Don’t be surprised if there’s a run on cherries at your neighborhood grocery store once Usher’s multi-night stand at the United Center concludes Thursday. At the first of three shows on Monday, the R&B singer transformed the fruit into a sensual accessory. Walking amid the crowd on the lower level, he dispensed the red treats from a clear dish. Usher teasingly dangled the stems just above the gaping mouths of adoring female fans who happily went along with the conceit — and the associated video close-ups of their titled-back heads and wagging tongues.
Oddly enough, the steamy stunt functioned as more of a prolonged breather than a highlight of a magnetic if slightly flawed career-spanning overview that could have easily gotten by on the merits of Usher’s sheer performance skills. Backed by a 10-piece band with three backup vocalists, and complemented by a dance team that swelled to 15 dancers, Usher proved ever the multihyphenate: suave showman, passionate vocalist, extraordinary dancer, competent rollerskater and debonair model included.
Flashing a wide grin and mugging for strategically placed cameras, the singer looked as sharp as he sounded, even when his face dripped with sweat. A half-dozen costume changes witnessed Usher sport everything from an elegant white suit to floor-length coats, leather jackets, wraparound sunglasses and a bowler hat. He shed clothing on multiple occasions, revealing a sculpted physique. His peeling of bills from stacks of funny money, or tossing that faux cash into the audience, further reinforced his persona as a high-rolling playboy.
Relatedly, the 46-year-old operated with the authoritative confidence, innate effortlessness and unruffled smoothness of an artist who knows his mix of talent, staying power and legacy constitute a rarity in the world of modern R&B. For all the cocksure posturing and self-aware voguing, Usher avoided coming across as arrogant, insincere or unapproachable. He demonstrated a savvy awareness of pace; he strolled rather than swaggered. To his credit, Usher sang without the obvious assistance of pre-recorded vocals. And yes, he can still hit sky-high falsetto notes at the top of his range. While on his knees.
Marking his first local appearance since a lone engagement at the United Center in Nov. 2014, the trio of shows arrived eight months after Usher’s acclaimed Super Bowl halftime performance. Predictably, that global broadcast acted as the promotional gateway for his return. It coincided with the release of his recent “Coming Home” LP and the announcement of his current international trek.
Despite taking a break from the road for nearly a decade, Usher remained a newsworthy presence due to his pursuit of opportunities apart from music. He claims dozens of television and film acting credits. He amplified his reach by investing in everything from professional basketball to a streaming company and record label. And he committed to various philanthropic and activist causes. His speaking engagement at a Kamala Harris campaign rally in Georgia made headlines last week.
Given the Tennessee native’s involvement in various disciplines and the eight-year gap between studio records, it’s easy to forget his chart dominance from the late ‘90s through the early 2010s. The stretch saw him earn him a trophy’s room worth of Grammy, Billboard Music and Soul Train Music awards, as well as release one of the last blockbuster LPs (the 14-times-platinum “Confessions”) of the traditional album-sales era, and rank as the second-most commercially successful recording artist of the 2000s.
As expected, that span drew the lion’s share of attention on Monday. Dubbed the “Past Present Future” tour Usher focused — at least in song — on the first two phases of that concept amid a presentation that featured inventive production, clever lighting and a U-shaped runway with a rotating platter. A square video wall whose panels raised, lowered, opened and closed doubled as a giant high-def projection screen and a front for additional recessed staging on two levels. Referred to as the G Spot, a smaller second stage complete with a DJ booth and bar stood at the opposite end.
Several short preludes and interludes attempted to provide loose storylines tied to the tour’s theme. Narrated by a glitch-prone computer guide, they felt somewhat forced and disjointed, though the occasional display of a date connected to a specific song supplied beneficial context. A meta-heavy segment during which Usher watched an apparent AI version of his younger self onscreen anchor a medley of his earliest hits (“Call Me a Mack” / ”Think of You” / ”Can U Get Wit It”) proved far less welcoming.
