a tagalong for JT

i know that justin timberlake has been…well, problematic: cheating rumors, all the things britney revealed in her book, shitty comments he’s made, the DWI arrest just last month.  and i was mad at him too, i really was.  and when he announced his tour to support his most recent album, i didn’t lift a single finger to secure tickets (not to mention that i’d asked all the usual suspects and no one was willing to go anyway).  

but you know me.  FOMO took hold after i saw footage of the first few shows, and then before i knew it his stop in l.a. was a few days away.  i knew that one of my barre buddies was going, and so i hit her up and through a crazy set of circumstances i managed to secure a ticket for the seat right next to her and her husband.  i’ve known christina for a few years now - she was a fellow client at the old barre studio that i used to take classes at, and she loved it so much that she took the course to become a certified instructor and opened her own studio a year and a half ago.  she’s awesome and i was happy to have the chance to spend some time with her outside of class.

here’s my ensemble for the concert - that’s my tank top from justin’s 20/20 experience tour.

christina and her husband had mixed up some doctored-up gatorades for pregaming on the way down to the forum and now i think this might be my new favorite drink.  i’d forgotten how tasty the cucumber lime flavor is!

before staples center, this was the home of the lakers.

the forum always dresses up for their performers.

we’d arrived early, so the doors weren’t open yet.  no worries - that gave us time to do some shopping at the merch tent.

when we got inside, i snagged another cocktail.  after all, i didn’t have to drive for hours and besides, i’m a better dancer when i have a little alcohol in me.  heh.

view from our seats - we were off to one side, but that’s okay.  i was just happy to be there.

in lieu of an opening act, there was a DJ spinning a fun mix of music, and then when this appeared on the screen we knew it was almost showtime.

b stage was at the other end, and the entire venue was packed despite reports of “slow sales.”

and then the lights went down, a montage played on the screen and all of a sudden he popped up through the floor and the party started.

he gave it his all for two hours, singing and dancing to most of his newest album along with a great mix of older songs. and then for his encore, he appeared on that floating box and gave us a fun callback to when he and the rest of *nsync would sing to us from an elevated piece of the stage.  he’d saved my very favorite song to close it out - “mirrors.”

and how did i feel at the end of the night?