Taking over the New Orleans streets like Cash Money in the ‘99/2000s, the Essence Festival of Culture returned to the Big Easy from July 4-7, delivering a scorching weekend of music, culture, networking, and fun.
Daytime and Nighttime Festivities
Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Essence Fest seamlessly blended daytime workshops, vendors, and giveaways at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center with nightly concerts at the Superdome, culminating in one of the most significant nights in modern Black music history. According to the organizers, the festival featured features a variety of events, including the ESSENCE Food & Wine Festival™, BEAUTYCON™: @ESSENCEFEST Edition, AFROPUNK BLKTOPIA™, ESSENCE Film Festival® by ESSENCE STUDIOS™, ESSENCE Stage™, SOKO MRKT™ by ESSENCE®, ESSENCE Authors™, ESSENCE® GU® CREATORS HOUSE, and GBEF® HQ. The Suede: Men’s Experience™ focused on topics relevant to Black men, such as money, fatherhood, creativity, health, travel, fashion, and sports. Additionally, the festival introduced the ESSENCE Hollywood House™, a new space for networking, mentoring, skills-building, and enhancing the visibility of Black people in entertainment.
Usher’s Triumphant Headline Performance
Honoring the 20th anniversary of “Confessions,” inarguably his greatest album, Usher headlined the ‘Essence Evening Concert Series’ at the Superdome this past Saturday. Praised as the highest-certified album by the RIAA featuring a male soloist in the 2000s, the 14-times platinum, Grammy award-winning album cemented Usher’s place as one of the greatest musicians of all time. But before the audience could enjoy a live rendition of Usher’s greatest hits, they were blessed with a beautiful night of music to warm the room up for Mr. ‘Peace Up – A-Town Down.’
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TGT Reunion: A Night to Remember
The show opened with the highly anticipated reunion of supergroup TGT, featuring R&B OGs Tank, Ginuwine, and Tyrese. An hour-long set of crooning and crying through their individual bodies of music, while supporting their fellow band members, the lustful singers took a moment to apologize and appreciate their brotherhood on stage. Serenading back into the sexy, they performed a quick cover of ‘Feenin’ by Jodeci, with Tyrese channeling his inner K-Ci, before ending the show with their hit single “I Need” and the announcement of an upcoming album and tour.
A Special Guest: Michelle Obama
Moments later, the jumbotron screens above the stage lit up, showcasing the fabulous face of our ‘Forever First Lady,’ Michelle Obama, who went on to introduce the DJ for the evening, DJ D-NICE. A world-renowned pioneer of hip-hop with a career spanning almost forty years, DJ D-NICE was praised by Mama Obama as a ‘spiritual healer’ who helped the community navigate the disastrous times of the COVID quarantine through his widely streamed Club Quarantine mixes. Translating his favorite mixes from the screen to the stage, DJ D-NICE brought a couple of ‘friends’ to NOLA to party. An elaborate effort reminiscent of a millennial’s middle school playlist, the rotation of artists flowed quickly through the stage, never allowing the audience to return to their seats. Live performances from Tweet, Lloyd, Donnell Jones, Method Man, Big Boi & Sleepy Brown all led to the appearance of musical icon Sheila E., who stunned the room in a way only she can when given a pair of drumsticks. After a live peek into ‘The Glamorous Life,’ she jumped into full drummer mode, playing the snare and cowbell for Trinidadian Soca legend Machel Montano.
The Great Uncle of R&B: Charlie Wilson
After a tiny intermissioning word from sponsors, host Kenny Burns set the stage for ‘The Great Uncle of R&B,’ Charlie Wilson. A member of the 80s superstar group, The Gap Band, and a legend in his own right, Mr. Wilson took the stage, shimmering in his blue diamond-crushed velvet jacket. Making the night his own, he performed an eclectic mix of slow, sultry hits that he joked ‘birthed half of the audience’ and upbeat tunes that still ‘drops a bomb’ on the Black music community. Leaving everything but his life on stage, Uncle Charlie reminded the room, and viewers at home, that the old school could still move with the young bucks.
Rev. Al Sharpton’s Call to Action
Before reaching the moment everyone was waiting for, there was one more vital intermission. Rev. Al Sharpton blazed the stage in a momentous evocation of politics, encouraging everyone in the room to not only vote in the upcoming November presidential election but to ‘Paint the Polls Black!’ He continued by emphatically stating that as a community, this is one of the most, if not the most, critical presidential elections in modern American history, and the African American diaspora must vote as one to ensure justice remains just.
Usher’s Grand Finale
Then the time came, Eleven o’clock .. on the dot. A white platform stage turns on a turnstile to face the audience. An illuminated cross drops in the background, and all the Superdome screens transform into old Baptist-style stained glass windows. The confessions begin. The headlining Usher comes out to thank the audience for their undying support throughout his magnanimous career, a support that made ‘Confessions’ the second best-selling album of the early 2000s in the U.S. The next hour was one of musical appreciation for this great body of work as ‘the king of R&B’ warbled the room with live performances of the entire ‘Confessions’ tracklist.
A Heartfelt Surprise
As the time approached midnight and the end of the show, Usher took his final moments to not only thank his fans for ‘rocking with him’ once again but to participate in what he termed an ‘apologetic surprise.’ This past May, the Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas was canceled less than 12 hours before doors were scheduled to open due to inclement weather. Fast forward two months later to Essence Festival, Usher announces that an entire section of this current audience, picked at random, will be awarded tickets to his upcoming tour, and that two special guests will receive backstage passes and additional perks. The room cheers as he closes the show singing ‘Lovers & Friends’ as a dedication to his announced promise.
We congratulate Usher on the 20th anniversary of “Confessions” and the Essence Festival of Culture on its 30th anniversary!
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