Extended Concert Review - Usher and Chris Brown
Y'all, it’s been a minute. I feel like I have to reintroduce myself. Concert junkie here. If you know me, you know Usher is the One, top of the favs list, and Chris is not far behind. Y'all, they had the nerve to collaborate on a tour together! You must know there was no way on earth I was missing this show. What’s crazy is, I found out way before they announced the tour (I am kind of in the know), and I didn’t know what to do with this information; I was stunned. I texted my girls, “We have to talk,” and told them to get their money TOGETHER! They probably didn’t believe me at the time; I wouldn’t have believed me either, lol.
So let’s dive right in, shall we? Yes, you need to get a ticket if you haven’t already because this is history: R&B greatness on one stage. You CANNOT miss this one. This is your sign. The show kicked off with DJ Fresh and DJ Mars; they kept it going on the 1s and 2s. Towards the end of their set, my only complaint was that they started playing the old-school sleepy R&B, and it kind of brought the vibe down, but it was good music nonetheless.
The Show started just before 9pm with an out-of-this-world montage, and rightfully so, because these two together- I don’t even have to say it. The montage portrayed the combined energy of each artist, and we just knew it was up when 60,000 screams filled the stadium.
Usher and Chris hit the stage. Opening up with “Party”. Chris had on a dope Lions jacket representing, and Usher had on a giant-size fur coat. Usher, baby, I know you were unnecessarily hot. The stadium goes dark, the lights come on, Chris is gone, and Usher is on Stage B and leads us off with ”Yeah,” already with an outfit change straight out the gate. He then does the crowd walk to the giant main stage (I love the crowd walk). Production team, baby, y'all did y'all a big one!
With hella dancers on stage, it had to be about 50. Usher gave us those hits! “Caught Up,” “You Don’t Have to Call,” “Love in This Club,” and “Bad Girl,” here come the strippers and my girl that came out on bass, chef's kiss!
Truly started us off right!
Chris’s turn, y'all. Chile, his montage was the making of his artistry DNA. The muses that make up Chris: Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, and Prince all the greats that brought us CB. The scene on the stage has us in a lab, and the energy and talent of these wonderful artists were being downloaded into his body. The lab was overloading, sprinkling and such, because duh, dude is super talented, and now knowing he studied these greats, I’d expect nothing less. Download complete, he popped out of stage and started us off with “Poppin,” "Wall to Wall,” “Dueces,” and ending with “Loyal,” mixed with an Afrobeat, and "She Got a Dunk" by Soulja Boy, that I didn’t know I needed. And of course, it came with a dance break; we love to see Chris dance. He had a man spinning fire and everything. They really came with the theatrics in this show; I’m not going to lie to you. He closed out his set with his new song off his Brown album, “For the Moment,” and then “Run It.”
Okay, so moving on to Intermission. Let’s talk about it. I could cry. I attended the 3rd show in Detroit, and I was hurt! Because Mario, which we all know is the TWO, lol, on my favs list, and he is a part of the tour, and my whole life was made. Except it wasn’t because he was not on the 3rd show; the first two, yup, I feel robbed. So everyone else got Mario, and I got the Dj’s spinning and 1 measly song from Eric Bellinger, “Out of My Mind.” Let’s be real: Eric could have filled that space and done a full set in place of Mario. They really dropped the ball on that one; I was pissed, not going to lie. Moving on.
We left intermission and traveled all the way back to the Gatsby era.
They hit us with a 1920s montage and had the stage set up crazy! We were transported to a 1920s jazz club called "Raymond’s." I absolutely loved this set. He gave us “Superstar,” “My Way,” “My boo,” and had the girl hanging from the ceiling spinning. My favorite was “Burn,” and do you know what? He went and got a bottle, took a sip of the liquor, and then poured the rest on stage. What’s going through my mind is, "Is this safe?" Next thing I know, the lighter is flicking, and then boom, it sets the stage on fire! And when I tell you, the stadium got hot as hell. I’m telling you, production team, ON POINT, because what? Why are we lighting things on fire!?
This show had no signs of ending anytime soon. So just be prepared, wear the right shoes, and stay hydrated.
Chris had us watching a montage in black and white, with the only color being his bandanna, which was red. He was walking the streets and ended up flying to the moon. "This is a Man’s World" was playing; a fight broke out, and the next thing I knew, he was fighting the Hulk lol.
It was a lot going on; you will be kept entertained, I promise you that.
The all-purple car slid out with the city backdrop and "Purple Rain" bumping on the speakers. We were outside of Chris's 1920s club, "Brown," listening to songs such as “Fallin,” “Heat,” ( at this point Mario and Eric are supposed to be back up singing for Chris, Nope! Pissed!), “Warm Embrace,” “Yo,” and so many more.
At this point in the show, you had no idea what would happen next. They made stage adjustments in the middle of his set while playing a stripper montage; then red couches and a stairway popped up, and he gave us “Under the Influence”; then the stage changed again, and Usher gave us “Seduction”. Now it was a freaky kind of verses between the two, going back and forth giving us those sexy hits we all know and love. Chris played "Sexual Healing"/ "Rock You Back to Sleep" remix with Usher, and continued with "1 and 1," "taking," “Nice and Slow" right into the “It Depends Remix”. Chris jokingly addressed the crowd and said this was the Freaky part of the show, and he didn’t want to fight anybody's husband after the show.
Baby, if there were any minors in the crowd, now was the time to cover their eyes, because we went straight to the bedroom. Yes, we sure did, and they had the nerve not to choose me as a prop! rude! Shout out to the young ladies who got to experience dry humping during “Can You Handle It” and “Take You Down.” Whew, it was getting hot in there. They had to take a break.
Skilla Baby and Cash Doll popped out, our Detroit natives, and then we got right back into the action. At this point in the show, it felt like they covered everything; each still had so many more songs to get through. It’s 11:00 pm, and Chris didn’t even fly yet, lol. Both did one more mini set, about 6-9 songs each, and closed the show out with “New Flame” together.
Y'all, hands down one of the best concerts, no lie, visually, vocally, musically, can’t forget to shout out the bands because you know how I feel about my live instruments, musicians, A+, story telling A+, production, A++, deliciousness, A+++, not having Mario at my show F. lol Overall they killed it, this was one for the books indeed. A time was had.
