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April 15, 2007
Mr. JT
So, the following is my friend Molly's account of her experience at the Justin Timberlake concert a couple weeks ago. Molly has been an enormous fan of Justin and 'N Sync for a long long time, so when she finally got to meet him in person, I told her she had to guest blog for The Blonde Excuse. Here's her story:
Thursday, March 29th 2007 can forever now be known as the day I died and went to heaven!!! An experience that took almost 10 years in the making, I had the pleasure of meeting Justin Timberlake! I have been a huge fan of ‘N Sync ever since they made their U.S. debut in the late ‘90’s, and even more so I was infatuated with Justin Timberlake (I’m talking posters plastered on every inch of wall and ceiling space, camping out for concert tickets, spending thousands on collectibles, attending almost every promotional event in the Northeast… I was absolutely CRAZY!). Throughout the years I had many close run-ins with meeting the members of ‘N Sync and I actually ended up meeting Joey Fatone when he was staring in Rent on Broadway, but no matter how hard I tried it didn’t seem like I would ever meet Justin Timberlake, or as I like to call him, Mr. JT.
I’m happy to report that that all changed for me last month when my sister and I attended his Future Sex/Love Show at the Continental Airlines Arena in northern New Jersey. After getting amazing seats for the show (on the floor, right next to the stage!!!) my cousin, Melissa, informed me that her roommate, Alison, was the assistant tour manager of Mr. JT’s Future Sex/Love Show (AMAZING and yes, I really, really want her job!!) and she was in charge of the sound check and meet and greet. With this amazing hook-up, and may I add new best friend, I had the most exciting experience ever. We were able to sit in on his sound check (he sounded amazing, by the way!) and we had the chance to get our picture taken with him!! I was only disappointed by one thing; we weren’t allowed to ask him for an autograph, but it’s ok because standing next to him was good enough for me.
Mr. JT practicing at the piano:
Being the loser who knows every bit of useless trivia pertaining to Justin Timberlake, I was very excited at the sound check because I got to sit next to Johnny Wright, his manager. Johnny Wright was also the one time manager of New Kid’s On the Block, ‘N Sync and many other music acts.
Molly, Mr. JT and Sara at the meet and greet:
My knees were so wobbly and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I have absolutely no clue how I managed not to pass out, but I’m sure that if I were not in such a daze I probably would have. The fact that he put his hand on my shoulder makes me absolutely crazy, I cannot believe it, and just so you all know, I plan on never washing that sweater that he touched!
After fulfilling my ultimate dream, Sara and I were in for one more treat (as if there could have been anything more!). Alison brought us backstage to meet the show’s opening act, Pink! Once again, my useless knowledge kicked in and as I was standing in line to meet Pink and I looked to my right and realized I was standing next to Joey Fatone’s brother, Steve. I almost said something to him, but I held back because I realized nobody but myself noticed who he was.
Pink was so sweet and she was so cute, and pretty! For some reason I was expecting her to look different; she was definitely much shorter and petite than I had originally thought. After meeting her I definitely had a better opinion of her and her music. She was phenomenal on stage, too! Her performance was awesome. I highly recommend checking her out if you have a chance.
There was a lot of waiting time in between the events
Our friend Kristina was at the same concert and I have to give her thanks for the pictures below of Mr. JT during the concert because I didn’t bring my camera in for it. She was in the same section as we were, but on the opposite side of the stage, so our views were pretty much the same.
There was a lot of waiting time in between the different events, so to fill in the gaps we had one of the show producers, Rene, who was in fact one of Justin’s teachers in middle school back in Tennessee, tell us all sorts of stories about the happenings of the tour. Rene was so cute with her Southern accent as she told us how the 40 something trucks carrying the stage and lighting spent 18 hours at the Canadian/ U.S. border customs control. She also informed us that the stage used on the tour was/is the largest stage to ever be used in a touring production (it really was… it took up almost 3/4th of the arena floor).
The concert was outstanding!! He sang every song off his latest album, FutureSex / LoveSounds and all the songs he had as singles off of his 2002 album, Justified, and to top that, he sang ‘N Sync’s "Gone." He sounded better than ever and put on an amazing show. Timbaland came on stage and performed with Mr. JT, and in between sets he went solo on stage, highlighting a lot of his hits (pretty much every song on the radio). During the whole concert I was nestled between the stage and a barricade and, lucky me, got the chance to see Timbaland exiting the stage and I managed to make direct eye contact with him as he was standing less than a foot away from me. The show was worth every penny spent on the ticket and I highly recommend checking him out in August when he returns for the second leg of the tour. I can only hope that next time he performs "Dick In A Box."
Posted by lauren at April 15, 2007 04:35 PM