Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake perform during the Legends of the Summer tour on July 19 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. (Photo: Kevin Mazur WireImage)
BRONX, N.Y. - When Justin Timberlake sang, several numbers into his Friday night concert with Jay Z at Yankee Stadium, "It feels like something's heating up," he wasn't just bringing sexy back.
The lyric, from Timberlake's Senorita, applied in the literal sense at the first of the dynamic duo's two shows at the venue, and the first stop in the USA on their Legends of Summer tour. (The trek launched in Toronto last Wednesday.) Friday marked the peak of a heat wave that roasted the East Coast this past week; by 9:20 p.m., when the two made their entrance - each accompanied by a red spotlight - the temperature still hung in the vicinity of 90 degrees.
Pros that they are, Jay Z - who's ditched the hyphen, in case you haven't heard - and Timberlake didn't complain. There was nary a reference to the weather, in fact, in their two-hour-plus set, which departed from Toronto's only slightly. Although both superstars are technically promoting albums - Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience bowed in March, while Jay Z's Magna Carta...Holy Grail dropped earlier this month - they drew equally on previous hits and crowd favorites.
Taking turns in the spotlight, they also shared it, embellishing and riffing on each other's material. Timberlake crooned a few bars from the Jackson Five's I Want You Back as an intro to Jay Z's Izzo (H.O.V.A.), which samples the classic, while Jay Z rapped during Timberlake's Tunnel Vision. At other points, Timberlake joined the supple backing band on guitar or keyboards.
Jay Z was, figuratively speaking, the cooler customer, keeping his flow smooth and sharp and his diction crisp enough so that fans could savor his witty wordplay. He received their love as a matter of fact, whether playfully leading the crowd through an old fave such as 99 Problems or Hard-Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) or fervidly selling the Magna Carta tracks Tom Ford and F---WithMeYouKnowIGotIt.
His tour partner proved a more patently ingratiating host. Timberlake has always been an enormously gracious and endearing performer; it could be argued that no artist has gotten further on sheer likability. If the charm of his blue-eyed soul falsetto seemed in danger of wearing thin at times - particularly in the second half, during a long stretch that opened with Pusher Love Girl and included a crowd-pleasing Cry Me A River - the audience failed to notice, remaining rapt.
Granted, the number that generated the most excitement was Jay Z's Empire State of Mind - but that was in part because of the ravishing Alicia Keys, who popped up to sing the chorus, as she does on the recording. (Timberlake offered a loungey take on the theme from New York, New York as a prelude.) Timbaland also made an appearance, joining Timberlake for SexyBack.
Despite the venue, and Jay Z's Brooklyn roots, there were few other nods to the Big Apple, aside from the obligatory shout-outs to the home crowd. But the stars ended the concert decked out like city swells, defying the heat to perform an encore of Suit & Tie - Timberlake's first 20/20 single, featuring Jay Z - dressed accordingly. ( Holy Grail, Jay Z's Magna Carta single, featuring Timberlake, had opened the show.)
That was followed by Jay Z's Forever Young - a term that both artists and their audience had by then earned in sweat-drenched enthusiasm.
0 comments:
Post a Comment