Great outdoors: Justin Timberlake’s showmanship shines in Man of the Woods tour stop

“I have never had a bad night in Tulsa. Ever”.

Justin Timberlake, who said those words Saturday night, kept the streak alive with not just a concert, but a show (there’s a difference) at the BOK Center.

The Man Of The Woods Tour, Tulsa, OK, EE.UU. +85 images

How many opportunities has Timberlake had to have a bad night in Tulsa? Only his travelogue knows for sure. But history confirms he performed at the BOK Center in 2013. And, five years later, he can update update his LinkedIn profile if he chooses to do so.

Justin Timberlake: Singer. Dancer. Entertainer. Showman. Woodsman.

A global superstar with Tennessee roots, Timberlake titled his fifth and newest album “Man of the Woods”. He said in a promotional video for the Man of the Woods tour that the outdoors is the inspiration for a lot of his new songs.

He said in the promo video that bringing the “outside in” is a goal of the tour. “How can we bring that to life?” he asked.

Mission accomplished. Timberlake and his tour planners did it. Thanks to props, visual effects and creative extensions of the stage, the BOK Center was, at times, the great outdoors.

The stage was linked to walkways that looked like nature trails. The trails meandered from one end of the floor seating area to the other, permitting Timberlake and his tour mates to get intimate with many fans along the way. Faux trees were part of the scenery. (Award clever points to Chris Hardy, owner of the Book Exchange in Pryor, who suggested a tree at the BOK Center could have been a Joshua Tree left over from a U2 concert Wednesday).

At one point in the show, a guitar-toting Timberlake and his backup singers gathered around a campfire at the opposite end of the floor from the stage.

“Where I’m from, we like to sit around the fire and tell our stories”, he said, inviting his backup singers to take turns doing covers of songs by Fleetwood Mac, Lauryn Hill, the Beatles and John Denver.

Also during the campfire segment of the show, Timberlake invited those in the crowd to use cellphones to illuminate the arena. The shining lights of the phones resembled stars in the sky above the campfire. But, if you really want to know what a star looks like, just lay eyes on Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake and his entourage (band, dancers, backup singers) made a dramatic entrance a little after 9 p.m. He walked out, casually and confidently, like he owned the place and, for a couple of hours, he did.

Whatever Timberlake was doing, the crowd was all in. Audience members roared when he danced. They roared when he hit high notes. They roared when he paused and let fans soak up some silence. And of course they roared when, making reference to a fan standing in the floor area, he said, “This guy has a shirt that says ‘Real Men Love Justin Timberlake'”. Justin Timberlake voiced his approval.

Timberlake has enough swagger that he could have done a traditional stage show and still wowed his admirers. But you can put him in the category of performers who take the stance of, hey, if you’re going to invest your money in a ticket, I’m going to reciprocate by going all out — physically and technologically.

“Ya’ll really came to party tonight”, Timberlake said at a high-energy point of the show.

Timberlake gold like “SexyBack”, “Cry Me A River” and the show-closing “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” were of course on the set list, but so were nine songs from “Man of the Woods”. (The album title has something to do with his son’s name. Google it.)

Donny and Marie Osmond (bringing them up for a reason, really) were a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll when hosting a television variety series in the 1970s. In this millennium, Timberlake is a little bit woodsy and a little bit funky. If you heard all the squeals at the BOK Center, you know it works for him.

Tulsa World