It was not a drill Friday night (Sept. 6) in Brooklyn. Usher-mania had arrived. After having serenaded the nation for two-and-a-half-years with the hottest Las Vegas residency in the land, and readjusting his crown at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show, the R&B icon brought his Ursher-issance to the Barclays Center with a show-stopping blitz that proves he’s operating at a new prime.
For the thousands of fans who packed out the first of four sold-out shows as part of his Past Present Future tour, the night was special for several reasons. For some, it was a chance to scratch one larger-than-life concert off their bucket list (“I never got to see Michael Jackson live, but I’ve seen Beyoncé and now Usher,” said one concert-goer). For others, it was the opportunity to relive the headline-making My Way the Vegas Residency experience (“We saw him in Vegas, too,” gushed another excited fan). But the number one objective for everyone on this night (including this writer) was simple: “Gonna boogie, tonight…”
The aptly titled tour, which launched in August with two sold-out performances in Washington, D.C., lived up its namesake as the king of R&B left the borough known to keep it thorough in a warm blanket of nostalgic and euphoric bliss. Much of the two-hour show felt less like a concert and more of a celebration of the man whose music has soundtracked lives, redefined a genre, and shifted the pop-culture landscape over the last 30 years. But age is furthest from the mind when watching the singer, especially as his liquid movements evokes the same “how’s he still performing at this level” wonderment that stalks LeBron James. Whether pop-locking, leaping, or standing next to a video of his younger self, the timelessness of Ursher did indeed writ large over the course of the night.
At around 9:30 p.m., the singer popped up on stage, commanding court with the kind of spellbinding aura that Michael Jackson exemplified during his fan-faint-outs era, and opened with “Coming Home,” the title track from his latest chart-topping outing. He followed that up with “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home),” which quickly summoned ecstatic gasps from the audience mid “I just wanna get your attention…” Like that, the sold-out audience went down memory lane.
After “1993” appeared on the screen, along with a digitally-rendered teenage version of the singer, he danced along to a medley of his earlier records — “Call Me a Mack,” which originally appeared on the 1993 Poetic Justice soundtrack, “Think of You” and “Can U Get With It.” Soon after, the “You Make Me Wanna” singer time-shifted through the decades, as the capacity-crowd, decked in their flyest and finest, played the role of back-up singers — and, judging by the swaying bodies in the aisles and rows, back-up dancers, too. Spreading love is the Brooklyn way, after all. The Grammy award-winning showman floated on that cloud of love through the night, cascading through a plethora of his genre-defying hits that kept those aisles and rows rocking in a rhythmic trance. He traveled to 1997, performing “My Way” and “You Make Me Wanna” to resounding shrieks before loading up tunes from the 2000s with “U Remind Me” and “U Don’t Have To Call.”
By the time he got to his diamond-certified magnum opus, Confessions — an album that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, after spawning four No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — it was sheer pandemonium. There was “Caught Up,” followed by some of “Yeah!” before the song was abruptly interrupted by a “system malfunction” alert on the screen. But ever the consummate performer, Usher kept the show rolling by flipping the chronological script, hitting shuffle, and pulling out the roller skates for “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Love in this Club.”
As concupiscent shrills showered him through “Nice & Slow,” he operated with the eros of the moment — stripping down to a white tank top, jeans and his signature “U” diamond pendant — and saucily mime-humped the mic stand after having already turned up the heat with “Lovers and Friends.” If that wasn’t enough, the rapt audience melted at the knees once his sterling silver vocals belted out that well-known falsetto to “Superstar.”
And there were a number of other superstars in the house, as well. After prowling through the audience while singing “There Goes My Baby,” he spotted and serenaded celebrities Taraji P. Henson (“You starting the celebration of your birthday early,” he beamed), Victoria Monet, who danced along with the singer to “On My Mama,” and rapper Yung Miami. Not long after, he brought out Fat Joe and Ja Rule, who also won the crowd over with their string of classics, including “What’s Luv” and “Put it On Me.”
As the night wound down, with energy levels depleted following run-throughs of “OMG” “There Goes My Baby,” and “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” among others, Ursh, now wearing a glittering blue leather Vanson motorcycle jacket, sent the capacity-sized arena into a tizzy when he finally unleashed “Yeah!” without interruption. “I was able to turn Barclays into the house of Usher,” he said. A fitting way to close out a hit-filled spectacle that stamped an emphatic “Watch this” for those still wondering “how’s he still performing at this level?”
But that’s not all, here are the seven best moments from night one of Usher’s four-night rendezvous in Brooklyn.
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Unmatched Performer
Between his musical wizardry and masterful choreography, it’s no hyperbole to say Usher is the greatest showman of his time. The 19,000 clamoring fans Friday night (Sept. 6) can attest. While his 30-year trail up to this point has provided innumerable examples, including sharing the stage with the great James Brown and Michael Jackson, the performance inside Barclays no doubt reinforced those gifts.
