Music
Review: Usher proves he’s still top of his game at The O2, London
As we queued for our tickets, I overheard the people in front discussing how back in the day they produced Usher’s video for Yeah! in Los Angeles – err hello! Well, that was one way to get us overly excited before the show.
After a delicious raspberry cocktail, and some seriously good-mood music courtesy of Nico & Vinz (if you need a memory jogger, they’re responsible for Am I Wrong?) it was time for the man of the moment to hit the stage.
Usher opened with Euphoria; to which the screams of the crowd were absolutely mad. You only needed one song to confirm that his dance moves and vocals are every bit as good live as they are in his videos. By the time Oh My God kicked in – followed by my personal favourite, Love In This Club – I was absolutely wowed by the strength and talent of his dancers. Usher himself was dripping with sweat, every turn resulted in a spray of sweat across the stage.
In such giant venues as The O2 you wonder if the energy of the performers will get lost, but him and Usher and his backing dancers were so powerful, their energy radiated right through the crowd.
Speaking to the crowd, he explained how his music was like a diary; displaying his good times and bad times, and how music helps him get through the latter.
There were plenty of songs for his long-serving fans, from U-Turn, where he had the crowd doing the dance, to I Need A Girl. Not that he needed to do much to get the crowd going wild, as his simple poses caused ripples of stomping feet.
Did you know Usher could play drums? Me neither. From nowhere, the singer rose up to the stage playing a golden set, smashing the drums like with the same kind of passion he gave the rest of his set. This led onto Good Kisser, where all the dancers were introduced – by this point I’m still totally in awe of them all – and out of no where, ET (yes, as in ET phone home) appeared on the stage to join in fun. Sure.
To finish the evening, it was time for the venue to transform into an underground rave. Love In This Club and Yeah! were as great as I had hoped they would be, before More and Without You formed the perfect encore.
It’s safe to say Usher just cemented his status as one of the most incredible performers in the game right now, delivering even more than I expected. If you get the chance to see him, you.must.go!
