Did it ruin the tour? A Recap of the Forget Tomorrow World Tour

What tour? "The world tour."

There might be some not-so-appropriate words used in this review. PG13.

We can't talk about the Everything I Thought It Was era of Justin Timberlake without mentioning this. In spring 2024, Justin Timberlake got a DUI. The officer caught Justin muttering quietly to himself, "This is going to ruin the tour." Since he didn't recognize the world-famous pop star, he asked, "What tour?" Justin clarified, "The World Tour." The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, in support of Justin Timberlake's 6th album Everything I Thought It Was, was marked by this incident. Since Justin Timberlake only puts out an album every half decade or so, it's likely this quote will be what people think of when Justin Timberlake's name comes up for a while. 

Justin's previous album Man of the Woods is now 7 years old.

That said, Justin Timberlake is one of my favorite musicians ever. The three-album run from FutureSex/LoveSounds, The 20/20 Experience Pt. 1, and The 20/20 Experience Pt. 2 is phenomenal. Three behemoth albums full of legendary, fleshy yet saccharine beats from Timbaland and Justin Timberlake never disappoint. That isn't to scoff at his other work; "Cry Me A River," "Montana," "Technicolor," and "No Angels" have all inspired me at various points in my life to write better songs. When the opportunity arose to visit the Forget Tomorrow World Tour, I had to jump at it. Especially with his aging career, this might have been the last chance to see him in all his glory. I booked my tickets, and the Pony and I went to the show.

Outside the venue, we ran into a man selling bootleg merch. Pony bought a Forget Tomorrow World Tour hoodie with the iconic mugshot on the front. The seller was asking $30, but we negotiated down to $20. It was our first time negotiating with a street vendor.

Beautiful hoodie. Indubitably

The show was not what it was advertised as. We were told from the evil Ticketmaster that the event began at 7:30pm, so Pony and I pulled up to the venue and found our seats a little after 7pm. By 7:42pm, nothing had happened. I felt lied to. I felt betrayed. I couldn't believe it.

At 8pm, Andrew Hypes came out to the turntable. "For the next hour I am your DJ!" Uh oh. He began playing "Holy Grail," "Chop Me Up," and "It's Gonna Be Me." I assumed he was playing all the JT stuff that wasn't part of the actual set. Then he played "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne. "Do we have any 80s babies in the house?" Everyone cheers. It was wise to cater to the millennials, because they were JT's primary audience in the 2000s. Then again, could he not pick good songs? All I'm saying.

During the whole DJ set, the main stage showed a very slow traversal down a gravel road. We passed a gas station. The whole time, I was excited to see where we would end up. I was mesmerized and appalled by the journey. What appeared at the end of the road blew me away. It was totally worth the hour-long journey. What we saw was....

Justin arrived at 9pm. It was incredible. I loved the show very much.

As he came out, he played a video of the "Memphis" monologue. The video excellently set up the pure excitement of the show. I was expecting Justin to break through the screen to begin the show. When he finally arrived, he began with a highlight from the new album, "No Angels." I was thrilled by the singing, dancing, and instrumentation. 

At this point, I must admit that I had never been to a stadium tour before. I am not a regular concert goer. Not even for my favorite artists! I didn't go to the Rainbow Tour; I didn't go to the Sweetener Tour; I didn't go to the Hella Mega Tour; I didn't even go to the Age of Unreason Tour. In fact, the only concert I've been to where I even knew the artist beforehand was a Lissie concert I stumbled upon at a local brewery in Decorah. The Forget Tomorrow World Tour was a huge leap from the concerts I had previously known.

The choreography was insane. Despite Justin Timberlake being ancient as far as celebrities go (older than both Beyonce and Buckley), he can still sing and dance live like nobody's business. He can sing live almost as well as he does on the albums, while dancing. It's wild.

The scenery was impressive as well. The rectangular prism that we had arrived on screen at during the DJ set became real. Early on in the show, during the first handful of songs, it began to protrude from the screen. It turns out that this prism is a block of lights, or display panels, or something. I'm not quite sure. During certain parts of the show, it acted as a TV, with all six sides of this prism having interesting visual or textures on it. At other times it became transparent, with lights inside which act in ways I don't really understand. For example, during one song, the prism shot out spotlights.

I didn't know that the prism could rotate in three dimensions. I only thought it could slide along the three axes. Pivoting threw me off. It began to lean during "Cry Me A River," right above Justin and the dancers. I thought it was going to fall and crush them. It didn't! Later on, it rotated face-down to become the gas station from the pre-show video. Pony noted, "It became a gas station right before my eyes!" During "SexyBack," Justin performed Timbaland's part of the chorus. Justin's part was performed by a 3D mocap Justin on the prism, angled towards the crowd in an intimidating manner. The creativity used with this prism blew me away.

"Go ahead, be gone with it."

Now let's talk about the magic floor. One square in the middle of the floor could lift up or drop down like an elevator, revealing new things all the time. I called it the mic stand generator. It brought up at least two mic stands, one big light beam, four dancers, and Justin himself. One of the mic stands could lean and bounce back like an inflatable boxing toy. I thought he was going to perform "Suit and Tie" when it appeared, but it didn't happen.

