By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
April 6, 2002
It’s obvious ‘N Sync has spent quite a bit of money on its tour. In the first of two consecutive nights Thursday at the Allstate Arena, the world’s most popular boy band captured its young audience’s attention with a series of flashy explosions, a handful of costume changes and a slew of hit songs.
Still, something was lacking from this concert.
Or, perhaps it wasn’t that the boys were missing anything but that they were trying to do too much.
The tribute to the Beatles and the Temptations was nice, showing off the singers’ vocal abilities. It also brought them to the back end of the arena, treating fans who thought they had gotten saddled with lousy seats to a great view of the five-man band.
But ‘N Sync’s attempt at singing the blues was less successful. “I Want You Back” is a ridiculously fun pop song driven by the funky beat and melody. Performed blues-style, the song lost much of its charm. It didn’t help that JC Chasez referred to New Orleans as the home of the blues, a statement that clearly didn’t sit well with the parents in the audience.
The boys fared much better when they stuck to what they do the best: singing pop songs such as “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “Bye Bye Bye” and “This I Promise You.”
At one point, Justin Timberlake encouraged “just the girls to sing” along with them. He may as well have said, “Everybody sing.”
It’s certainly understandable that the band members are trying to grow up and earn respectability. Timberlake–the youngest member–is 21. George Harrison was the same age when the Beatles invaded America. While the two groups may be comparable in terms of ticket sales and the hysteria they cause in young girls, the Fab Four were light years ahead in artistic merit.
Think John Lennon would have swung from a rope over the heads of his fans to titillate them? Scratch that. He did perform in Hamburg with a toilet seat hanging around his neck.
Actually, ‘N Sync’s attempt to make an enormodome more intimate is one of the band’s more endearing aspects. Since the beginning, they’ve tried to interact with their fans. It’s difficult for five guys to high-five more than 13,000 kids. But they tried. A catwalk was set up around the stadium’s perimeter so the band members could be closer to their young fans.
Opening act Smash Mouth noted how young the audience was by saying, “Everybody put your glow sticks in the air.” This was not a crowd that came equipped with lighters.
At many boy-band concerts, the opening acts are wannabe Justins and Britneys performing to tracks. With its defiantly non-hottie singer and rocking live sidemen, the infectiously catchy Smash Mouth was an odd but welcome choice to open for ‘N Sync. The band quickly won the kids over with “I’m A Believer” and “All Star,” and even covered ‘N Sync’s “Gone.”
Now we know what ‘N Sync might sound like if they went ska.
Note to ‘N Sync: The next time you have your lackeys throw an autographed T-shirt into the audience, make sure it actually has been signed. A group of teenagers swandived for a shirt that supposedly had been signed by Chris Kirkpatrick. His autograph was nowhere to be found.
