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| A flier they handed out to people in line. Still not sure what the surprise was. |
The ticket states that doors open at 7 pm and show starts at 8 pm. I planned on going at around 3 or 4, grab an early dinner, before lining up about an hour or so before the show starts. But, I started panicking because at around noon, I saw tweets about people who are already lining up, and that there were 20-30 people in front of them! The little fangirl inside of me was upset at myself for not being a bigger fan. But I decided to stick to my original fan, mostly because I didn't want to drag my friend -- who's not a big JT fangirl like I am -- to line up for hours.
We got there at around 6 pm, and the line was already halfway around the block. I was surprisingly calm lining up to my first JT show ever. About half an hour later, the line started moving; the doors were opened earlier than the planned time. A couple of the security guys said that they've never seen a line that long waiting for the doors to open. Which, funny enough, reminds me of the last time I lined up for something JT related. It was the last day of "Justin Timberweek" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and I thought I'd line up for standby tickets. Upon googling, I found people suggesting to line up at 6 am. So I did. I got there and found about 30 people ahead of me, some of whom camped out from the previous night. The security people there also said that they've never seen a line that long, that early in the day. Seriously, I'm not big enough of a fangirl to do that. Not even for Justin.
Back to Justin's show. I started getting very excited as we moved closer to the door. After they checked my bag and scanned our tickets, we walked into the ballroom. The bar was right in front of the doors and I looked to my left and saw the stage. I just ran towards it. We actually got a decent spot, not too far from the stage. Yes, I would have loved to be closer, but it was great for barely having to stand in line.
The ballroom started filling up; it was getting crowded and it was getting hot. To the right of the floor, there's an elevated VIP area. And to our left there's a second floor table area, which we later found out seated a few celebrities. Brooke Shields gave us a wave and a smile before taking a picture of the crowd. A table or two next to hers belonged to Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis -- it took quite a few glances and guesses from the people around me before we finally figured out who they were. I was hoping to see Olivia Wilde, who didn't seem to be there at the beginning, and I was happy to see her arrive a little before the show started. A guy in the middle of the crowd shouted "Hi, Jessica!" which prompted almost everyone to look up, and sure enough, there she was, seated next to Wilde. Timbaland was also there, at the far end. There was also a guy who I think looks a lot like Josh Radnor, but I really doubt it was him.
Anyways, Justin didn't show up until around 40 minutes past the scheduled show time. I was already sweating from the heat and was getting impatient. But he came out and I just... I have no words... Justin stepped up on stage with a guitar in hand, and started the show with "Like I Love You," which segued into "My Love." I'm pretty sure the set is the same as the other small shows he's done these past couple months. I only had my iPhone with me so I couldn't really get good pictures (link to highlight pics from Justin's website); I just tried to absorb it as much as I could.
I sang, I danced, I screamed. I had a blast. I did glance up to my left to look at the celebrities from time to time. Especially when Justin himself seemed to be looking that way. Quite a few people around me actually seemed more interested in what's going on up there than at the stage, unfortunately. In any case, it's nice to see Jessica Biel singing along and dancing to the music like the rest of us fans do. I mean, she must have been to so many of these, but it looked like she was enjoying herself, which was nice to see.
About 90 minutes later, I was exhausted and sweaty and having one of the best nights of my life. Justin walked off the stage for a bit, before returning with Timbaland. I knew "SexyBack" was coming and I was both excited for the song and sad that the show was ending. After the song ended, Justin waved and bowed to the audience before exiting the stage. I was conflicted; I didn't want to leave just yet, but the air was so humid that cool air sounded so good. I, as well as most people around me, looked up at the VVIP tables area, and Brooke Shield gave us a wave and posed for a few pictures. Andy Samberg also waved at us before leaving, although he gave us a shrug of a "it was Justin's night" when we cheered for him. All in all, it was an amazing night to cap off an amazing weekend.
The next concert that I'm going to is another Justin Timberlake concert: his "Legends of the Summer" tour with Jay-Z on July 19th. I really can't wait for it!
Side note: there was a guy front and center who was wearing Google Glasses. I'm curious as to what it recorded, if any.
Part 2 of 2 and World Tour
I have to say, I've been impressed with Justin's marketing team. Instead of throwing him in our faces, he's made a few, selected appearances. He seems to be everywhere but not too much. Not saying that I know anything about marketing, but I just really liked what they've done. From the teaser tweet before the video teaser, the Grammy performance, dropping the second single ("Mirrors") before the Grammy hype died down, making the whole album available for streaming on iTunes, "Justin Timberweek" and his SNL appearance, they all lead up to "The 20/20 Experience" being Justin's biggest first week sales. Billboard.com has the timeline for his promotional run up to his album release here.This time, building around his MasterCard Priceless Premieres show, he announced the release date for "The 20/20 Experience" part 2 through Twitter/Instagram:
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| "It's like Christmas in summer folks!" |
The next day, they announced the dates for his solo world tour; the first one after "FutureSex/LoveShow" in 2006/2007.
Their strategy seems to be to keep the buzz going, and it's definitely working.
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