We just finished watching HBO's broadcast of Justin Timberlake's FutureSex tour, which I (unsurprisingly) quite enjoyed. It seems like he's done a good bit since his last tour to incorporate his strong live band and his rapidly improving chops on guitar and keyboards to integrate real musicianship into the show.
Those were the primary things I wanted to see more of four years ago, when I wrote about his live show at the Roseland here in NYC. If you liked that post, you might also enjoy "SexyBack": Pop for indie rock MP3 blogs.
does he still have prince's old band members in the mix?
Yep, I spotted Mike Scott on guitar and holy shit John Blackwell on drums. Good god that man is good. I thought it was amazing when JB used to do "777-9311" live on drums, but he brought out the beat to "My Love" using just his set, and I almost squealed like a child. Blackwell is truly the human drum machine.
I caught the 2nd half and really enjoyed it, too; however, I was distracted a good portion of the time by artifacting on-screen, as well poor lighting. HBO's HD cameras kept showing blown out highlights and oversaturation whenever the stage lighting was too red or too blue. Either that, or the lighting on Justin's face would be too harsh.