Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow Live from Madison Square Garden Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Sir Terrence January 19, 2009

Once again I will find myself in the line of fire over the “perspective” I am going to offer in my review of Justin Timberlake: Futuresex/Loveshow Live from Madison Square Garden. First off I want to say that this concert is off da chain, but not because of Justin Timberlake. I enjoyed this concert for the great songs (which quite frankly anyone could have sung and pulled it off). I enjoyed it for its top notch musicianship, terrific background singing, excellent dancers, terrific lightning design and visuals, and a very tight production overall. If you read this correctly, you would notice that I love the things that surround Timberlake more than Timberlake himself. I think the concept and hype of Justin Timberlake is bigger than Justin Timberlake himself. Watching him in concert is like watching a puny tree get adorned with beautiful decorations, which turns it into a beautiful tree. Another analogy would be like looking at Oprah before she goes on camera (and I have seen it with my own eyes), and after she is in front of the camera live. It’s her make up artist that turns her from an average (bordering on unattractive) looking woman, to the beautiful woman we see on camera (I think her inner beauty stands out more than her external beauty). I think Timberlake does have a couple of gifts, and they are called the two “S’es “, which are savvy, and smarts. He is smart and savvy enough to surround himself with some of the most talented young producers currently in the pop and hip hop genre. He is savvy enough to build on the one thing he developed from his days with The Mickey Mouse Club and N’SYNC, and that is the ability to dance and move. He is smart enough to co-write and produce songs that fit his limited range vocals, but are catchy enough not to draw attention to his vocal weakness (which at times he is not always successful at doing). He is smart enough to surround himself with some of the tightest, hottest, and funky mad musicians in the music business today. If you strip all of this away, there is no Justin Timberlake the performer. He is an act that requires those around him to be exceptionally talented to prop him up. I felt that way before viewing this concert, and that was driven home after viewing this concert. Now, before you dismiss this as “hatin” on Justin, let us look at the facts, and then you can judge for yourself.

Justin Timberlake was trained in one of the toughest and most fruitful entertainment schools in America. It is called the Disney school of the performing arts, or more formally, The Mickey Mouse Club. Among his classmates we find Britney Spears, JC Chasez of N’SYNC fame, and Christina Aguilera. All three of these artists are known for their dancing skills, their looks, but are not exactly powerhouses in the vocal area. After the cancellation of The Mickey Mouse Club in 1994, Timberlake was approached by Lou Pearlman, a producer and creator of “boy band” Backstreet Boys. Pearlman was famous back in the day for finding young men with an appealing “look”, teaching them to dance together, hiring vocal coaches to teach them the basics of singing (natural talent be damned) both as a group, and as a soloists, hiring the best choreographers to design and teach them their “moves”, hiring the best producers to write songs, and give the group a “sound” and essentially putting together a entertainment “package” that had a popular look that would appeal to young teenage girls. Out of this venture birthed the group N’SYNC, a group that would go on to sell 56 million albums worldwide over their entire existence. Let’s face it, N’SYNC was not known for their great vocal skills, as I do not think they ever sung live in a concert environment. However, these guys could move, where well packaged and marketed, and ultimately very successful over their seven years of existence in the music business. Just like all of the other package acts, their act ran out of steam, dogged by legal issues involving their creator Pearlman and falling record sales, they finally went on permanent “hiatus” in 2002, having their last performance together as an official group in 2004. Ironically the last song they performed together was same song they first performed together, The Star Spangled Banner.

