Recap of Justin Timberlake's Vancouver Concert

So as I HOPE YOU REMEMBER, I went to see Justin Timberlake perform in Vancouver on January 16...

...Where, oh, where do I even start?

Do I start by gushing about the incredible, high-energy, flawless vocal and dance performance?  Do I begin by telling you about the amazing setlist and light show? Do I launch into describing the energy in the entire arena that night?

OH I know. How about I begin this recap of Justin Timberlake's January 16th Vancouver show at Rogers Arena the same way that MY night began that evening - WITH A MASSIVE, MAGICAL, UNBELIEVABLE, "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?" SEAT UPGRADE. The upgrade to end all upgrades, guys. And I didn't do a single thing to deserve it.

Dave and I (yup, definitely made Dave be my date) were just making our way into our section at the show when an usher who worked for the arena asked to see my tickets, evaluated them for a moment, took them from me, and handed me a new pair of tickets, saying, "You just got upgraded." I was all "Whaaa?" and my first instinct, of course, was to fight this guy over the fact that he just took my Justin Timberlake tickets out of my hand. I mean, clearly he didn't know who he was dealing with. One doesn't simply take my JTim tickets from me. Though I was slightly incredulous about this alleged "upgrade" we were receiving (in the back of my head I was hoping that that guy really was a Rogers Arena employee and not someone who had just stolen my tickets), we changed course and walked down a set of stairs to get to the lower level of the arena. From there we walked, and walked.... and walked.... goodness we were walking a long way from where our original seats were. What was going onnnn? We located our new section, an usher directed us to our new seats.... and THAT is when it sort of - sorrrrrt of - hit me:  Our new seats were almost on top of the stage.

There was actually a particular section of the stage that jutted out laterally into the crowd mere feet from where we were sitting. I wish I could have seen a video of my series of facial expressions as I fully realized where we were and that I was ACTUALLY going to see Justin Timberlake from about 6 feet away.

No, no... I can tell that you don't fully understand the weight of this situation, so let me repeat:

I was going to be within 6 feet of Justin Timberlake. Justin Timberlake whom I have been swooning over and obsessed with since I was 14. The performer who it seemed I was destined to never come into any real close contact with, having put in a solid 15 years of raging fandom and never so much as getting a front row ticket.

I was about to watch his show from nearly as close as could be... at eye level... with a section of the stage practically touching my face. 

Dave didn't really "get it" either. He was just sort of laughing at me as I breathlessly repeated, "JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is going to be RIGHT. THERE."

 We were moved from section 316 to section 120:

Ok, so now you might "get" how incredible the seats were. But obviously, the location of our seats wasn't the highlight of the night - the SHOW was!

So remember that time that Justin Timberlake won the Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 VMAs, and he ended up putting on a performance at the award show that was literally 15 minutes long? Like, longer than anyone else has ever performed on an award show? And remember how everytime you thought he was wrapping up his set, he was really just gearing up to perform a million more songs?

WELL TAKE THAT FEELING AND STRETCH IT INTO 3 HOURS.

I was exhausted by the end of it!!!!

He sang soooooo many songsss - this is not the exact order of the setlist because there were too many for me to remember an order... but here's what he performed (um... don't read this if you're going to see his show in the future and don't want any spoilers, I guess?):

• Pusher Love
• Mirrors
• Strawberry Bubblegum
• My Love
• Love Stoned/I Think That She Knows
• Drink You Away
• Take Back the Night
• Sexy Back
• Like I Love You
• Señorita
• Rock Your Body
• Tunnel Vision
• Till the End of Time
• Cry Me A River
• FutureSex/LoveSounds
• What Goes Around
• Summer Love
• Don't Hold the Wall
• That Girl
• Let the Groove Get In
• Suit & Tie
• Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want)
• Not A Bad Thing
• True Blood
• Cabaret
• TKO
• Only When I Walk Away

"Bonus" songs included bits of all of the following:

• JT's opening verse/chorus from Holy Grail by Jay-Z
• Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
• Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth
• Human Nature by Michael Jackson
• Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang
• Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis

Other highlights of the show:

• The surprise moving section of the stage that was built upon an impressive hydraulics system. The stage actually lifted up and drove over the entire center floor section of the arena, towards the back of the arena... coincidentally ending up right around the place that my seats WOULD have been in if we hadn't been upgraded. 
• The dude in the row directly in front of me who seemed to think he was starring in some sort of feature film about hand-dancing. He was absolutely hysterical and semi-distracting to be seated behind because he was seriously singing/dancing/gesticulating as if he was being filmed for a music video. It was very dramatic, but made me giggle (much) more than once throughout the course of the evening. Just as an example, if Justin sang the word "you," this guy would point straight ahead at an imaginary person, as if to express "you" through hand motions. Or if Justin sang the word "stronger," this guy would make a muscle and point to his bicep. You get the picture. Imagine that happening for every word of every song. That fake sign language interpreter from the Nelson Mandela memorial had nothing on this guy.
• The number of guys in the audience who were definitely there because of their girlfriends... but who were definitely all having a great time nonetheless. JTim delivers, people. Everyone loves him. 
• The laser light show that popped up to say hello throughout the evening. I normally don't give a crap about the light show at concerts, but the lights/lasers at this show were actually pretty captivating and unique. 
• Justin played piano and guitar during a few different parts of the show... and of course it wouldn't be a JT show without at least a littttttle bit of beatboxing! (Anyone else remember the "Prepare yourself - it's the human beatbox!" part of 'NSync's old No Strings Attached tour??) (I DO.) (Maybe because I saw that show live three separate times, as well as owned the VHS of the Madison Square Garden concert that was taped for HBO? Maybe?)

I took some videos during the show, as well as plenty of pictures. If you're a fan of him, perhaps you'll be interested to see those. If you're not a fan of him... well then I commend you for your dedication to reading this far into a blog about something you don't care about. Seriously.

Behold:

You'll notice that the video is shaky as shit, but please read on for my eventual thoughts on that topic.

.  oh hello, mr. timberlake  .

Sidebar - I realized during this show just how difficult it is to take a photo with a digital camera when one is being inundated by bright, flashing lights that are constantly changing the lighting situation. 

.  you lookin at me?  .

YUP:

The moving stage:

WHOOHOOO!

I don't really need to tell you that I was just pleased as punch about the entire evening. What an amazing birthday present! {Smushing David's cheeks!}

And just a note about my shaky videos... it was actually kind of a bummer trying to film instead of just enjoying it and dancing. I don't know how these kids do it these days. Or, more accurately, I don't know WHY these kids do it these days. Ironically - sometimes you can miss a lot while you're trying to capture everything. So basically that's why all of these videos are unabashedly shaky. Kiss my butt if you think I should have been more focused on "keeping him in the frame" than on STARING AT HIS SKIN IN THE FLESH!! ;)

Guys, if JTim is coming to a town near you - you've just blatantly got to go see his show. You'll have such a good time, I promise. Even if you don't get an amazing seat upgrade.

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