The lighting was amazing! I remember the colors and scenes for "My Love" in particular being mind-blowing. Of course other highlights would be "Mirrors," featuring very warm white lighting that made for a very classing and climactic end to the set. "Cry Me A River" turned the entire room into a giant flood, which about enveloped everyone on stage. "F**kin' up the Disco" was very cool as well. The best song in the set has to be "Technicolor," featuring rainbows shooting throughout the entire arena in colors I didn't know existed. It was everything I thought it was.

The teenage girls below me weren't as blown away as I was.

About 20 minutes into the show, Justin notes that there are 2 kids with posters in the front row. Based on the Reddit thread about the Milwaukee show, I think this is common for him. And he's roasting these kids. The brother had a poster that says "Justen Timberlake" on it, and Justin said he's gonna change his name to match the poster. The sister had a poster that says "We left Disny world for this," and Justin said, "You can take the 'e' from your brother." It seems like the kids took it in stride, but what's he doing laying into these 7 year old kids? That's crazy work.

Now, all of this applies to the main stage. Much of the concert after the halfway mark occurred on a second stage towards the back of the arena. During "Play," he walked through the crowd and caught influenza transitioned to the B stage, which was a small round stage that doubled as a bar for the VIP guests to drink at. Unfortunately, this part of the show didn't blow me away until "Mirrors." It had some good moments for sure, with Justin's performance of "Say Something" being exciting to witness, as a recently converted Man of the Woods apologist. I thought it was really peculiar that he played "Suit and Tie" 5 minutes after changing out of the suit he was wearing most of the show.

I looked down and noticed that the bartenders were still there during the part of the show held on the B stage. They were a few feet away, just sitting on the floor behind the bar. Meanwhile, not all of the band came with. I looked over at the main stage during this time, and there they were: 2 drummers and a bassist playing in the dark of an almost empty stage. I thought it was funny. 

One thing I learned from this concert is that "Can't Stop The Feeling" doesn't make sense in the Justin Timberlake catalog. Maybe it's because it was sandwiched between "What Goes Around Comes Around" and "Rock Your Body," but there was a notable tonal shift when "Can't Stop The Feeling" began. He shouted out the kids he had bullied when the song began, because they should know this song out of all of them. Fact is, the song is older than the kids. I felt old.

I'm old as dirt.

Now, that isn't to say that the audience agreed with my assessment of "Can't Stop The Feeling." During that song, the crowd went wild. There were moments that caught me off guard. For example, during "Play," the audience was going crazy. I was thinking, "This is one of his weakest songs." Yet everyone loved it. People were also very into "Mirrors" of course, as well as the call-and-response of "Senorita." They were singing along to all of "Selfish;" I felt bad for not knowing the words. I was having a good time the whole time, and it seemed the crowd enjoyed it more than I did.

Now, I think it's time we talked about the setlist chosen. I mostly thought the crew picked great songs. They played at least half of Everything I Thought It Was, integrated smoothly between the older hits. Beginning with "Memphis" and "No Angels" was a bold, yet wise move. "Technicolor" of course blew me away as I already mentioned. "Drown" was amazing, as was "Flame" and "Sanctified." "My Favorite Drug" was really fun, although I didn't remember its name at the time. I was very pleasantly surprised with all the picks. I don't really love Everything I Thought It Was as a whole album, but the performances of its songs were incredible. 

Now the old hits chosen were great too. He played over half of the songs from FutureSex/LoveSounds, as well as four hits from Justified, four from The 20/20 Experience Pt. 1, and "Say Something" from Man of the Woods. All of them made sense. There were a few favorites I wish we would see. "Chop Me Up" from FutureSex/LoveSounds is a favorite of mine. Further, "Tunnel Vision" from The 20/20 Experience Pt. 1 has been in my top 5 favorite Justin Timberlake songs since I was just a kid. I also would have vibed with "Filthy" from Man of the Woods, even though I don't think that song is good. "Midnight Summer Jam" would have been incredible too. There were unfortunately no songs played from The 20/20 Experience Pt. 2, which is my favorite album of his. I would have loved to see "Cabaret" or "TKO" performed. Fortunately, everything picked was incredible, and I can't complain considering how dense the setlist was already. I was not expecting to hear "Like I Love You," "Summer Love," and especially "Let The Groove Get In." "Let The Groove Get In" is one of my favorite songs from The 20/20 Experience, so it meant a lot to me that I got to hear it live with an amazing band. I was never bored.

The concert was amazing. I was duped by Ticketmaster's start time, but otherwise I had a lot of fun. 2 hours after Justin arrived, I felt like my life had been changed forever. If you ask anyone at school, I haven't stopped talking about the show since last week. Probably the most entertaining 2 hours of music I've witnessed since the Donda 2 Listening Event, but this time because it's actually good. I would definitely do it again if I were given the chance.

But why weren't they selling the album at the merch table?