On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Justin Timberlake’s World Tour finally made its stop at Houston’s Toyota Center. The Forget Tomorrow World Tour has been making its way through the United States, Europe and Canada since April in almost entirely sold-out venues, and will continue long into 2025. Though the tour promotes the singer’s newest album, Everything I Thought I Was, it felt a lot like a best-of compilation, which was no problem for the stadium full of millennial super fans.
There was no waiting around for the boy band legend, who had no opener and emerged center stage from a trap door in a cloud of backlit fog at exactly 9:15 p.m. The tour’s stage was a master class of modular set design. Behind Timberlake’s band, The Tennessee Kids, a curved LCD screen stretched the length of the stage. At first glance the screen was one surface, but, in fact, it had a central rectangular part which was able to separate entirely from the backdrop and float above the stage. A long light bar in front of the band provided additional visual interest as it extended upward and lowered depending on the song.
The graphics on the screens were western-themed, at first. A moving image of what looked like a desert road with cacti and highway signage at sunset. This would later make way to more modern visuals, like 3D renderings of Justin Timberlake’s face gazing out onto the audience, and abstract textures, like a nondescript dripping liquid flowing over the entire screen.
Timberlake performed the first song of the night, “No Angels” from his 2024 record “Everything I Thought I Was, in an outfit he would wear for half the night: a loose fitting dinner jacket over a white shirt and black trousers—a kind of minimalist departure from the complex and high-energy visuals of the show.
As Timberlake and his band began their second tune, the singer’s 2007 hit “LoveStoned,” a row of synchronized dancers appeared behind him, setting the mood for the next few dance hits. But it was the fifth song that really captured the crowd. The lights dimmed and Timberlake sang an ultra slowed, jazzy intro to “My Love” from his 2006 monster of an album. Here we got two beautiful solos from Timberlake’s backup singers, who sounded every bit as good as the Prince of Pop himself.
When Justin Timberlake does crowd work you really get a sense for his talent for entertaining. During a break between songs, the Tennessean singer/songwriter directed the two halves of the arena’s crowd like Freddie Mercury at Live Aid 1985. Many fans close to the front held signs in hopes of some interaction with the pop star and, for two lucky ones, their hopes panned out.
The first, a young woman in the floor section, waved a sign that read, “My mom & dad couldn’t make my dreams come true! Maybe the man I call ‘daddy’ can!” To which Timberlake responded, “…that sign is so good, I’d love to sign your poster.” After signing it he turned to his right and found another sign that caught his attention. It read, “My mom said I can skip school if you sign my school excuse card.” “I’m not going to get in trouble for this, am I?” The singer asked, holding the girl’s excuse card, then admitting “Well I’ve been in worse trouble,” alluding to his recent run in with the law.
“Cry Me a River” from Timberlake’s debut solo album “>Justified”> all the way back in 2002 brought the crowd back to life. “I bet that got your ass up” he remarked, as the audience cheered. As he and his dancers performed, the modular part of the LCD screen departed from the main screen and began floating above the stage giving new dimension to the stage, offering a dramatic new lighting. As the song came to a close, the rectangular screen floated back and became, once again, part of the backdrop. The graphics on the screen returned to their initial western theme, except now, the sun had set and there was an old gas station surrounded by cacti in moonlight.
During the song “Play” Justin left the main stage and made his way through the floor section with his dancers until they reached a second, smaller stage on the far side of the arena. Here, “Say Something” a song cowritten and performed originally with Country star Chris Stapleton, was performed, along with a handful of other more stripped down songs, with Timberlake playing an acoustic guitar and, at one point, a Rhodes keyboard.
When the singer and his dancers returned to the main stage they ran through a slew smash hits, including “What Goes Around… Comes Around” (2006,”FutureSex/LoveSounds,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” From the ever popular Trolls soundtrack released in 2016, “Rock Your Body” (2003, “Worthy Of” and “SexyBack” (2006, FutureSex/LoveSounds.)
But the absolute showstopper was, aptly, the encore. The singer left the stage and the lights went out. For a moment it seemed that the concert had finished. Just as some attendees began walking toward the exits, the modular screen lit up and began floating out of its backdrop, revealing Justin Timberlake tethered to the top.
The screen became a floating stage with Timberlake on top as he performed “Mirrors” a song written about love, that was, allegedly, inspired by the singer’s relationship with Jessica Biel, from his 2013 record The 20/20 Experience. The floating stage tilted and drifted around the arena, accompanied by a spectacular light show from within its frame as Timberlake sang the final track of The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, a spectacle I don’t think it’s likely we’ll be forgetting tomorrow, or any time soon. The tour will continue through the United States, South America, and Europe until mid 2025 with dwindling available tickets. If you want to see the Prince of Pop at his best, this is the tour for you.
SETLIST:
No Angels
LoveStoned
Like I Love You
My Love
Technicolor Sanctified
Infinity Sex
Future Sex/LoveSound
Imagination
Drown
Cry Me A River
Let the Groove Set In
My Favorite Drug
Señorita
Summer Love
F**kin’ Up the Disco
Play
Suit & Tie
Flame
Say Something
Pusher Love Girl
Until the End of Time
Selfish
What Goes Around… Comes Around
Can’t Stop the Feeling!
Rock Your Body
SexyBack
Mirrors
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
