Who better to sing out the summer than Justin Timberlake? Well, Don Henley for one, but no matter. In a supernova of white clothing that officially became uncouth as of 00:00 hours, JT closed community pools and reopened public schools with his breathy crooning in a 2 1/2 hour extravaganza on HBO. He danced, he swaggered, he played the flippin’ keytar, but for the casual JT fan (as most of us are), was it any good?

Of course it was. Though it could have stood some generous editing (I started dozin’ around 105 minutes in), Timberlake is a showman if anything. He sang almost his entire solo catalog and even offered something from the halcyon days of N*sync. Amidst remixes, reworkings and annoying displays of musical aptitude – we get it, you’re an artist – there were even a few private moments with the man himself. Karen Duffy continued her welcome, though bizarre, renaissance by covering yet another televised concert and dishing out the Qs in the Q&A that bookended the show and filled the intermission. (I don’t think anyone was under the impression that this was a “live” broadcast, but they have to do their best to maintain suspension of disbelief.)

Timbaland’s cameo was definitely the highpoint. It’s always nice to see the man kind of behind the curtain come out to a raucous reception, and watching the two of them dance together is almost too charming to bear. Things really slowed down towards the end though and almost stopped completely with an encore that was all kinds of superfluous. Strolling out all by his lonesome, in just a t-shirt and khakis, Timberlake played what piano, sing a sad song and offered an affected thank you to the audience. It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth after such a nice evening and would probably have been better suited to Lilith Fair… My only real complaint I suppose; that and the fact that I still have no clue what FutureSex/ LoveSounds are.