Justin Timberlake is no stranger to the stage. A performer since he was a boy, Justin has wowed fans for decades and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. His amazing abilities as a live performer have won Justin the O2 Silver Clef Award for Best Live Act of 2014. The Awards ceremony, held in London on Friday, also honored legends such as Jimmy Page and Black Sabbath. The Best Live Act Award, which has been on the ballot for only the last four years, is narrowed down to ten nominees by an expert music industry panel, then turned over to Twitter for voting on the winner.
Other nominees up for the Best Live Act Award included Arcade Fire, Muse, Rolling Stones, and Arctic Monkeys, among others. Justin easily beat the competition with almost half a million votes (469,000 to be precise).
Chris Edmonds, Chairman of Ticketmaster UK, says:
“Justin Timberlake has always blown away fans with his incredible live performances. With a very strong shortlist this year for the Best Live Act Award, it was tough competition but Justin clearly came out on top with nearly half a million fan votes. Congratulations Justin!”
Makes sense that Justin took home this award as he’s currently on his fifth leg of the “20/20 Experience World Tour” since launching the tour last fall. The 20/20 Experience: Part 1 was released back in March 2013, with Part 2 coming out six months later, in September.
His tour kicked off two months later and will continue through December 2014. Justin’s currently finishing up his European leg and will come back to North America on July 9th. The forthcoming North American leg is now the most expensive ticket of the summer, according to Forbes .
Justin’s tour easily eclipses the former most expensive ticket, which was for Jay-Z and Beyonce’s “On The Run” tour. The Beyonce/Jay-Z powerhouse duo costs over $244 per ticket, but Justin, who’s playing arenas instead of stadiums which give fewer seats available, has tickets going for an average of $320. On top of that, Justin is only touring 19 dates in this short North American leg, making tickets more coveted.
After that, Justin’s back to Australia and New Zealand for 13 dates before finishing back up in the states on December 20th in Atlanta. With over six years between the release of FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake fans have been anxiously awaiting his return to music. Now, with over a year of touring, Justin has definitely given his fans the chance to enjoy him live and has earned his title as “Best Live Act.”
[Images via Bing and Urban Splatter]