Justin Timberlake has sold 120 million albums and won ten Grammy Awards, so it’s safe to say he doesn’t have anything left to prove to anyone. His place in music has been cemented many times over but the question is at the age of 44, is Timberlake still capable of delivering a prime “Prince of Pop” performance, or is he transitioning into an elder statesman role?
The short answer is — the prince lives on.
Enter Thursday night’s Forget Tomorrow World Tour at Little Caesars Arena, where Timberlake displayed every ounce of his showmanship and charisma to a nearly sold-out crowd. The show was originally scheduled for October 25, but was postponed due to Timberlake battling bronchitis and laryngitis. The tour has already been a massive success for Timberlake, earning more than $140 million in nearly 100 stops with three dates left in the U.S. before it hits a dozen more countries. But Thursday night, Timberlake performed with enough energy to make you think it was the first stop.
As his song “Memphis” played on large LCD screens in the background, the Tennessee native rose from an opening on the floor of the stage where he joined an ensemble of five dancers, three back-up singers, and an eight-piece band known as the Tennessee Kids. Timberlake jumped right into his song “No Angels” and then “LoveStoned,” where he changed a verse to, “And she looks like a model/ Except she got that Detroit ass.”
The set list was mostly the singer’s greatest hits along with songs from Timberlake’s 2024 album, Everything I Thought It Was. The show lacked the usual laser lights, smoke, and pyrotechnics that we’re used to seeing from pop star tours of this magnitude. There also weren’t any surprise feature appearances or a performance-based opening act. None was needed because the biggest treat was the added showmanship by the Tennessee Kids. Everyone in the band had mini solo spots within different songs and they all joined Timberlake at the front of the stage to dance (holding their instruments and all) throughout the night.
The crooner performed an abbreviated version of “My Love,” gave “Technicolor” a slow and melodic intro, and showed he still had command over his falsetto on songs “Pusher Love Girl,” “My Favorite Drug,” and “Cry Me a River.” He was very interactive with the audience as he took time to acknowledge a fan who held up a sign saying she beat breast cancer, took a selfie with another, and touched the stretched hands of others as he walked through the crowd singing “Play.”
Timberlake closed out his set with his four biggest high-energy songs, “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”, “Rock Your Body,” and the Timbaland-produced “SexyBack” and “Mirrors.” Overall the night ran with the precision of a Ford assembly line without feeling too mechanical. Timberlake danced methodically through almost every song and never took a break, covering 30 songs in 120 minutes. Despite the online murmurs, Timberlake never said Forget Tomorrow was a proverbial “victory lap” and he performed like he has another 100 tours in the tank.
