Being that I was born in 1981 I didn’t get to see any of the great soul shows of the 80s. I will never see the SOS Band fill a stadium. I will never see Michael Jackson leaping onto a speaker stack or crying on stage (well I might see him cry on stage, but not for the right reasons). I can go and see the Zapp band play to 60 people in a tiny venue but I really want to see them in the Oakland Coliseum with a crowd of housewives and teenagers.

Seeing Justin Timberlake live, all minstrelsy issues aside, is the closest thing to the Bad World Tour available today. Not that Justin has the voice or the songs that Michael had. He doesn’t.
He has though got a very likeable stage manner, making the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena shrink and expand when he steps on and off the stage. With the lights up the new (first actual) use for London’s Millenium Dome looks huge. An American, basketball style arena with nosebleed deck and plenty of executive boxing, a solo artist in the round ought to be lost. An ant with a spotlight. Your Timberlake, alternating between sitting at the piano and excercising his particular brand of choreography is a big target on stage. Helped by an excellent set, his face blown up onto giant retracting curved screens, and fluid interaction with his troup of dancers, his performance manages to feel personal and relaxed whilst obviously being the product of boy-band trained discipline, perfectionism and a large budget.

The live band he has are excellent. An all black team, mostly of a certain age. Old enough to be able to play like 1983 but young enough to not balk at translating Timbaland’s computer music to their instruments. One drummer on the constant beat, the other indulging in a wall of percussion options or doubling up for the BIG beats. The backing singers were a definite crowd favourite. I’ve noticed a trend of them starting to dance again. I see this as heralding a new, moreglorious era of live music.

On record the best thing about Timberlake is Timbaland. A man who has put his relentless creativity into some very dead ends before (Ginuwine, Magoo), his presence on this tour speaks volumes for the fruitfulness of his work with Justin. He should have been this big with Aaliyah, and given an extra year possibly would have been. He made sure to remember her in his hype-man session during Justin’s interval. Put your “A”s up. It was nice to see Tim drumming out beats on stage, contrived as it was with most of the music coming from his DJ, Freestyle. Tim did an impressive job of keeping the crowd up while Justin powdered his nose or whatever and contributed big smiles, a bit of Hiphop and a fur coat to their two biggest numbers “Cry Me A River” and “Sexyback”. We thought Nelly Furtado might pop up for a couple of songs as she was in town this week, but it wasn’t to be.

Justin’s slow jams, which I usually skip, sounded pure 80s when played live. “Until The End Of Time” especially made me check the record again when I got home. It’s the type of great, simple ballad Timbaland has been coaxing from RnB artists for the last 15 years. On stage it sounded like R. Kelly backed by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the band all suited up, the drummer hitting the chimes. A fine cheese.

The highlights of his last album, the production genius of “My Love” and the outros of “What Goes Around” and “Lovestoned” rained down on those of us standing in the round, like synthy hail. They could have packed a few more people into the standing area to beef up the atmosphere but then my trips to the bar and the toilet wouldn’t have been so shockingly quick. The unoccupied bar staff were craning over the bar to get a glimpse of the stage or an echo of their favourite song. If you go and see 80s soul acts now, you’ll see them in a small venue, with a distinct vibe of “no one cares” and an audience of music types. The great thing about seing Justin Timberlake doing his take on 80s soul with Timbaland’s take on Jetsons Hiphop, is that everyone is so fucking pleased to be there, and the music is good.

Complaints? Don’t have any. As much as I’m inclined towards being sour about dudes that sing, dance and get all the girls, he really is very good at this pop star shit.