The men owned the night on Saturday’s edition of the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture nightly concert series, with the lasting impact of traditional R&B reigning over the evening. From traditional R&B acts like Tank and Lloyd to legacy crooners like Charlie Wilson and new-legend Usher celebrating his genre-defining opus Confessions, this evening brought concert-goers to their feet and kept them swaying in the aisles.
Hosted by Kenny Burns, the evening kicked off with a performance from TGT. Reunited after nearly nine years, the artists performed several of their joint hits before breaking off into their individual classic R&B tracks. Ginuwine performed hits like “In Those Jeans” and “Same Ol’ G,” while Tyrese launched into classics such as “Sweet Lady” and “Signs of Love Makin’,” as his groupmates playfully accused him of “selling chocolate” to the ladies in the crowd.
Finally, Tank took the mic for his solo set, quickly removing his shirt for renditions of “When We” and “F*ckin With Me.”
Next, it was time to take it to the club…Club Quarantine, to be exact. DJ D-Nice turned the Caesar’s Superdome into an all-out dance party with his live DJ set, with a little help from some of his celebrity friends. The DJ party that was birthed during pandemic lockdowns and morphed into an in-person party that brought the ESSENCE Festival crowd out of their seats and into the aisles.
Lloyd and Tweet crooned their classics “You,” and “Call Me,” among others, while Sheila E. pulled out her famed drum set for a rendition of her 80’s classic “The Glamorous Life.” Big Boi and Sleepy Brown led the crowd in call and response of Outkast classics like “The Way You Move” and “Miss Jackson,” before Method Man popped out to surprise the audience with his 1993 classic “Method Man.” Finally, Machel Montano brought the soca vibes to close out the legendary set.
Next, Charlie Wilson took us through his five-decades-long (and counting) catalog, regaling the crowd with hits from his days with The Gap Band, like “Outstanding” to his more recent hits like 2022’s “Sweet Yamz.”
With dancers, set and costume changes, graphics, and who could forget his signature blinged-out personalized “CW” mic stand, at 71 Mr. Wilson easily gave acts half his age a run for their money and a lesson in longevity and continued relevance at the same time.
Finally, it was time for the man of the hour himself Usher Raymond to take the stage, in celebration of two decades of the album that helped define R&B for the early aughts on into the twenty-teens, Confessions. In a one-night-only commemorative performance, the artist sang the album front to back, largely in its original order, complete with unique choreography and specially crafted set pieces for the ESSENCE Festival audience. But of course, more on that HERE.
Stay tuned for more from the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture as the weekend continues…