Usher dazzles the crowd at the Enterprise, but was the crowd too big or not enough Usher?

Hailed as one of the greatest singers of modern R&B music, the megastar performed at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in February and brought hit songs of the decades into American living rooms. His ninth studio album, released on the same day, featured standout tracks such as “Kissing Strangers” and “Ruin”.

Usher, 46, has been creating and performing live music longer than most.

She was a star since her childhood and burst onto the scene with her self-titled debut album in 1994 at the age of 15. It was her 1997 album “My Way” that catapulted her to the top of the charts with hit records like “You Make Me.” I want…” and “Nice and Slow.” This album marked her debut as an adult musical force and positioned her as a sex symbol.

With five studio albums, eight Grammy Awards, nine No. 1 songs and more than 150 million albums sold, Usher still knows how to captivate and wow crowds with his charismatic and sensual demeanor.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of his album “My Way”, Usher used this tour to take his fans back in time. The show was a timeline of highlights of his career, combining old home footage of his childhood performances with new, personal videos.

But concertgoers had to wait an hour before touring Usher’s memorabilia collection. Although the show was scheduled to start at 20:00, the lights were finally dimmed at 21:03 for the show to begin and the audience was presented with an artificial intelligence computer-generated voice to narrate the concert. As Usher’s broken images flashed on the screen, the audio invited guests to journey back in time. Unfortunately, not much could be heard other than the super cool AI voiceover. Pre-recorded audio drowned out the entire show, eliminating an important aspect of the narrative.

The concert lasted two hours without a break. Usher initially appeared to perform his hits in chronological order. After his performance of “BIG”, old footage of the boy Usher telling people to refer to him as “Big Tyme” was played on stage. Before the AI ​​bot uploads a video memory of her dancing as a child. The singer later imitated her child live on stage, reenacting the dance as if to show that she had not changed at all.

He disappeared from the stage before returning to quickly listen to some of his older songs like “My Way,” “U Make Me Wanna” and an even faster medley of three songs from his 1994 debut album. Although he didn’t devote much time to his hit records of the 1990s, Usher did not neglect the past by any means. It was clear that everyone there had a good time, filled with nostalgia from Usher’s and their own musical memories.

But the concertgoers were the vocal stars of the night. It seemed like important moments to stretch the vocals that made him a household name were missed. He instructed the crowd to sing the opening song to “Superstar” on their own five times, briefly teasing it as if he was going to blow up the house with his voice, but never actually did.

He constantly tilted the microphone towards the crowd to sing throughout the show. He kept the crowd engaged, but he overdid it.

Towards the end, Usher got down and dirty as he walked from the floor seats to the “G-Spot.” “Can U Handle It?” As the first chords of his song began, he poured himself a drink before seductively feeding cherries to some of the ladies in the crowd; Most of them swallowed the cherries willingly, except for one woman who grabbed the cherries and shyly pushed them away. into your mouth. This was the type of brazen, over-the-top sexuality that Usher was known for.

Usher expertly combined songs from his latest album with old records, allowing new songs like “Margiela” and “I Am the Party” to get their chance to shine.

He brought a lot of drama to the stage. Floored projectors double as stacked platforms with hidden doors for easy passages. They even evolved into dramatic, soap opera-like scenes featuring interpretive dances during “Confessions Part 2.” II” and in true Atlanta fashion, transformed the “G-Spot” stage into a strip club where Usher Bucks, the signature currency that went viral with his Las Vegas residency, rained down on the audience.

Finally, she exuded confidence by stretching her vocals on songs such as “Burn”, “There Goes My Baby” and the emotional “Climax”, attracting the attention of the arena with her powerful voice and sensual presence.

Usher closed the show with his song “Seduction” before heading down to the stage.

Suddenly, an on-screen video showed Usher on a Zoom call with three versions of his younger self. They explained what they had done and where they had yet to go; Present-day Usher talked about how he made sure his father wasn’t in his life, but was there for his children. The visceral moment was real and transparent.

The singer emerged from the darkness as the video ended and performed “Good Good” wearing a dazzling leather jacket with “Future” written on the back and a shiny glove on her left hand, a tribute to Michael Jackson. Finally “Yes!” He sang his hit called.