More than 20,000 fans packed into the Yas Island venue for the return of Justin Timberlake and his eye-popping 20/20 Experience World Tour. All photos by Christopher Pike / The National
Updated: May 24, 2014, 12:00 AM
In pictures: Justin Timberlake rocks Abu Dhabi
Much of that acclaim lies in the release of last year’s opus, the double album The 20/20 Experience. While 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds was about the dark side of love, The 20/20 Experience is a brighter, more experimental, affair, focusing on the redemptive nature of relationships.
Clapping along with the crowd, he promised the du Arena that “he was here to party”. That was music to the ears of the throngs of excited fans who had flocked to Yas Island for the show, his second in the capital after performing at the Emirates Palace in 2007.
Descending the stairs to almost combustible shrieks from the crowd, Justin Timberlake and band launched into the opener Pusher Love Girl. It was a brave move – the track is almost fully sung in a deft falsetto and Timberlake pulled it off with aplomb.
Joined by six dancers, he twirled and sashayed across the stage, recalling his glory days as a member of the boyband ‘N Sync.
Truly warmed up, the crowd made their view felt in Justin Timberlake’s first solo hit Like I Love You. The combination of stuttering guitars and funky drums had the audience jumping along, eliciting a big grin from the star.
Unfortunately, the energy drastically dropped in the second half. While the first was dark and electrifying – courtesy of the futuristic-sounding new material – what followed was alarmingly fluffy, with classic covers and heavy on choreographed dances.
The second half of the concert had fillers, such as covers of Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel and the Michael Jackson tribute of Human Nature and The Jacksons’s Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground). All were done adeptly, but it really took the wind out the sails of what was until then a brilliantly paced show.
The energy picked up when the new material returned: the show ended with the killer trio of Suit & Tie, the boisterous horn-filled SexyBack and the anthemic Mirrors, which came with U2-style chiming guitars.