“I would call myself ‘seasoned’ more than ‘elder statesman,’ ” he says, smiling. But while the enthusiastic response to his Vegas residency suggests he could easily coast on nostalgia, Usher isn’t ready to settle into legacy-artist status just yet. In that time, the growth of streaming has reshaped the music industry, hip-hop has become the dominant cultural force, and a new generation of R&B prodigies has revived the genre - and also made it more competitive than ever. Usher also hasn’t released a proper studio album since 2016’s Hard II Love, which yielded two top 10 singles on the Adult R&B Songs chart but became his first album in 12 years to not debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ending a four-album streak that began with 2004’s blockbuster Confessions. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that doesn’t know the words to ‘Yeah!’” “People want to party in Vegas, and there’s no greater soundtrack than Usher’s hits with their multigenerational and global appeal. “This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says Amanda Moore, senior vp Las Vegas residencies at Live Nation Entertainment. (It was originally scheduled to open last July, and completes a string of summer dates in August before returning in December.) He’ll be joined in town this year by returning residency headliners like Bruno Mars (whose Park MGM residency has grossed $29.1 million from 25 shows, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore) and Gwen Stefani ($22 million from 49 shows at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas), as well as Vegas first-timers like Perry and Carrie Underwood (whose shows will debut in December). And with nine Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s to his name - tied with the Bee Gees, Elton John, Katy Perry and Paul McCartney for the 10th most in the chart’s history - he is a fitting choice to help welcome back Vegas nightlife with one of the first major residencies since the pandemic began. Watching the lithe 42-year-old, even in rehearsal mode, is a reminder of the dazzling showmanship that set him apart from his pop and R&B peers when he first started scaling the charts in the 1990s. It makes perfect sense that Usher would end up on a Sin City stage. “But with this, I was given an opportunity to be a little theatrical, so I decided to make the show an evolution of all my work.” “I always put so much effort into the choreography of these songs and the emotional aspect,” he says. He powers through some of his early-2000s hits in quick succession: “Lovers and Friends,” “Bad Girl,” “My Boo,” “U Remind Me.” Later that night, in a black-and-white backstage suite that was originally built for Céline Dion - it includes a dressing room, a kitchen, a conference room and a separate garage housing his motorcycle - he says he has been relishing the creative freedom of a residency like this. Against a backdrop of a neon-lit city skyline that stretches the width of the massive stage, the superstar and his dancers - including several zipping about on skates - gyrate around a dozen floor-to-ceiling pillars that give the roughly 4,300-seat theater some added drama. He’s wrapping up the first day of rehearsals with the full cast and crew for his first Las Vegas residency, which will open in just 10 days, on July 16.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |