An Evening with JT (And KW!)

Several months ago, I received an email from my friend Kyle which read, "Justin Timberlake is coming to Baltimore July 14th and we're going.  Have a nice day."  So I thought, "Well, I guess that's that then." I emailed back to say, "Ok, but I don't know anything about his music" and in short order, three CD's arrived in my mailbox. 

Here's what I know about Justin Timberlake:

1.  He used to date Britney Spears.  For some reason I remember her doing an interview and the interviewer asking her if she and Justin had split and her response was, "No, me and Justin did not split up." And I was thinking, "It's 'Justin and I', you idiot."

2.  He's married to Jessica Biel.  Their wedding looked so beautiful that I had to buy the People magazine of their wedding pictures just to look at them.  And I thought, "Oh, someday I must wear a pink wedding dress."  Yeah, she looked amazing.  And he just looked so crazy happy.  It made me happy to look at them.

3.  Nipplegate.

4.  NSYNC.

So, there you have it.  But one of my favorite things about being friends with Kyle is that he always gets me to try new things that I would never have done on my own (including, much to my Virginia friends' chagrin, shots of alcohol), so I figured this would be a fun experience if nothing else.

So the 14th arrived, bright, cheery, and hot.  Amtrak was cooperative, so Kyle and I found each other, got lost getting out of DC, and then spent the afternoon wrapped up in Marky Mark kicking some sort of robot butt (maybe) in Transformers 4, which we had gotten to see being filmed in Chicago last fall.  Then we headed north to Baltimore for the fun.

After procuring good parking, we headed to the arena and happily there was a souvenir stand and I got a concert program.  Kyle had gotten us floor seats, and as we made our way down, there was another stand and he got a JT bow tie.  In hindsight, I regret not getting one myself for my hair.  Next time...We found our seats, no problem, took a fun picture and waited for the fun to begin.

I have to be honest, I did not have high hopes for this concert.  I just thought I'd go along with it and then that would be the end of it.  I had listened to some JT tunes, and that was all well and good, but I really just thought, "Well, really, who cares?"  (Kyle knew this, so if he reads this, it'll be no surprise.)

We talked to the ladies behind us who had flown up from Orlando and Atlanta to be here, one of whom was married to Sister Hazel, which makes us now 1 degree removed from Sister Hazel if you're into that sort of thing.  The Cult of JT is different than the Cult of BNL of which I am now more firmly a part, but it was fun.  There was a DJ, Freestyle Steve, spinning records, driving everyone crazy with some contest and keeping things moving till JT started, nearly 30 minutes late I might add, but what can you do, he's a total rock star.

The first half of the show was great.  It sort of sucks to be at a concert and not be able to sing along.  But that was my own fault.  And frankly, there was enough to see and look at that it didn't really matter.  JT has kept up with the choreography from his boy band days.  And if there is something I love to see, it is a cool-dancing man.  I loved that part of the show. 

 I sang along with what I knew, danced a bit, enjoyed watching Kyle, who was completely in his element, and it's entirely possible I got carried away and screamed, "I love you, Justin!" without any conscious thought as to what I was doing.  But let's face it, there wasn't a woman in the place who didn't scream it at least once.

There was a short intermission so that everyone could catch their breath, and then back at it.  I was ready for the real excitement of the second half... First of all: Lasers.  Second of all: Giant Floating Stage.

Yes, part of the stage detaches and moves towards the back, so Justin floated over our heads like the musical angel he is, and moved to an area behind us where the VIPs were rocking it out.  Then it got real.  He did covers of both Michael Jackson AND Elvis Presley.  Amazing. 

Then he floated back over our heads to finish up, including an encore. I had to sit for only one song--my knee was in misery, leftovers from the recent car accident--but for the most part I was on my feet dancing and screaming.  It felt just as good as a New Kids on the Block concert.

The place was wild.  I couldn't hear normally again till sometime the next day.  I am looking forward to going again and having another 20/20 experience, hopefully in December sometime.  Details are being decided. 

Since coming home, I've been listening to a JT play list.  "Cry Me a River" and "Mirrors" are my top 2 songs, but JT is pretty listenable no matter what song you've got on.  It was an amazing night.  You should go!!