He is a performer whose meticulousness yields nothing less than fascination. To incorporate the iconic choreography from some of his iconic music videos like “U Don’t Have to Call,” exchange his sneakers for roller skates for “Love in this Club,” run through multiple wardrobe changes, and still possess the voice through it all to burst out a ballad like the heart-wrenching “U Got it Bad” or an eruptive dancefloor number like “Yeah!” was like something out of Broadway. No details were spared, and the result was nothing short of excellent.
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Timeless Classics
Between the hits (“You Make Me Wanna…,” “U Got it Bad”), the blockbusters (“Yeah!,” “OMG”), and the special ones abounded in cultural reverence (“There Goes My Baby,” “Throwback”), Usher’s yellow brick road of classics was undeniable.
That everything sounds just as fresh as they did in circa 1997, 2001 or 2004 is a testament to the singer’s enduring catalog. The show carefully curates this by traveling through these eras as a way to illustrate the singer’s transformation through the years, from burgeoning heartthrob (“Call Me a Mack, “Think of You”) to R&B superstar (“My Way,” “U Remind Me”), pop behemoth (“Burn,” “Confessions Part II”) and now, icon.
Stats aside, the winning ingredient that powers the undeniability of these records is the emotional intimacy within them. That’s why a “Lovers and Friends” almost always elicits a squeal (or three) mere seconds after “Uhh, oh-oh-oh.” The messiness of “You Make Me Wanna…” immediately pulls listeners into a trance recalling that one time, while the firewood crackle of “Nice & Slow” almost instantly draws “It’s 7 o’clock, I’m in my drop top cruising the streets” being sung in unison.
These hits became hits because his music holds a velvet-roped space in our hippocampus. As a listener, these records feel just as part of your life as the plastic covered couch in grandma or auntie’s living room. What’s more, he captures this connection on the stage, emitting as much palpable joy performing them as the audience does singing along. Brooklyn concertgoers were sent into a beatific reverie.
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Give the Band and Dancers Some
The “gumbo,” as he described during his “Tiny Desk” performance for NPR in 2022, provided the secret sauce to the winning recipe on stage. But it wasn’t just the incredible live band that brought Usher’s catalog to life, it was the dancers, as well. From the crew crisscrossing on skates to the pole dancers bringing a taste of Magic City to the Brook, the interplay between the singer and his uber-talented team of performers put the “u” in unbelievable.
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Taraji P. Henson, Victoria Monet & More Jump Onstage
As the music world continues to mourn the loss of Isaac Freeman III, better known as Fatman Scoop, Usher and his legendary DJ, DJ Mars, paid tribute to hip-hop’s ultimate hypeman by playing a few of his records, including “Be Faithful.”
Plus, seeing as how the show was just minutes away from Bedford-Stuyvesant, the singer couldn’t have kept going without a toast to Brooklyn’s favorite son The Notorious B.I.G., and he did. With his live band in tow, the singer slipped into a red attire and shifted into a silky rendition of “Big Poppa” incorporating the Isley Brothers’ “Between the Sheets” sample. “I love it when you call me, Ursher baby,” he sang.
Elsewhere, he invited Taraji P. Henson, Victoria Monet and Yung Miami to the stage, where they made it rain as pole dancers left the audience in awe while performing to “I Don’t Mind.” Of course, hip-hop was also in the building. Joining the singer later on in the night was Fat Joe, who tore the roof off with “Lean Back,” “All the Way Up,” and “What’s Luv.” For the latter, he was joined by Ja Rule, who sent the crowd into sheer excitement with his rich catalog: “New York” and “Put it On Me.”
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Drip
For as many hits in his catalog, there were plenty of outfits to match — just in time for 2024 New York Fashion Week, no less. Through the two-hour set, Usher slipped in and out of eight wardrobe pieces. By the sixth song he was in his third outfit of the night. It was award-show-host level. Among the top-tier selections from the drip overflow, was a sequined black blazer and trousers that he wore while roller-skate-performing to “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Love in this Club” and a cherry red fur overcoat that was bright enough to make Elmo blush.
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Nice & Intimate
How Usher was able to make a capacity-sized arena feel like an intimate nightclub is one of his superpowers. “Prepare for an intimate ride,” echoed one of the videos before he appeared on stage, and while that may have seemed almost impossible inside a 19,000-seat arena, the night very much felt that way.
Over the course of the night, the ambience kept changing to match the temperature set on stage. There were moments like during performances of “Lil Freak” and “Bad Girl” that felt like a cabaret. Other moments like during “I Don’t Mind” that felt like Magic City.
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LED Screen
The rules of science dictate that you can’t physically go back in time. However, Usher’s elaborate three-dimensional LED-screen contraption delivered the visual composite to the Time Stone of Marvel Comics lore. It not only transported fans through the decades by introducing the albums and years, but it also provided visual context, like projecting a lookalike 14-year-old rendition of the singer dancing along to “Call Me a Mack” and setting the background scene, whether it’s a strip club or steamy bedroom session.
At one point, during “Caught Up” the screen flashed numerous headlines and magazine pull quotes about the singer to complement lines like, “And every lover, in and out my life, I’ve hit, love and left with tears/ Without a care.” At another point in the night, it featured a montage of him as a child dreaming up the moment that is now the present.
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