Now here is where the smart and savvy kick in. Aware that he became a real celebrity within the group N’SYNC, he was reticent about returning to the group after their hiatus would be over. He realized that his star was rising, while the groups star was falling. After the groups Celebrity Tour, he began working with one of the hottest producer duo in the business “The Neptunes” and another hot producer who he continues working with up to this moment, Timbaland. This collaboration produced Timberlake first album “Justified”, and quite a few hit singles from that album as well. He also pushed his actor career into the fore front, something I do think he has a talent for. For the 2006 release of his second solo album FutureSex/LoveSounds, he went back to his well of success working with Timbaland and Danja (who produced the bulk of the music on this release), along with will.i.am, and Rick Rubin. All of these are first rate R&B/hip hop producers by any measure. By using his head, Timberlake has managed to bust his way out of the boy band brand, and savvy his way into a lucrative and successful solo career, something that few of the members of the boy bands of the 80’s and 90’s have been able to do. He took what talent he has, and parlayed it into a career, that as long as pop and hip hop exists, he remains relevant to the scene. Much to my dismay he is often compared to Michael Jackson, and while he can move, he cannot touch the charisma, the polish, and the genuine talent this man possesses. He is going to have to stand on his own with that one, as he cannot be mentioned in the same sentence as the great MJ. However I will give him this; he is every bit as good a watch on stage as Britney, Christine, and Pink, and can with justice be mention in the same sentence as they are in. This album and the subsequent promotional tour has brought us full circle to the night of August 16, 2007, in the famed city they named twice, New York City, New York, and more specifically to Madison Square Garden where this video was shot.

The track list is as follows, and I dare to say there isn’t a weak song in the bunch. All are well crafted tunes that will have you shakin that trunk full of junk hard enough to send you to intensive care.

1. Futuresex/Lovesounds

2. Like I Love You

3. My Love

4. Senorita

5. Sexy Ladies

6. Until The End of Time

7. What Goes Around

8. Chop Me Up

9. Rock Your Body

10. Gone (Medley)

11. Take It From Here (Medley)

12. Last Night (Medley)

13. Damn Girl

14. Summer Love

15. Losing My Way

16. Cry Me A River

17. Love Stoned

18. SexyBack

19. (All Over Again) Another Song

20. Bitterwsweet Symphony

Also featured is an opening conversation with Justin, his band, dancers, and background vocalists. Also featured are the Goodnights and credits. Both are listed as tracks on the disc itself.

FutureSex/LoveShow Live From Madison Square Garden is most definitely a quality production by anyone’s measure. It futures all of the ingredients it takes to pull off a big pop/hip hop based production. You get a state of the art visual show which includes two circular transparent drop down screens that provide the backdrop to an excellent multimedia video presentation. You get a state of the art light show, featuring the latest in computer assisted programming. All of the obligatory colored lasers, washes, spinning gobo’s, spinning lighting trusses full of blinking spinning gobo’s, and a floor based light show as well. The seven piece band is tight, talented, and lays down a fat rhythmic foundation for Timberlake to sing and romp the stage, and perform like the entertainer he is. A special shout out to Charles Wilson, who's chops and skills on the Hammond B3 sent chills up my spine the entire concert. The four member background singers had extremely tight harmony, and really provided quality support to Timberlake’s vocals. The choreography and staging of the 8 member dance group was first rate, and provided a nice stage filling presence. If there was a weak point to this entire production, it came as Timberlake began to tire as he got to the medley portion of the concert. He took too many trips to the edge of the stage throwing out too many shouts to the cheap seats, and there were too many implied references (not spoken) that harken back to his N’SYNC days. Lastly I am going to add; Timberlake fans are not going to pay any attention to my criticisms or my critique of this performance, or him specifically. He is giving his fans exactly what they desire, critics be damned. This performance is not going to change the minds of critics, or realists like myself who know exactly what we are seeing on stage. This guys has been performing for quite a few years, and he can definitely thrown down a show as good as the best of this genre’s stars. From me, Timberlake gets major props for being smart enough to recognize his weaknesses, and bringing on the talent and necessary ingredients to make him look like a star in spite of those weaknesses. I have always known it takes more than just talent to make it in the music business, it takes brains as well. Timberlake apparently has a lot of the latter.

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow Live from Madison Square Garden Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow grooves on to the Bluray format in a finely presented 1080i/VC-1 encode, framed in a screen filling 1:78:1 aspect ratio. Filmed using multiple HD cameras at a native 1080i/60i, the visuals are strong as Sony/BMG continues to provide us with another exceptional quality concert video release. The source originates in digital form, so there are no film based artifacts to dog the visuals. Colors from the lighting are vivid, bold, and well saturated as they wash the stage with beautiful designs and shapes. Hues are also well rendered, rock solid, and show excellent stability. Detail is exceptional, and gives images tremendous depth that will often leave you breathless. I often felt like I was looking out through a very clear window observing this performance. Contrast is spot on and never blown out. Black levels are inky deep, and the combination of accurate contrast and deep blacks gives the presentation some profound pop and dynamic range. Overall I found the picture quality excellent, but I did see a few minor problems as well. Shadow detail is sometimes lacking, and there is noise occasionally in dark areas of images. I also saw an occasion of pixilation on a couple of fast panning moves by the camera. These minor flaws keep this presentation from being considered a 5, but not enough for it to take a major score hit. Good show on the picture quality Sony!

