Three top moments from Justin Timberlake’s gravity-defying, barbecue-loving Austin show

If God had meant for Mouseketeers to fly, he would have given them harness rigs and floating stages.

What’s that? He did?

Oh, well then. Carry on, Justin Timberlake.

The pop star/former boy-bander/one-time bringer-back of sexy packed Austin’s Moody Center on Friday for a stop on “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.” The evening brought barbecue banter, fancy footwork and heaps of hits. He’ll perform again on Saturday.

Here are three unforgettable things that happened at Timberlake’s first ATX concert.

More: Justin Timberlake pauses show in Austin to help fan during medical emergency, video shows

Justin Timberlake loves Terry Black’s BBQ

Timberlake mentioned that he’s been at this show biz thing for three decades now — Mouseketeer, remember? — and gushed about growing up with his audience. He shouted out his fans since the days of a “little group I started in called ’N Sync.”

His easy crowd work at Moody Center reminded us of banter by another former boy band star who played the venue, Harry Styles. Of course, Timberlake has always banked on charisma as much as singing and dancing.

“Let me go ahead and get this out of the way,” Timberlake said. “Alright, alright alright. “You feel that?” Then, he had the arena invoke the McConaughey mantra, too.

Timberlake also cozied up to his host city like many touring acts do: through food.

“If you see me moving slow tonight, you have to blame that Terry Black’s. You’re talking to a Memphis boy. Those burnt ends? That’s good barbecue,” he said.

The singer laid it on as thick as a cloud of Mexican free-tailed bats. “I’ve been trying to keep myself weird for years so I feel like I fit in,” he said about his love of the city.

‘My Love’ and more unleashed that Timberlake talent

There wasn’t a lot of time to chat, because Timberlake’s stage was an engine running on talent. A giant rectangular set piece — think the monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey” — doubled as a 3-D projection screen and a rotating piece of sculpture.

Behind it, Timberlake’s phenomenal Tennessee Kids backing band set up shop, but they frequently burst from the bandstand to throw themselves into on-stage choreo.

Timberlake opened with “No Angels,” a fizzy and funky bit of pop from new album “Everything I Thought It Was.” He wore shades indoors. A thick silver chain — the international symbol for white boy swag — gleamed every time he spun on his heels.

“You got that somethin' new, that sexy attitude,” he sang, and at least half of that line applied to him, too.

Few sexy attitudes can ignite an entire arena, though, and Timberlake has one that can. On “LoveStoned,” he kept the footwork coming, like Gene Kelly if he sang about freaky girls. His soles glided across the floor. With every popped arm and locked shoulder, he toggled the stopwatch on time and space. And Timberlake must know how slick it looks to flip the mic in his hand like a switchblade, because he did it several times.

It was one of the most well-paced shows we can remember, the tempo perfectly ebbing and flowing with the mood. Midway through the set, Timberlake traveled on foot through the audience to a secondary circular stage on the other end of the arena for a more intimate act (the Tennessee Kids followed, too).

The concert’s dynamism sparkled best during “My Love,” Timberlake’s 2006 No. 1 that might be his best song. Almost 20 years later, that Timbaland production still sounds like a glitchy, romantic future yet to come. (Or a “FutureSex/LoveSound,” if you will.) The performance began with jazzy piano and a spotlight. Timberlake bowed to a rapturous crowd. His signature falsetto, which got a healthy workout all night, morphed into its most soulful shape. He held a Broadway-worthy high note as he sang “this ring here represents my heart.”

As the song built to a climax, Timberlake gave generous deference to his musicians, trading verses with the backup singers as they one-upped him in power and range. “Sheesh,” Timberlake mugged in respect. The energy spilled over, and the whole band descended to the stage to jump with Timberlake and the dancers like a pan of Jiffy Pop. The room crackled at the end.

Timberlake can still bring ‘SexyBack’ (and more)

These days, Timberlake is better known for making Jimmy Fallon giggle than for racking up top 10 hits. A setlist tells no lies, though, and his catalog absolutely rips.

“Cry Me a River” got the people on their feet after a slower stretch. The underrated “Let the Groove Get In” was a vibe, African and Latin rhythms swirling while the horn line whipped out footwork and hauled a metric ton of brass into the air. Timberlake strapped on an acoustic guitar and turned “What Goes Around… Comes Around” into a silky smooth singalong.

The newer material was more uneven. Big, brassy “Sanctified” sounded like any thudding gospel-rock song making the festival circuit in between teen soap opera placements. “Infinity Sex” — what a title — saw Timberlake at his most cheesily sordid, bumping and grinding with backup dancers.

While making his way back from the secondary stage to the big stage, Timberlake deployed “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” a massive chart-topper unleashed upon the world by the “Trolls” movie. While you can’t argue with a lizard brain, the song has all the edge of a Fisher Price production. The blandly positive lyrics seemed even more insipid amid all the bedroom jams. The audience squealed; Timberlake was Pagliacci in a chunky silver chain.

Fortunately, Timberlake waited until the end to unleash his sonic Godzillas. “Rock Your Body” rinsed off the Troll dust. (Though we might not have emphasized the line “I'll have you naked by the end of this song” so emphatically after the Janet Jackson of it all.) “SexyBack” followed, every bit the horndog banger it’s always been. Timberlake capped off a night of dancing feats. A giant animated Justin head mouthed the song’s ad libs. Can’t deny that “duet with a multistory version of your face sealed in carbonite” is an effectively weird spectacle.

Timberlake ramped up the showmanship for an airborne encore of romantic anthem “Mirrors.” That monolith set piece tilted downward to reveal the singer standing on its back side — think of the core strength. It leveled off and flew across the arena, with a harness-rigged Timberlake singing his heart out.

Guess the barbecue didn’t weigh him down after all.

Eric Webb is an award-winning culture writer based in Austin. Find him at  www.ericwebb.me.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Justin Timberlake flexes pop star power at Austin's Moody Center