Justin Timberlake Rocks the Verizon Center

By Brynja Brynjarsdottir

Last Friday night the Verizon Center turned into DC's largest dance club when Justin Timberlake came to town.

Admission was steep — tickets to see the former boy-bander-turned-solo-star were $70 and up. There was even a VIP-only area where the lucky few who bought more expensive tickets were treated to Justin and his crew literally dancing across the bar counters in front of them. Worth a couple hundred extra dollars? Judging by their enthusiastic reaction, it definitely seemed so.

Pink was the opening act, and she covered almost all of the hit songs from her career. But as the lyrics of her last song, “Let's Get the Party Started,” implied, the main attraction was yet to come.

When the house lights faded and multicolored laser beams scanned the arena, the crowd rose up screaming and whistling as Justin Timberlake came out on stage. He started out strong with the opener “FutureSex/LoveSound,” transforming the venue into a massive nightclub full of dancing fans. Timberlake and his crew of dancers gave a stylish and sharp performance reminiscent of Michael Jackson's early dancing days. And Timberlake looked all grown up in his latest signature look: a suit, a tie — and, of course, strikingly white sneakers.

Timberlake's set list was a mixture of tunes from his first solo album, Justified, and his current effort, FutureSex / LoveSounds. Superstar producer and rapper Timbaland, who co-produced Timberlake's latest album, kept the crowd singing, dancing and energized when Timberlake went off stage for a mid-concert break.

For the second half of the show, Timberlake shifted into ballads, slowing down the frenetic pace that had sustained the concert for several hours. But during the finale, the energy returned during a performance of Timberlake's monster hit “Sexy Back” – and JT celebrated his recent bachelorhood by giving one of his dancers a kiss that caused the crowd to scream even louder.