As calamitous comebacks go, Justin Timberlake’s latest chapter feels particularly cursed. Not only did his sixth LP, Everything I Thought It Was, receive a critical drubbing on release back in March, but his public image has taken a battering too – first from unflattering revelations in Britney Spears’ bestselling memoir, and then as a result of June’s much memed arrest for driving while intoxicated.
And yet, if Timberlake really is as troubled as the gossip would have you believe, he was hiding it well on the second sell-out London date of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour.
Moving with the effortless ease of a veteran performer, the former *NSYNC star put on an impressively tight show with the support of his backing band, The Tennessee Kids.
Featuring a roaming horn section and three dynamic backing vocalists alongside the traditional band set-up, they proved almost as light on their feet as the dancers helping the 43-year-old revive the iconic moves of Rock Your Body and the rest.
Timberlake often took his turn in the ensemble too, leading the band on guitar during Say Something, and standing to hammer out the staccato organ riff during Señorita.
Rather than delivering straight run-throughs of the classics, they frequently had fun with arrangements, interpolating Chic’s Good Times into Rock Your Body and George Michael’s Careless Whisper into the climax of What Goes Around. Meanwhile, My Love was expanded into an ambitious R&B epic, complete with classical keyboard trills, stunning a cappella vocals and a hard rock outro.
Though Timberlake didn’t quite succeed in confirming Everything I Thought It Was’ genius, the new material often felt less lacklustre in the context of a live set. The sinuous gospel-funk of Sanctified was particularly strong, while an atmospheric version of Drown teed up crowd-pleaser Cry Me A River nicely.
While there was no mention of recent misdemeanours, Timberlake seemed on a charm offensive throughout, stopping to read out signs, clamber down to the barriers and effusively thank fans for giving him “such a blessed life.” How rehearsed these ad libs were was unclear, but 25 years into his solo career it’s impossible to deny his ability to connect with arena-sized audiences on a personal level.
For the encore, he rode a giant video screen across the arena for a life-affirming rendition of Mirrors, which turns 11 this year. It remains his last truly great single. And with his recorded output increasingly delivering diminishing returns, it’s performances like these that prove Timberlake’s worth as an artist who always fulfils his potential in the live arena.
