PopOdyssey, as put into action by *NSYNC, means exploring every arena-show cliche on the grandest of scales.
*NSYNC's PopOdyssey Tour stop at Cinergy Field Friday night was an hour-and-40-minute assault on the senses. The stench of pyrotechnics and the chill of dry ice filled the air, and young-girl shrieking was constant.
Fireworks and screams are routine. What set the show apart was the spending power of these five-part harmonizing young adults, as they performed No. 1 hits and soon-to-be-released songs amid a lavish setup more than befitting today's top-selling pop group.
The production took up the greater part of the outfield. The main stage, facing home plate, stretched 200 feet wide, from power alley to power alley. Shallow center field housed a second stage, connected to the main one by a long walkway. *NSYNC's walks down this path gave the crowd its closest access to the group.
And then there were moving sidewalks, rising platforms, cable wires for “flying” over the crowd, and a trapdoor opening from the giant video screen above the backup band.
It was all impressive in its extravagance but seemed like overkill for a band whose basic charm is purported to be the baby-face smiles of Justin Timberlake and the rest.
But maybe they needed the help. In fact, the crowd's reaction to new songs from their upcoming album Celebrity ranged from pleasant to lukewarm, much as a teen-ager might react to a new television commercial or any other piece of disposable pop culture encountered for the first time.
The reaction to the hits, of course, was totally different, and they did most of them, from the second number “Tearing Up My Heart” through “This I Promise You,” “It's Gonna Be Me,'' “Space Cowboy” and others, to the encore farewell “Bye Bye Bye.”
One of the new songs, “Just the Two of Us,” was a departure from the group's usual modes of middle-of-the-road ballad and big, generic up-tempo pop. This song, with Mr. Timberlake on lead vocals, was also pure pop, and it will be a hit. But with its break-beat drum programming bouncing against mellow keyboard washes, it sounded like nothing else in the show.
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