Legends of the Summer show at Candlestick Park

What a show.  Jay Z and Justin Timberlake make a great duo.

Before Friday night’s Legends of the Summer concert I kept wondering:  Which artist will go on first?  Which one will close?  Both are headliners in their own right, so who plays the lead in this stadium concert tour?

Of course … they both do.

Jay Z (in case you hadn’t heard, he no longer uses the hyphen) and JT opened the show together, played most of their songs together and took turns showcasing their old and new music one after the other.  This was one of those concerts in which every time a new song started you thought, “YES, this is my favorite!”  And that just kept happening,

I’ve seen Justin Timberlake a couple of times before in concert, once with ‘NSYNC, and once when he toured with Christina Aguilera.  He has a way of captivating the audience.  He doesn’t say much.  He just moves, plays several instruments and sings with a great range of high-pitched belting and low-pitched chanting.  And that man can dance.

Jay Z has a little less pizzazz, if you will, but is still entertaining.  During his portions on the mic, he got the crowd to wave their hands in the air and sing along.  He doesn’t play any instruments, and I don’t think his movement could really be considered dancing, but he still commands the stage like a rock-star.  And of course, he wore more than my net-worth of heavy-looking diamond chains around his neck.  He also moved through a selection of interesting long black t-shirts.

Being music lovers, Dave and I received our concert tickets as a one-year anniversary gift from my Mom.  (Great gift!)

A couple of Dave’s coworkers were also attending the concert, so we had them over for a little pre-party and then took the long public transport trek together out to Candlestick Park, home of the San Francisco 49ers, where the concert took place.

Things of note from our concert experience …

• People told us to dress warmly, because Candlestick Park is known to be very cold and windy.  People were totally right.  I had a scarf, gloves and pea coat and was still shivering at times.
• People told us it wouldn’t be easy to get to and from Candlestick Park, because there is only one street in and out.  Traffic is impossible, and public transit is not very direct.  People were totally right.  It took a MUNI ride and a shuttle transfer to get there = 1 hour.  It took a one-mile walk, a very crowded MUNI ride and another one-mile walk to get home = 1.25 hours.
• People said the venue would be crowded and packed full.  People were totally right.  We probably walked a mile around the stadium breezeways to finally reach out seats, dodging and weaving through thick crowds.  (Good seats by the way, in the lower level and to the right of the stage.)

There is a lot of local discussion about the 49ers moving to a new stadium in the city of Santa Clara because they need a newer space.  Although some San Franciscans don’t want to see the team leave the city, I can now attest to the fact that the fan experience getting to the current venue is just not acceptable.  In fact, it’s rather miserable.

Truth be told, our group of eight had a great time on the way there.  We were excited for the show and full of some home-made cucumber martinis compliments of my live-in bartender.  On our MUNI train, there were some friendly and chatty passengers who kept us entertained.

On the way home, it was just Dave and me, and we were fighting for about one-foot of space each while standing in a totally crowded triple-MUNI train.  Not a great end to a fabulous concert experience … but still worth it.  I’ve always been a huge Justin Timberlake fan, and this concert showed even more of his talents than I’ve seen before.

Moral of the story: Going to Candlestick Park for a game or a show?  Bundle up, and go in on a party bus with your friends so you can enjoy the slow and inefficient trip there and back.