Review of No Strings Attached (Concert Review)
By Gabriela Toth
Hi, I’m Gabi. I’m 21 years old. And I’m an ‘N Sync fan. Ok I admit
it, just the pure sight of Justin Timberlake makes me giggle and blush like a
twelve-year-old. But I can’t help it, those kids are just so darn cute.
Don’t get me wrong, I thought they were cute before, and always thought their
CD’s were fun for cleaning or working out. But after seeing them turn on the
sex appeal in concert, I have a new appreciation (and crush) on the boy band
that has every twelve-year-old girl in America swooning.
Since my friends and I bought our tickets at the last minute (I know, what were
we thinking?) we had the added advantage of sitting almost behind the stage.
After watching the crew build the stage for twenty minutes, we were as excited
as everyone else when ‘N Sync finally took the stage. The show began
energetically with the song “No Strings Attached” (as the group, held up by
strings, dangled above the stage), and the energy was kept up throughout the
entire show. After a few songs, I began to wonder how those boys even have so
much energy, considering this was already their third sold out concert in a row.
Fortunately, they managed to throw in a few slow songs to slow down the pace
every once in a while as well as make us drool some more.
The boys generated so much excitement, they had the audience on their feet even
before they hit the stage. When they finally did, their enthusiasm radiated into
the audience, and I mean all of the audience. Even my friends and I, all
the way up in the nosebleeds, could see how much fun they were having on stage.
They seemed thrilled with the amount of people watching them, and used it to
their advantage to work with the crowd. Out of the five, Justin seemed to be the
ham of the group, and loved to show off for the audience. His ultra cute dance
moves and ability to relate to the audience just made my knees go weak every
time he turned toward our section. The best performers are those who look
comfortable and happy on stage, and this group was definitely happy to entertain
us.
They followed up the explosive opening with “I Want You Back,” an audience
favorite that featured jazzy, sharp choreography, and of course continued to
energize the crowd. For the next hour and a half or so, they kept the energy up
with favorites such as “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “It’s Gonna Be Me,”
and “Space Cowboy.”
However, even better than watching them sing was watching them dance. Their
choreography is a mixture of jazz and hip hop, but is simple enough to look
clean on stage. Additionally, unlike some other teen rockers, they like to keep
their clothes on, making the show kid and parent friendly. Of course there was
the occasional butt shake or crotch grab, but it only served to make the
audience drool some more.
Although the dance numbers were fun and exciting, the crowd really went wild for
those sugary sweet ballads. One that stood out was “I Thought She Knew,” the
first song ‘N Sync ever sang together. The harmonies were right on target, the
melody is catchy, and they showed off their vocal talents by singing it a
capella.
Finally, after a whole evening of dancing, singing, and pure adrenaline, the
group closed the show with “This I Promise You.” Although it sounds a little
too much like 98 Degrees’ “I Do (Cherish You),” the sweet love song was a
perfect ending to an almost perfect night. Oh, but wait, there’s still
more…after letting the audience scream for about ten minutes, they returned
for a kick ass encore. I think you can guess what their last song was, as they
finally said “Bye Bye Bye” to the audience. At this point, we all knew in
the back of our minds that this was truly the last song, but we all hoped they
would sing just one more, and then maybe one more after that…but no such luck.
All in all, it was great show, but the one thing I could’ve done without were
the awkward pauses between songs. The group had so many different sets and
costumes that they sometimes needed almost ten minutes between numbers. This
made the show look choppy and disorganized at times. Plus, we had to sit through
some rather cheesy TRL-like short videos. For example, during one number, a
local radio station had picked out a bunch of girls to dance on stage with ‘N
Sync. It was definitely fun to watch the girls dance on stage, but I didn’t
need to sit through a ten-minute video about how they got chosen.
Despite that one little glitch, by the end of the evening, I had a newfound
respect for the teen rockers. Even though they at first sounded similar to every
other pop group in the country, they’ve managed to set themselves apart with
their sweet harmonies, explosive stage show and universal sex appeal. Of course
there are always advantages to staying home and watching it on TV, but it
doesn’t compare to seeing the hugeness of the live show. It’s an exciting,
grandiose affair that is not to be missed.
Mood:
TRL
Hear it?:
Buy two copies
