Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake performed at Soldier Field last night as part of their “Legends of Summer” tour, and yours truly was in attendance. If you’re thinking of catching one of the remaining shows on their schedule and want to hear what the concert was like, continue reading. If you don’t want any spoilers or simply don’t care what I have to say about this concert, do not read any further.
The line to get into this sold-out concert was pure mayhem, and absolutely brutal. The show was scheduled to start at 8:00PM, my girlfriend and I arrived at about 8:15 and stood in this mosh pit sauna for a solid hour. Much like every other concert I’ve been to in my life, the show didn’t start until approximately 9:45, so we didn’t miss anything. The staff at Soldier Field need to do something about the entrance to the 100-200 level seats because I felt like I was going to pass out in that tunnel.
Our seats were on the ground level, section C4. Our view of the right side of the stage was obstructed by the lights/special effects control center. It didn’t really effect our experience at all, other than the fact that we couldn’t clearly see the big screen to the right that was usually focused on Jay-Z. If our view blocked the Justin Timberlake big screen, my girlfriend may have had some serious issues with it.
Once the concert started, they didn’t waste any time jumping into the title song off of Jay-Z’s new album, Holy Grail. No one was sure if Jay-Z was going to go on first or if JT would, and the answer was both came on at the same time. For the first 45 minutes or so, the two were on stage together going back and forth between Jay-Z and JT hits. Timberlake absolutely nailed the Pharrell Williams part of several Jay-Z songs like I Just Wanna Love U (Give it to me), and they did every Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake collaboration I could think of. Soon Jay-Z went off-stage, and there was about 30-45 minutes of Justin Timberlake solo songs.
At one point during Justin Timberlake’s set, he danced for about 30 seconds straight while his music was playing. I swear there wasn’t a dry pair of panties in the place. To say the women were swooning was an understatement. One of the girls standing behind me must have said she loved JT approximately 50 times. I wanted to tell her to go for it, and that Justin Timberlake was wasting his time with Jessica Biel and would be much better off with some no-name random chick from Chicago, but I contained myself and just let her continue to sway back and forth to the melodies of the 20/20 Experience.
Jay-Z came back on and did just about every single hit you could think of. Big Pimpin’, Hard Knock Life, Empire State of Mind, the list goes on and on. The only song from either artist that I wanted to hear that they didn’t play was Money Aint a Thang, but I wasn’t expecting to hear it so I wasn’t too upset.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake put on a killer show. I’ve been to a few rap concerts before (50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Clipse, Snoop Dogg (Lion) etc) and generally they’ve been terrible. The entire show at the Jay-Z and JT concert was legit. Justin Timberlake is an incredible talent, and Jay-Z just has so many hits you really can’t go wrong watching him perform.
One thing I did notice, though, is that Jay-Z looks old as dirt. 43 is AARP territory when it comes to rappers, and I’m glad I got to see him perform live before he hangs up the mic for good. For reference, I saw Snoop (2 years younger than Jay-Z) last year in Colorado and I didn’t get the old-man vibe from him at all.
I’m not sure how many dates are left on the tour (if any), but if the Jay-Z and JT Legends of Summer tour is coming to your area, do yourself a favor and get some tickets. You won’t be disappointed.
