Janet paused. She let the lights come up on her and her dancers, and then she smiled.
The packed TD Garden roared with affection. She held the pause for an extra beat. Then told the 10,000 plus fans, “I can go all night.” They roared louder
The icon put her little break in the center of a cluster of non-hits that opened Act I of her Together Again tour’s Friday Garden gig. They were relatively obscure, newish songs driven by Eurodisco thumps and ’90s house music — “Night,” “2nite,” “All Night (Don’t Stop),” and more. Perfect for, yes, a night at the club. Or, in Janet Jackson’s hands, an opening that let everyone know even her throw-aways, her non-hits, are sublime jams.
At this point in her career, the 58-year-old can open a show however she damn well pleases. Of course, she has to, and wants to, revel in her hits.
Janet has more hits than Michael. Miss Jackson has more smashes, and bigger smashes, and better smashes, than Justin Timberlake (her increasingly irrelevant co-star at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show who coincidentally booked the Garden the night after Jackson). After proving the depth of her recent catalog, she stuffed the setlist’s subsequent acts with sing-along favorites from 1986’s “Control,” 1989’s “Rhythm Nation,” and 1993’s “Janet.”
Act II crashed old school grooves on top of one another at a rapid fire pace. Over maybe 20 minutes, she managed to fit in eight songs that ran from “What Have You Done for Me Lately” through “Nasty” and “When I Think of You” into “Control.” After the sprint, she decelerated into a few ballads — the understandably out of breath singer let her fans handle most of the vocals on “Again,” which was a little disappointing.
Act III split the difference between the first two by mixing newer stuff with classics. Putting No. 1 “Miss You Much” right up against 2007’s “Feedback” was an inspired choice — that latter possibly being the world’s least known slice of pop perfection. Act IV, the final and shortest section, reminded how political Janet’s late ’80s were with “State of the World,” “The Knowledge” and “Rhythm Nation,” and how the social justice themes of the songs are more pressing than ever.
Although restrained by Madonna standards, her performance made excellent use of what it had: the ubiquitous walls of video screens and lasers, a bumping band, a few costume changes between acts, and a small group of A-list dancers. Janet can still move — her stepping and popping on “Rhythm Nation” had the force and charisma of her 23-year-old self. But her four backup dancers, hulking hunks of boundless energy, spent the entire night framing Janet with everything from voguing to breaking, moonwalks to good old fashioned Roger Rabbit moves.
The performance also had a stable of songs deeper and more diverse than any of her peers’ catalogs. Oh, and it had a pop icon who is 58 and can still go all night.
