Justin Timberlake Put on an Impressive Tech Spectacle in Miami

"So many people come up to me and say, 'I grew up with you,'" Justin Timberlake told a packed Kaseya Center crowd in Miami on Saturday night. "I never ask them their age because I don't want to know. It reminds me of how old I am. I want everyone here to know that I have grown up with you."

The misty-eyed moment happened about midway through the concert, during an intimate set on the smaller B-stage at the back of the arena. The pop music icon reflected on his nearly three decades of global pop stardom and his first 20 shows on the aptly titled Forget Tomorrow World Tour, a career-spanning victory lap celebrating his two-decade solo career, including his latest album, Everything I Thought It Was.

In the lead-up to the tour, the public narrative about Timberlake has revolved around the re-evaluation of past controversies and what has been perceived as his first true "flop era." But you wouldn't have known that from the hordes of fans rocking new merch and vintage 'NSync t-shirts during the two-hour, 30-song set. It was an incredibly athletic display on his part, and the audience reciprocated by dancing for pretty much the entirety of the show.

Timberlake leaned heavily into Everything, with songs from the new album comprising almost half the set. But he walked a fine balance of doubling down on the new music he's clearly very proud of and playing the classics, including his debut solo single, "Like I Love You." It was legitimately thrilling to watch him ace every step of the choreography I first watched him do at age 21 in a fedora on MTV, this time alongside dancers half his age who took breaks at times when he didn't.

Maybe it was the sequencing of throwback tracks alongside his latest work, or perhaps it was Timberlake's reflections about his long career — "I knew ever since I was a little boy that this is what I wanted to do with my life and you have been with me every step of the way" — but the show made me acutely aware of the passage of time. Part of that was seeing so many families with young children at the show — kids whose parents grew up listening to 'NSync and were here 30 years later singing along to "Can't Stop the Feeling!" from the Trolls movie soundtrack.

"We gotta do one for the kids, baby," Timberlake said as he introduced the song. Earlier in the show, he'd acknowledged two families with posters announcing the show was their kids' first concert. Timberlake pre-emptively apologized for the profanity they might hear, and I did wonder later how their parents felt when digital dummies switching sex positions appeared on the jumbo screens during "FutureSex/LoveSound." I decided the kids probably didn't know what they were looking at anyway.
Timberlake also shouted out an attendee who's become a part of his own family over the years: Timbaland, his longtime collaborator, whom he referred to as a "brother." "I don't know where he's at because he's always incognito," he said before acknowledging the producer's recent induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. "Cry Me a River," one of the many songs the duo composed together, received the most rapturous reaction of the night. "I'll bet that got your ass up," Timberlake chuckled into the mic. Indeed, asses and phone cameras went up in quick succession at that moment.

Another aspect of the show worth capturing for posterity: an impressive LED monolith screen that served as the show's centerpiece. It first hovered above the stage during "Sanctified," a guitar-laden, gospel-infused track off the new album that Timberlake first debuted on Saturday Night Live. As the massive block moved up and down on thick wires, then began turning and seesawing above the crowd, I desperately suppressed intrusive thoughts about what might happen if there were some kind of malfunction or loud, sudden snap.

The ultimate spectacle came during "Mirrors," when Timberlake, secured by a harness, sang on the floating stage as it glided above the crowd and dipped forward at what looked to be a 45-degree angle. I found myself glaring at the thick, black wires once again before focusing on the sweetness of Timberlake's smile as he sang, "You were right here all along" to his audience, his arms outstretched like a freediver.

This writer has been fortunate enough to experience tours that are legion in terms of set design, from Lady Gaga's Monster Ball to Kanye West's Yeezus Tour and, more recently, Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. The floating monolith stage at Timberlake's Forget Tomorrow World Tour joins Gaga's car-hood keyboard and West's massive mountain/volcano as one of the most memorable and impressive bits of stage production I've ever seen at a concert.
Even still, with that level of production, Timberlake managed to make the arena show feel like a much more intimate gig. He fist-bumped fans and serenaded them on keyboards and guitar during his set on the B-stage, and he paid special attention to one woman whose fangirl freakout recalled the days of rabid TRL shoutouts in Times Square. He jumped to her during "Flame" and sang the bridge to her as she screamed it back. After he stepped away, it took her a solid, full song to completely recover and compose herself.

The intimate feel was also largely owed to the presence of his longtime backing band, the Tennessee Kids, whose horns can bring even the most lukewarm album cuts to vibrant life. Seriously, Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids Vegas residency — when?

Timberlake dismissed the idea in an interview with Zane Lowe in 2018, saying a recurring Vegas show felt like "planning your retirement." But he left the door open a crack: "I wouldn't rule it out if it was something that was different." Through his incredibly athletic performance, pristine vocals, and feats of stage production and engineering, his Saturday night concert at the Kaseya Center proved he'd find a way to make it thrilling if given the chance.

Setlist:
- "Memphis" (video intro)
- "No Angels"
- "LoveStoned"
- "Like I Love You"
- "Let Me Talk To You (Prelude)"
- "My Love" (a capella, then full band)
- "Technicolor"
- "Sanctified"
- "Infinity Sex"
- "FutureSex/LoveSound"
- "Imagination"
- "Drown"
- "Cry Me a River" (with Led Zeppelin "Kashmir" outro)
- "Let the Groove Get In"
- "My Favorite Drug"
- "Señorita"
- "Summer Love"
- "Fuckin' Up the Disco"
- "Play"
- "Suit & Tie"
- "Flame"
- "Say Something"
- "Pusher Love Girl"
- "Until the End of Time"
- "Selfish"
- "What Goes Around...Comes Around"/"Careless Whisper" outro
- "Can't Stop the Feeling!" (with Chic "Good Times" outro)
- "Rock Your Body"
- "SexyBack"
- "Mirrors"