Live Review: Justin Timberlake, Common Kings

It’s hard not to take notice of Common Kings as soon as you enter the main room of the Entertainment Centre, considering they’re playing atop a makeshift stage/catwalk that’s built around a cocktail bar on the floor.

Sure, the scene is an obvious product placement cash grab for JT’s Sauza 901 tequila, but you look past that because the idea’s pretty damn cool, especially for those raising glasses amongst it all. The Orange Country group provide a unique mix of soul, funk and rock – their North American/Polynesian heritage reflected sonically – with smooth harmonies sliced by the occasional head-banging riff. And as for the hair of bulky bassist Ivan Kirimaua – it deserves to headline a venue of this size on its own.

Some serious production cash has been injected into our 20/20 experience – the stage is a hulking, multi-tiered beast, and the wide-scale white honeycomb backdrop stretches up to and across the ceiling. Justin Timberlake kicks things off from the highest platform, before his expansive music and dance crew, The Tennessee Kids, rise into view, with a huge brass section, backing singers, guitars, keys and an offensively talented drummer all part of the backing ensemble.

This helps make the gig less of pop concert and more an event. It allows Timberlake to do justice to the more traditional soul lounge of his most recent cuts, and it gives his older hits a newfound sense of maturity. Rock Your Body electrifies the screaming masses – Timberlake looks like he’s moving on air when he cuts the rug. Like I Love You, meanwhile, sounds just as fresh as it did when it first landed 12 years ago.

The visuals are fantastically overwhelming – at one point Timberlake is splitting mountains as the curvature of an unknown planet rotates behind him. He tickles the ivories on a milky grand piano; he tackles Holy Grail, even without Hova. The dude is so much more than a triple threat. Cry Me A River brings a dramatic close to the first part of tonight’s entertainment and we’re not even halfway home.

The real ‘wow’ moment though takes place a short time after the call-response fun of Señorita. A hydraulic platform rises from the main stage, and thanks to attached wheels slowly takes Timberlake and a small clutch of singers and dancers the length of the floor, all the way to the bar stage near the back. Pretty much everyone has a face-to-face moment with the superstar, and let it be known – the guy has a supreme dentist. During his time offshore he covers Elvis (Heartbreak Hotel), MJ (Human Nature) and Kool & The Gang (Jungle Boogie), and drops a few originals – half an hour of jams in total – before returning front and centre for a powerhouse finish of Suit & Tie, SexyBack and Mirrors.