Legends of the Summer Tour Recap: Candlestick Park (7/26/13)

On July 26th, I witnessed “Legends of the Summer” — the Justin Timberlake and Jay Z dual headlining show. I had never been to a concert in a football stadium before until this one, and I have to say, it is pretty freaking awesome. Except for the fact that Candlestick Park is one of the windiest stadiums in the nation. The concert itself was pretty legendary, everything about it seemed to click and flow really well. I came in wondering how the two headliners were going to split up the show, turns out, it’s not even a problem. The two were able to transition in and out of each other’s songs really well.

First off, I’d like to talk about the super awesome stage that they have — really cool looking, and throughout the show, they were able to project really cool effects on it that really enhanced the concert experience (some examples below that I gif-ed from my own videos).

Empire State of Mind

Tom Ford

Cry Me A River

Opening
Starting off with Holy Grail, JT and Hova trade off performing hit after hit, vibing off of each other. Right of the bat, these two set the place on fire and everyone’s up and dancing and the stadium is bumpin!

Jay Z Set
I’ll admit, I’m not that educated on Jay Z’s past music, besides 99 Problems, Dirt Off You Shoulder, H to the Izzo (HOVA), Song Cry, and Encore, I’m more familiar with his more recent stuff (Blueprint 3, What the Throne, and MGHC). I like his music, but I’d say I’m more of a fan of his bad-assery, him being an icon in the hip-hop world.
Jay went off during his set with past hits, and a couple more recent ones (i.e. Run This Town, Empire State of Mind, On to the Next One, N***** in Paris, etc.) I was hoping that he would do some more from Magna Carta Holy Grail, but he did treat us to an awesome performance of Tom Ford — although I also would have really like to see him do Somewhereinamerica (ha!).
But overall, it was really impressive how Jay Z was able to seem to fill up the whole stage even though it was only him, and get the crowd turnt up.

JT Set
I love JT. As you can see from some of my other posts on this blog, I really am a big fan of Justin. I loved NSYNC, but also love his individual stuff (not until recently though have I been able to appreciate his older stuff, I guess I was a little on the young side when Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds came out). But better late then never, right?
Anywho, he did some new songs from his recent album, and he did a few throwbacks. JT is a pure entertainer, just like Jay Z, he was able to basically take over the stadium with his charisma and presence. I don’t really know what else to say, you don’t expect anything other than top-notch performances from JT. The only thing I wish he would’ve done was to bring some of his dancers on this tour with him (I’m a big fan of Lyle Beniga who dances backup for him), so he could do some of his clean dance moves that he does when he performs on TV and stuff.
I wish I could go see him when he comes back to the Bay Area as a single headliner (and will probably involve a lot of cool dance routines and stuff), but going to San Jose during the school year is a little far. :(

End
They come back together to trading off with their hits like in the beginning. And then they leave. But obviously they can’t leave and not do Suit and Tie (duh). So they come back for the encore and perform Suit and Tie, and then a special tribute to Trayvon Martin with Jay Z’s Young Forever and JT singing the chorus. With everyone was holding up their phones, lighting up the stadium, it was a really beautiful way to end a legendary show.

To sum up the whole show, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake truly are Legends of the Summer. One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. Thank you Jay Z and JT for an unforgettable evening!