By Keya Modessa

Wembley Arena , 15th May 2003, London

Since his premature departure from the internationally successful boy band N*sync, all eyes have been on Justin Timberlake. He left behind teary-eyed fans and many young broken hearts; but what they didn’t know, was how long he was going away for. They could never have imagined how huge his comeback would be.

As a self confessed N*Sync fan, it was inevitable to succumb to the ‘Mr Timberlake craze’ sweeping not only the nation, but also the whole world. So as the month of May swung around, it was full of anticipation and curiosity to whether or not the poster boy favourite, would live up to his choreographed dance routines and vocals.

The show began with opening act, American RnB singer Solange. The sweet-faced, younger sister to sexy Beyonce Knowles was buzzing with confidence through her routine. Her performance was shortly followed by our very own UK artist, Jamelia making a big come back, supporting such a huge American act. She tried her best to warm the crowd up, but instead left them quite impatient and a little bored by singing only one song that the crowd were familiar with.

After her exit, the same tunes repeated faintly in the background and the crowd was left waiting for over 45 minutes for some kind of sign to indicate that the man of the moment had arrived. After an undesirable wait, the arena lights faded. The simple sounds of percussion instruments began to filter through. The piercing deep red light brought the stage to life. Large metal frames and stairs emerged, resembling the interior of a warehouse. A funky musical jazz intro accompanied the dancers through the stage and built up the climatic peak. Then, all of a sudden the venue was thrown into complete darkness until a spotlight shone on a figure standing on the top frame.

Dressed in white baggy trousers, and a white sleeveless top the boy from Memphis Tennessee had made his entrance. J.T immediately flew into his 80’s sounding disco track ‘Rock your Body’. The whole night had an urban street theme with dancers in retro wear resembling artists from the 80’s era. Mr Timberlake never left his fans eyes, never for one second steered away from his teenage icon image. Aswell as songs taken from his debut number one album ‘Justified’ Wembley was also fortunate to see him perform songs which he had sung with his former band including ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘Gone’, which paid attention to his ability to perform solo.

Highlights of the night included the fans accompaniment through the song Senorita, an unreleased track taken from his album. The infectious song had the guys singing to “It feels like something's heating up, can I leave with you?" and the ladies singing “I don't know what I'm thinking bout, really leaving with you" just as the man requests in his song.

The encore had to be his debut single, which shot to number one last year ‘Like I LoveYou’. Jumping on a hidden trampoline over a piano he landed on centre stage and kick started his dance routine mirroring the well-known music video seen on TV. Another great aspect of the night was the performance of the bittersweet ‘Cry Me A River’. Unfortunately, half way through the performance of the song it was abruptly stopped and once again the stage was plunged into darkness, until a bright light revealed Justin standing on top of a piano, where he began to perform a dance routine. The lengthy solo left eyes glazed to the stage just before an explosion of fireworks stunned the crowd - and the performer vanished.

If there was one let down it was only that the concert was shortened due to his late entrance. That aside, the tattooed singer with the southern boyish accent did little else wrong that night, and if there are any doubts on that matter, the mother of two in front of my seat, will most definitely back me up.

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