As the sound of electronic hand claps echoed throughout Target Center on Saturday night, R&B megastar Usher emerged onstage at the top of a giant LED cube. Oops. That wasn’t Usher. Then he showed up on a side-stage video screen but not in person. C’mon! Finally, Usher arrived for real from beneath the stage, a wide-brimmed fedora obscuring his face, to deliver this year’s “Coming Home.”
What a tease, that Usher.
He baited throughout his relentless two-hour Past Present Future tour concert that arrived this past weekend in Minneapolis for a two-night stand. It was a frenetically paced, often exciting show that showcased Usher’s all-around talents as a supple singer, dynamic dancer, sparkling showman and, let’s be honest, irresistible tease.
Usher’s polished, highly entertaining spectacle bookended a soulful week in Minneapolis that commenced with Stevie Wonder’s loose, musically magnificent and uplifting get-out-the-vote performance. The concerts provided a historical perspective on R&B: In the 1960s and ‘70s, Wonder serenaded about love and social issues while Usher’s updated brand from the ‘90s and this century is a lot sexier than Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”
In fact, to the surprise of none of the 14,000 fans at the jam-packed Target Center, Usher got a little freaky in a strip club setting during “Can U Handle It?” The singer tantalized female fans sitting in a choice section of the arena, dangling maraschino cherries over their lips, and each woman snatched the juicy fruit. What a tease. And a gentleman of sorts, I guess. In some cases, Usher gave the cherries so husbands or boyfriends could have the honor as the cherry dangler.
Like LeBron James, who is about to turn 40 next month, Usher, who recently turned 46, is amazingly still at the top of his game after a long run. Strikingly buff — he pulled off his tank top in midshow — Usher danced with more ambition, articulation and athleticism than any other living big-time singer who essays movement onstage. Locking and popping, stutter stepping and moonwalking on roller skates, he did it all.
Vocally, Usher traveled from an intimate croon (“Confessions”) to an emphatic belt (“Yeah!”) with a sassy entreaty in between (“Bad Girl”) and, of course, a sweet falsetto (“Superstar”). To be fair, he may have been singing to tracks when he was exerting some strenuous dance moves.
And, as a showman, Usher created various transfixing tableaux onstage from a roller rink to a living room with romantic drama, complemented by a series of runway-worthy outfits, including a red, floor-length faux-fur coat and a blue, rhinestone-encrusted leather jacket.
