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The retrospective, career-spanning nature of Usher’s “Past Present Future” tour is obvious enough from the title. So it was no surprise that the legendary showman brought his trademark moves and formidable battery of hits.
But it’s safe to say the audience didn’t expect him to bring a time machine.
Usher’s version of a Delorean wasn’t a vehicle, but rather an elaborate cube comprised of several huge LED screens that could show one huge image or video, or several smaller ones, on different screens — which were used to evoke the eras of his career. For example, the screen lit up the numbers “1993” and we saw a startlingly lifelike version of a 14-year-old Usher dancing to his first single, “Call Me A Mack,” while the real, 45-year-old smiled onstage, watching his younger self.
Throughout the night, the cube also acted as a gigantic set-piece with a penthouse floor on top and a section at the bottom where the screens rose like a garage door, revealing quarters that alternately evoked a room in a house, a strip club or a dance performance area.
Despite a delayed start due to a neck injury he’d gotten during rehearsals — “Past Present Future” was scheduled to launch in Atlanta last week — Usher brough his A-game to the tour’s actual opening at the TK in Washington, DC on Tuesday night. The tour is a sort of victory lap for him, following his successful two-year residency in Las Vegas and, of course, his dazzling Super Bowl Halftime performance earlier this year. It’s also a celebration of a stellar career: While it took Usher a few years to find his footing after his initial success, he and producer Jermaine Dupri found a chemistry in the studio during the production of of 1997’s “My Way” lofted him to enduring superstardom that peaked with his blockbuster 2004 album “Confessions” and goes all the way up to the present with his newest outing, “Coming Home.”
In fact, the title track of the new album opened the show — but first, there were a couple of teases. As the arena was filled with the sounds of snapping fingers at the beginning of the song, the audience briefly saw a male figure at the top of the cube that resembled Usher — then another figure that looked like him appeared at the back of the stage, where his DJ stood. Finally, as the screams from the audience grew louder, the real Usher revealed himself, rising up through the floor on the stage that held the cube. Even as he sang, it wasn’t totally clear that it was really him, as his face was concealed by an oversized fedora, but when he took off the had and his dancers joined in, the real pandemonium started.
The Usher that took the stage did not seem like a man with a neck injury — more like someone in top physical condition. Clad in a black coat, he walked to his right toward a runway that led to a circular stage that rotated a various moments throughout the night, connecting with a runway on his left to form a U-shape with audience members in a moshpit-like section in the center.
“I just wanna get your attention,” he belted, singing the first few lines of “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home).” Moments later, the cube began taking the crowd down memory lane, starting with the “Call Me a Mack” segment and moving into “Can U Get With It.”
The audience then heard the younger version of Usher say “I wanna be the greatest there ever was. I can see it now, DC, in front of 20,000.”
The screen then lit up with the words, “Loading album #2” as the music transitioned into his 1997 hit “U Make Me Wanna.” An elaborate dance routine followed, harking back to the video where Usher and his fellas used chairs as props. Album #3 (“8701”) followed, and just as the crowd was erupting after “U Remind Me” and “U Don’t Have to Call,” a quick transition into album #4 (“Confessions”) followed: “Wait up, we not there yet!,” Usher shouted, but the cube didn’t respond and the music went straight into that album’s “Caught Up.”
“Oh, this is what y’all want? Y’all better sing my shit!” he said as the crowd sang the song for him.
The hook for his smash “Yeah!” began, but just as he started singing the first verse, the cube displayed the word “Malfunction” and the song lurched to an end. Usher left the stage and what sounded like a 1960s version of the song began playing.
Surprisingly, the show continued in non-chronological order, as we moved all the way up to 2019 for “Just Don’t Waste My Time.” Usher reemerged ohn roller skates, moving backward with a group of dancers while singing. The evening also included a go-go dance party perfect for DC (maybe custom-made for the city?), with his DJ playing EU’s ‘80s classic “Da Butt” while Usher walked through the crowd and let audience members sing into his mic.
The night wound down as the cube looked into the future, playing a short mock interview from the year 2044, where he reflected about how his life turned out after he left the game. It then flipped through the past versions of himself, from a child to a young man, until the Usher from 2004 asked if he could play “Yeah!,” since the audience didn’t get to hear the entire song.
The evening closed with Usher granting that request from his younger self.
English (US) ·