Justin/JayZ Legends of the Summer Tour

I spent a long weekend in Chicago, and the original reason for doing so was not actually the half marathon. I was there for the Justin Timberlake/ Jay Z Legends of the Summer Tour. Yes, yes, I've obsessed with Justin ever since his ramen-noodle hair days from *NSync.

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I've seen him live about 10 times now or so, whether that be solo or with his other boy banders. Anyway, I was over the moon excited with the news that he was back into his music again. Not that I can really complain because I've watched Friends with Benefits about 2579347875 times. I figured for this post I'd go ahead and give you my little review (as a super fan) of the concert. I was actually exchanging emails with one of my friends who saw him recently at a music festival in London, comparing notes on our experiences. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I shall just share with you what I wrote her:

OK, so Jay Z was actually half of our entire show. They opened with Jay Z's holy grail song and then basically took turns performing, sometimes co-performing depending on the song. 

Jay Z feat: Justin "Holy Grail"

So here are my thoughts.

I was super bummed with the seats. The face value of the tickets were $177 before taxes. So, we paid $600+ for our 3 seats, and there's no way I could have even made out who Justin was without seeing the screens. We were only 7 rows off the floor, just offset from the middle of the stadium. Sadly, if it were in any other non-football stadium, the seats would have been great. They are in the usual sweet spot I look for tickets. I didn't realize it was a football stadium though when I bought the tickets, or else I would have held out for better ones. We were probably on the 20 yard line while the stage was at the opposite end zone, if that makes sense. (attaching a pic) I just didn't think those with that view were worth $200 tickets - maybe for a football game watching the Packers, but not for a concert. Looking at how small the initial list of tour dates were (before they added the fall dates), I'm wondering if the tickets were so expensive merely because of limited availability.

Second, the show was supposed to start at 8pm. There was no opening act or anything, just the two of them. They didn't come out until almost 9:30, with no update to us on what was going on. I was getting really impatient and angry. After the show started, I assumed that they just had to wait until it was dark (stadium was open, not covered) because otherwise you'd never be able to see the projection screens. I was just a little annoyed that he was so late, but none of us knew what the reason was. I still don't know. I'm just speculating it was because it took forever for it to get dark.

Third - it was awesome seeing and hearing Jay Z, but it just made for a totally weird mix of people. I.e. I smelled pot the entire show. You had the typical girl groupies, but then add in a lot of other ghettoness and tough boyfriends who sit down for Justin then stand up for JayZ. Just weird.

Jay Z "Ns in Paris"

All of that being said - I LOVE Justin. I just love him. He's amazing, I can watch and listen to him all day long. I didn't realize how much I missed him until I heard him performing - especially some of his older stuff. The cool thing about us being in the huge stadium is that I have never been to a concert with that many people before. It was almost surreal, and I can't imagine what they were thinking or feeling looking out and seeing the ginormous crowd. No lie, I shed a tear at the end when they said goodbye just trying to imagine the magnitude the crowd has on them. I also kind of felt like it was a good dichotomy of performances - Justin with his teeny bopper background, and then thugged out Jay Z, together on stage, and working really well together. Both maturing in their own way - Jay Z a new dad and settled down with his wifey. Justin also a new husband, settling into his career as a well rounded entertainer and getting his taste back for music again after such a long hiatus.

Justin "Mirrors"

I would obviously pay a lot to see Justin, I always have. I wish he would dance more - he seems to be moving more towards just singing, which is great because his voice is amazing, but I miss seeing him dance for EVERY song, not just sporadically.

Sigh. So that's it!

Reading my review again, I know there seems to be a lot of negativity in there, but I guess at the end of the day, I would have rather been there than not. I just wish that our seats were better as I know it would have been a completely different experience. I'm just not a fan of going to concerts where you can't even see the performer without looking at the screens - because at that point, how is that different than watching them on TV? Yes, it's also about the experience of feeling the excitement of everyone around you, but yeah, going from touching ALL FIVE NEW KIDS to not being able to make out who Justin was on stage and paying less for the NKOTB concert? Bummer. But alas, I can never quit you, Justin.