially the females) into a frenzy, from then on it’s just hit after hit for the next 90 minutes. It shows just how many big singles the man has had when your first 5 songs consist of ‘Like I Love You’ with Justin flying around the stage singing and dancing whilst strumming along with his guitar, ‘My Love’ with the crowd screaming along the chorus and of course classic first single ‘Cry Me A River’
‘Senorita’ see’s Justin sit at one of two piano’s positioned on the stage for the first time in the evening. “What’s my name?” shouts of “JUSTIN!” echo the room as the signature opening to the song begins and you can just imagine the audiences reaction to the anthemic call and response close out of the track with both men and women of all ages eagerly joining in.
Justin stopped briefly for some crowd interaction, taking selfies for an eager fan’s birthday whilst making in his word’s a bad joke about Kim Kardashian and her robbery, I’d just like to state that the typical tabloids are blowing this lighthearted comment way out of the water in the usual gossip, clickbait way that they do, what isn’t being stated however is that Justin postponed the show for an hour so fans that were stuck in the traffic chaos surrounding London wouldn’t miss out on the performance, which despite starting late was not cut short at any point and Justin should be applauded for putting the fans first.
Despite being such a small room, Justin has brought all the Tennessee Kid’s (his affectionate name for his backing band) with him, there’s a trombone, full jazz unit, soul singers and of course a few backing dancers, it’s rare to see such a full show in an intimate space, it’s a real treat and add’s that special something to the performance.
Even the ballads in the set keep up the high tempo, and unlike some set’s it fails to sag in the middle where even a acoustic rendition of What Goes Around is met with rapturous applause, a special mention has to go out to the most emotional moment of the night when half way through Justin’s performance of Until The End Of Time he suddenly switches it up on the piano and goes into a cover of Prince’s ‘I Would Die 4 U’, for the brief few minutes it felt like Prince could be felt in the room as Justin even adopted some of his signature mannerisms especially in the song’s chorus, at points it felt like listening to Prince, a short and sweet tribute which finished with Timberlake getting the crowd to “put their hands up one time for Prince, the greatest musician that ever was, who we all miss”. One lady in front of me was in tears and its hard to see how you couldn’t be.
The finale is fast and frantic and some of the past decades biggest pop songs are unloaded one by one, starting with ‘Rock Your Body’ from his very first album, Justin leaps across the stage dancing effortlessly before seamless going into his latest single ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ the first time its been performed in the UK and the crowd eat it up, singing along to every word, before he disappeared only to reemerge and burst into a slick rendition of Suit & Tie, the mic stand he’s using becomes like an extension of his arm as he twirls both him and the stand around the room. “Sexyback” see’s him stripping off to his undershirt which gets frantic screams from various females in the audience.
The main highlight of the encore has to be ‘Mirrors’ which see’s a visibly overwhelmed Justin thank the audience before leading them on a full 8 minute singalong to what is arguably one of the biggest pop song’s of his career. Both Justin and his full ensemble give it all in a what turns into an epic and emotional finale.
CapitalFM are on to a winner with there new up close gig series and after tonight I can’t wait to see what else they have in store, Justin proved why his one of the greatest performers of our lifetime and gave everyone in attendance a special night they won’t forget
Setlist:
'Only When I Walk Away'
'Like I Love You'
'My Love'
'Cry Me A River'
'Summer Love'
'Señorita'
'Drink U Away'
'Let The Groove Get In'
'Future Sex Love Sounds’
'Love Stoned'
'Until The End Of Time’ (mixed with I Would Die 4 U)
'What Goes Around' (Acoustic)
'Rock Your Body'
'Can't Stop The Feeling'
'Suit & Tie'
'Sexy Back'
'Mirrors'