Sunday, September 5, 1999

Mission accomplished

N SYNC shows they've come into their own as a song-and-dance band

TORONTO -- The name of 'N SYNC's upcoming new album is No Strings Attached.

 And there couldn't have been a more fitting pronouncement than that for the five-man pop group's performance at the Molson Amphitheatre last night.

 Okay, so every one of the 16,000 screaming fans in attendance at the sold-out show would likely tell you in a fluttering heartbeat that these guys are not pop marionettes.

 But like their Orlando cross-town rivals The Backstreet Boys before them, 'N SYNC seemed determined to prove that they've come into their own as a song-and-dance band, on this, the last night of their year-long tour.

 Upped the ante

 Well, mission accomplished.

 If the Backstreet Boys upped the ante with their recent album of worthy Top 40 fluff that showed they can write a tune, 'N SYNC's prowess is their knack for pure concert spectacle.

 As per teen-scream usual, the music took a backseat last night.

 Let's face it, those tinkling neo-R&B numbers barely sailed past the lip of the stage before being swallowed up by the roar of the crowd.

 No biggie, in this case, because the real show here lay in the action.

 This was karaoke, yeah, but karaoke as staged by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

 The curtain had barely swung open by the time the 'N SYNC crew had laid the foundation for a show-within-a-show: Appearing on a jumbo screen above the stage, a mad scientist -- didn't catch his name, but with his turtleneck and horn-rimmed specs he looked for all the world like one of us critics, fancy that -- informed the crowd that he had sealed off the entrances and exits. There would be none of "that dreadful noise you call fun music."

 The sound of chopper blades, and the 'N SYNC boys' voices on walkie-talkies, informed us otherwise.

 Sparks indicated that the 'N SYNC-able five were blasting their way in through the roof. Enter JC, Justin, Joey, Lance, and Chris, rappelling down to the stage floor via ropes.

 After making entrance like that, the band could hardly top it.

 But even at their most cliched moments, the group managed to put a twist on things.

 A dozen or so girls and some dude in a gorilla costume (?) were invited on stage for what JC called "the first looooove song of the night," For The Girl Who Has Everything. (Hey, the gorilla was the only one to get a lap dance from Justin.)

 The band also used rather icky video projections and songs to run through the past four decades.

  The '60s saw the band suited up Beatle-style for the token boy-band-takes-over-the-backing-band's-instruments routine.

 Their take on the movie theme That Thing You Do was loose and almost thrashy, but fresh.

 Jackson 5 medley

 The '70s featured a Jackson 5 medley complete with Afro wigs (though, fortunately, 'N SYNC left the blackface at home).

 The '80s had them dressed up and dancing like forebearers New Kids On The Block; and as for the '90s, well, that was all them, singing their hit Tearin' Out My Heart.

 It's probably a good thing 'N SYNC are entertainers and not history professors. But as their own teachers might have told them, they get extra marks for effort.

Set List