The concert! Hallelujah!
Okay, like I previously said, I don't remember the order of these songs,
but hey, I'm sure you don't care, do you, diary?
Aw, you're so sweet.
Keep in mind it was still raining. And by raining, I mean God-thought-it'd-be-funny-to-dump-the-entire-
Lake-Erie-on-a-single-stadium downpour. But anywho.
*NSync put on an awesome show. Very entertaining, very pretty, very
rockin', very all-out fun. These guys know how
to perform.
One of the songs that didn't quite stand out in my mind as much as some
of the others is "Just the Two of Us" (which
had no relation to Will Smith or Dr. Evil and Mini-Me). An obligatory
romantic ballad that may have sounded
downright pretty, but I honestly don't remember how it went. I do remember
that they sat on a staircase-type platform
that came out of the main video screen the way a bed folds out of a
wall in a really small apartment. And ever since
they used that platmorm, they never got that screen to work right again
that night.
Another ballad song, "Gone", had to have been one of my two favorite
new songs. The song itself is so beautiful, and
it's because of this song that I can't wait to buy the CD. I'm in love
with it, and I just hope I won't be disappointed
when I hear it again because otherwise it'll be one of the songs that'll
remain on my all-time favorite list.
That said, I now have to gush about the performance and production of
the song. Now, I'm not usually one to throw
out overused teenaged phrases to express my feelings, but OH. MY. GOD.
Okay, you might not understand what was
so fantastically great about this part of the concert unless you were
me, but I'll at least try to explain.
Do you know what I love? Black-and-white comedies from the silent era
of filmmaking. Charlie Chaplin and Buster
Keaton and the such. And guess what *NSync incorporated into their
concert - the reason I brought up the topic of
silent movies in the first place: a silent film they had made!
Justin was the star of this video, and while I don't drool
over him as most *NSync girls do - I'm more of a Lance-JC-Chris-Joey
girl - I still love the kid, and I have to say that he
was absolutely wonderful here. He captured the gestures and movements
of early film comedians perfectly. In one
instance, he slides across a park bench smoothly, as if pulled by a
string - just like those old movies. The filmmakers
did a great job with this piece, producing a lovely hommage instead
of cheap, overdone, piece of cheese. BRAVO!
The film showcases Justin trying to court a young lady (1920s beautiful
even, not modern-day beautiful) who
ultimately rejects him. Dejected, Justin trudges down the city streets
until he comes upon the other four guys sitting
on a stoop. These *NSync members try to cheer him up by making him
laugh. God forgive me, I can't remember what
Joey did, who I think was the first to try. That's going to kill me
until I know. And then Chris - aaaah! He's great! -
stood on the sidewalk, posed as if he were about to swing a golf club,
shimmied a bit like golf imitators do, and then
promptly fell to the ground in a very smoothly executed pratfall. Wow.
Any man who can successfully pull off a
pratfall is a genius in my book. Pratfalls are a personal favorite
of mine, if done right. And he, my good sir, did it
perfectly.
Then JC and Lance channeled the Three Stooges, doing the eye-poke thing
and several other antics that are slowly
killing me now because I can't remember those either. Aaaah! But it
was extremely cute, I assure you. God, I love those
guys.
None of this had any affect on the lovesick Justin who looked straight
at the camera and spoke the only words of the
video. "I can't believe she's gone." And then the five guys come out
on stage and sing the very beautiful song.
Hanky, please.
As they sang, the video screens continued to roll, sometimes showing
Justin wandering the streets with his head
hanging and at other times showing a close-up of him standing in front
of a brick wall. Now, I believe I've mentioned
that I'm not attracted to him like other girls, but I have to admit
- or heck, even gush - that he looked GOOD. Damn
good. And I don't curse lightly. Wow. With the hat and black eye makeup...Wow.
Let me reiterate that once more.
Wow.
As the song came to a close, Justin made his way down the runway where
he stood there moping. Chris, meanwhile,
grabbed an oversized novelty boxing glove, ran up behind him, and bopped
him on the head.
"What was that for?" Justin demanded.
"You need some cheering up," Chris told him in words similar to those.
"And what better way to cheer up than
with...TOYS!" And then he waved his arm to the stage where the other
three guys and five girls ran out from
backstage carrying or riding and pushing a toy or two. This was the
introduction for "It's Gonna Be Me" which, for the
unenlightened, featured *NSync as dolls in its video. (Hence the toy
connection)
Okay, I have a feeling I'm running out of room for this entry, so I'm
going to end it here and start a new one.