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow Live from Madison Square Garden Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

La pièce de résistance of any concert video is the sound, and here you get three choices. Sony offers an uncompressed PCM 5.1 track encoded at a 24/48khz bit and sample rate, a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 640kbps, and a 2.0 stereo 24/48khz PCM track. The 5.1 PCM track is the highlight, and damn is it a good one. This concert doesn't just offer a recording of the concert, but is more like sound design in its use of the individual elements. This especially true of the first number, which had Timberlake's vocals emanating from the surrounds. Also when he gives shout outs to the crowd in different locations within the arena, the crowds shouts come back mixed in the direction they are coming from. Excellent effect if I say so myself. This is one outstanding mix, and the things that I have read that one thinks are problems, are not really problems at all. First, this sound track images larger than the great outdoors, with depth, width, and height information profoundly present. My speakers just disappeared, as sonic images stretch the width of my room, extended to the front wall, and went from floor to the ceiling. The bass frequencies are drum skin tight, deep at times, but never muddy or indistinct. I was able to easily make out the individual instruments in the band, even down to the auxiliary percussion. Everything is tightly mixed, but not enough to keep each instrument from being able to "breath" within the mix. The background vocals are well recorded, and are always clear, even when things get a little thick and funky. I read some reviews where the reviewers thought Timberlake's vocals sound buried within the mix. I did not see this as a problem for a couple of reasons. First, an engineer worth his salt will not let weak vocals stand out of the mix. It will expose too many flaws, and the job of the engineer is to make the performer sound good, in spite of his or her weaknesses. However, Timberlake's vocals no matter how sunk into the mix it is, is always clear, and easily understood, so I think this technical choice of mixing was spot on. Much of the instrumentation is mixed at the edges of the sound field, which leaves plenty of breathing room for Timberlake's vocals, and this help big time with vocal intelligibility. If there was anything that could be improved on this mix, it would be the use of phantom side wall imaging to tie the frontal sound stage to the rear sound stage. This would have helped to keep the overall sound field from having a pronounced front/back feel that this mix has. This mix deserves a five in spite of the things I pointed out, as only an audio engineer trained in multichannel mixing would point these kinds of things out. Once again, fine job on the sound mix, as Sony deserves a high five for this excellent presentation.

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow Live from Madison Square Garden Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there are no extras on the Bluray disc, but there is an accompanying DVD that carries all of the extra content. While I am not going to review the DVD, I will supply the information on it, as it adds extra value to the Bluray disc's lack thereof

Featurette: "1 On 1 with JT" (SD, 34 minutes)

Featurette: "Open Mic " (SD, 31 minutes)

Featurette: "The Making of FutureSex/LoveShow" (SD, 12 minutes)

Featurette: "Under the Stage" (SD, 4 minutes)

Music Video (SD) An alternate version of "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows" is included, dubbed the "Justice Remix.

Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow Live from Madison Square Garden Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While it may seem like I don't like Justin Timberlake from this review, I feel quite the opposite. I like this production a lot, and am glad to have it in my collection. However, after being exposed to the music and film business for more than twenty years, I clearly, and realistically recognize exactly what I am looking at, as I am not fooled by the illusion. Timberlake is a good entertainer, who will because he is smart, grow to be an even bigger and better entertainer than he currently is. He smartly surrounds himself with those who support his musical vision, has some of the best producers in the R&B/hip hop world, and is supported by highly talented musicians, dancers and singers, so he just cannot go wrong. He has already done better than most of his peers, and has solidified himself as a force to deal with in the future. His fans are certainly going to enjoy this, there is no doubt in my mind on this. This disc gets a major knuckle bump, and is highly recommended by this reviewer.