7 Best Moments From Usher’s Past Present Future Tour Stop in New York City

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.