As a rule, Usher thrilled when he stayed in motion and committed to the microphone. No wonder the first half of the concert unfolded at a brisk clip. And who, particularly given skating’s links to Chicago history and Black culture, wouldn’t want a little more time to watch Usher and his mates coast about as they turned the stage floor into a rubber-burning rollerskating rink?
But they had too much else to offer to keep the wheels strapped to their feet. A majority of the entertainment blended energetic choreography, vocals and soul that barely gave the audience time to process what they experienced. Concentrate on Usher’s wealth of smartly executed dance moves — crossovers, glides, bends, leans, thrusts, handstands, splits, swivels, flexes, shoulder rolls, frame-by-frame pop-and-locks and all manner of finger-points, steps and drops — and risk missing the background skits or brassy horns punctuating a beat. Prepare to hear the second verse of a track only to realize Usher cut it short and already advanced to another tune.
Many of the singer’s planned routines with individual members of his dance squad mirrored the lyrical premises of his songs. Vignettes for a two-part “Confessions,” fraught “U Remind Me,” fragile “Climax” and yearning “U Got It Bad” accented the drama and sensitivity. Tender, desperate, torn and communicated via a hushed voice with a built-in shock-absorption system: The slow jams found an emotionally compromised Usher communicating with language, phrasing and wordless expressions steeped in vulnerability.
On the other side of the spectrum, Usher “brought the A to the Chi” on a series of mid-tempo bangers (“Lil Freak,” “Good Kisser,” a cover of Chris Brown’s “Party”) rich with raunch and rawness. Unfortunately, the singer’s obsessions with Atlanta culture and carnal desire led to a momentum-killing sequence that briefly sent the concert off the rails. With Usher proudly surveying the scene and a DJ supplying the soundtrack, several scantily clad dancers recreated a strip-club environment complete with poles and showers of money raining down from above.
That exhibitionist detour at the G Spot, as well as a hetero-male-fantasy scenario during “Seduction,” triggered questions related to appropriateness, objectification and lasting influence in lieu of the criminal charges against Sean Combs. Usher lived for a year with Combs in New York in the 1990s when he was a teenager, and earlier comments Usher made regarding louche sexual situations he encountered at that time have recently surfaced.
In addition to turns as Usher the ladies’ man, Usher the apologist, Usher the heartbroken, Usher the forgiver, Usher the bedroom whisperer and Usher the fiercely devoted — roles that demanded and received an array of controlled deliveries and sleek, melted-caramel tones — the singer balanced the two-hour set with pop-inspired anthems tailored for forgetting troubles and, if only temporarily, one’s relationship status.
For two of Usher’s dancers, the upbeat fare served as an impetus to take their bond to the next level. By all appearances, the pair got engaged before the band launched into “Love in This Club.” A fitting capstone to a hormonally charged affair at which a self-aware Usher told a married couple they’d no longer be childless after the end of the night? Oh yeah.
Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.
Setlist from the United Center Oct. 28:
“Coming Home”
“Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”
“Big”
“Call Me a Mack” / “Think of You” / “Can U Get Wit It” (medley)
“My Way”
“You Make Me Wanna”
“U Remind Me”
“U Don’t Have to Call”
“Caught Up”
“Don’t Waste My Time”
“Love in This Club”
“Tell Me”
“New Flame” (Chris Brown cover)
“Margiela”
“Party” (Chris Brown cover)
“Lil Freak”
“Lovers and Friends” (Lil Jon cover)
“Nice & Slow”
“U Got It Bad”
“Climax”
“Burn”
“Confessions Part I” into “Confessions Part II”
“OMG”
“DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love”
“Superstar”
“I Am the Party”
“There Goes My Baby”
“My Boo”
“Bad Girl”
“Good Kisser”
“Seduction”
“Good Good”
“Yeah!”
“Without You” (David Guetta cover)
