At Vet, *NSYNC Shows Same Old Image With a Different Tune By Dan DeLuca INQUIRER MUSIC CRITIC
Long after the fireworks had faded and the braces-and-halter-top crowd had filed out of Veteran's Stadium after *NSYNC's PopOdyssey 2001 show on Wednesday, two phrases continued to ring in my ears.
The first - "this is another song from the Celebrity album ..." - was repeatedly heard from either Justin Timberlake or JC Chasez or Lance Bass or Joe Fatone or ... what's the other one's name, oh yeah, Chris Kirkpatrick, as the boy-banders relentlessly primed the pump for the CD due on July 24 that will be a disappointment if first-week sales don't equal the record 2.4 million of last year's No Strings Attached.
The second, delivered with unbridled passion and cheerleader-style precision at random intervals by the five teenage girls seated behind me, came shrieking into my right ear at a volume meant to attract the attention of their heartthrob: "We love you, Justin!"
The short-tressed Mr. Timberlake, meanwhile, was busy floating above the crowd on cables with his bandmates, or disappearing, David Copperfield-style, during the encore of "Bye Bye Bye," or making like a buckaroo on a metallic mechanical bull while singing "Space Cowboy."
The PopOdyssey tour is high-tech amusement-park style with enough bells, whistles and heartfelt ballads to make any glow-stick waving fan delirious.
But the anxiety of a teen group whose pop moment can't last forever is apparent in the feisty defensiveness of Celebrity's single, "Pop," produced by electronica meister BT, which opened the show. Dressed in colorful cut-and-paste punk style - like a parent-approved version of the Sex Pistols - the boys sang into their headset microphones while working the stage with energy enough to make Mick Jagger envious.
"Sick and tired of hearing all these people talk about 'What's the deal with this pop life, and when's it gonna fade out?'" the boys, ages 20 to 29, sang. "The thing you've got to realize, what we're doing is not a trend. We've got the gift of melody, we're gonna bring it to the end."
The group's attempt at a more aggressive, mature sound was further heard on the forthcoming album's title cut, which features the band members wearing shiny outfits and shades, and asking their devotees "Would you be so nice to me, if I wasn't a celebrity?"
But don't think that the boys' need to be taken seriously has resulted in their leaving their bread and butter behind. Celebrity will undoubtedly be hyped as having a harder edge - they, amusingly, refer to it as "dirty pop" - but it's sticky sweet at the center.
Wednesday's encore was an inane dance number called "The Game Is Over" in which the guys pretended to be video game robots and gave a play-acted beating to the female dancers who are also dressed in video game costumes. (Might want to rethink that one, fellas.)
But along with the between-song film shorts and costume changes, the evening was filled with skillfully harmonized clean-cut romances aplenty. The new "The Two of Us" and "Selfish" are all set to take their place alongside "This I Promise You" and "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You" in making the case that, yes, girls, Justin really does love you, too.
Back to Philadelphia Reviews & Pics
