Janet Jackson didn’t intend to impact the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture by attending a Victoria Monét concert in London last November. But she did.
Monét, a fast-rising contemporary R&B star, considers Jackson a major influence and inspiration. Following their photo op at that London show, they exchanged gushing PDAs — public displays of admiration — on social media.
The team at Essence Ventures, the festival’s New York-based parent company, took note.
“We look at moments that happen amongst artists organically, and how we then create a lineup representative of that,” Essence Festival vice-president Hakeem Holmes said.
Inspired by their London moment, Essence arranged for Monét to precede Jackson on the main stage at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday, the third and final night of the 30th anniversary Essence Fest.
Thousands of 2022 Essence Festival of Culture attendees light up their cell phones in the Caesars Superdome at the request of entertainer Doug E. Fresh, who was killing time on the main stage before Janet Jackson's performance, on Saturday, July 2, 2022.
Monét, Holmes said, “has done nothing but pay homage to both Janet and Michael Jackson in her work, up to and including her ‘Alright’ video,” which was released in June.
“When we’re looking at how to shape cross-generational cultural moments, that is what we’re looking for. To have a sort of passing of the torch at our event.”
The 2024 Essence Festival of Culture takes over the Caesars Superdome from Friday through Sunday with a musical lineup that looks back while a…
This weekend’s Essence Festival encompasses much more than the evening concert series at the Superdome. With a full slate of free, daytime seminars, showcases and product promotions at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, plus affiliated happenings at the Fillmore and other venues, Essence is a multiplatform juggernaut. It brings thousands of visitors to New Orleans during an otherwise slow season.
The three-night Dome concert series is its marquee event. And this year’s curated lineup represents a concerted effort to create moments that honor both the past and present.
'A balancing act'
Founded in 1995 as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Essence Magazine, the first Essence Fest presented Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, B.B. King, Boyz II Men, the O'Jays, Anita Baker and the Isley Brothers. Soul stalwart Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, always popular in New Orleans despite roots in Philadelphia and Oakland, closed that first Essence, and the next 14.
Over the decades, Essence has featured Beyoncé, Prince, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, Kendrick Lamar and many more. New Orleans has hosted every Essence except in 2006, when the Superdome was still undergoing repairs following Hurricane Katrina.
Caroline Wanga, Essence Ventures president and CEO, and New Orleans native Hakeem Holmes, vice president of the Essence Festival of Culture, pose before the festival's press conference at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune)
The 2022 Essence Fest, the in-person comeback following two COVID-canceled summers, was the first produced by a new team at Essence Ventures led by president and CEO Caroline Wanga.
Hired in 2020, she was charged with revitalizing the entire Essence brand. In late 2022, Essence appointed Holmes, a New Orleans native and St. Augustine High School graduate, as the company’s first vice president focused specifically on the festival.
Wanga, Holmes and an almost entirely new executive team set about orchestrating a generational shift.
In the Essence Fest’s first two decades, R&B was its bread-and-butter, with old-school artists augmented by more contemporary acts. Hip-hop was largely ignored.
By contrast, the 2023 festival was all about hip-hop’s 50th anniversary; “old-school” referred to rappers from the 1980s and ‘90s.
Fans who were in their 40s for the first Essence are now in their 70s. Essence needs to attract a new generation of fans while not alienating the longtime fan base.
“It’s a balancing act,” Holmes said.
For the 30th anniversary Essence Fest, Holmes wanted to reference the past within a contemporary roster.
“I’m such a nerd, I had our research team pull the first ad for the festival,” he said. “I used that as the impetus of how I wanted to define the lineup for this year. I wanted to pull out different moments on that ad.”
Charlie Wilson performs during the Essence Music Festival at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday, July 2, 2016. (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
The 2024 lineup was announced later than many fans of the festival would have liked. “I wouldn’t say ‘late,'” Holmes said. “There was a need to get this right.”
Some fans were also frustrated that the lineup was unveiled one headliner at a time, over multiple days.
That, Holmes said, was to give all artists their due and to treat each announcement as its own story. “If we had just rolled it out as one big announcement, like other events, the storytelling gets lost.
“We’re a media company at the end of the day. So it’s important to add that story alongside the event that we’re producing.”
Miss Jackson's return
Janet Jackson has sparked multiple Essence moments. In 2022, she headlined the highest-grossing night in the festival’s history. In 2018, Jackson memorialized her father onstage at Essence just a week after his death.
“That is who the Essence Festival is,” Holmes said. “We pour into our artists, and our artists pour into us.”
Getting Jackson back for the festival’s 30th anniversary wasn’t easy. She had booked an extensive summer tour, promoted by concert industry powerhouse Live Nation, that included a July 23 stop at the Smoothie King Center.
She ended up canceling the Smoothie King Center date and complicating her travel schedule to accommodate Essence. Following a Friday concert in Buffalo, New York, and a Saturday gig in Hershey, Pennsylvania, she’ll fly to New Orleans for her Sunday showcase at Essence. She then resumes her Together Again Tour in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday.
“All of our conversations were specifically with Janet’s team,” Holmes said in regards to how Jackson's Essence return came about.
“I don’t know the details of what happened or why it happened. I just know that we were in conversation with Janet’s team for an extended period of time. She was committed to doing this show because it is our 30th.”
Giving Frankie his flowers
Beyond booking Jackson, Holmes wanted to more closely align the festival with its host city. It was no accident that the first act announced for 2024 was the celebration of New Orleans rap powerhouse Cash Money Records’ 30th anniversary that will close out Friday’s concert at the Dome.
Tank & the Bangas, the Grammy-nominated New Orleans R&B/hip-hop/spoken word ensemble, will open the main stage on Sunday. The Bangas will be augmented by fellow New Orleans natives Dawn Richard, Teedra Moses and HaSizzle.
Frankie Beverly and Maze headline a full Smoothie King Center in New Orleans for a show that also featured the O’Jays and the Whispers on Saturday May 25, 2024.
On Saturday, Usher will cap off the night by celebrating the 20th anniversary of his landmark “Confessions” album. Preceding Usher onstage will be “Uncle” Charlie Wilson, a veteran of 10 previous Essence Fests who has created many moments in years past.
In Essence promotional materials, Janet Jackson’s name tops the list of Sunday’s artists. But she won’t be the night’s final performance.
New Orleans turned out in force, and in white, for Frankie Beverly’s farewell.
The last moments of the 2024 Essence Fest will come courtesy of the tribute to Frankie Beverly and other early Essence legends.
Beverly, 77, is retiring from live performances this summer. In May, he and Maze headlined a sold-out show at the Smoothie King Center.
Sunday’s Essence tribute, produced by veteran R&B songwriter and producer Bryan-Michael Cox, will include performances by Maze and other artists. Attendees are asked to wear all-white, to match Beverly’s traditional stage attire.
“The true sentiment was to take a moment to give Frankie his flowers not just for his contributions to this event, but as a cultural icon in this community,” Holmes said.
“When you look back at 1995, Frankie Beverly and Maze performed on the third day (of the first Essence Fest). Coming off the heels of their farewell tour, it was important for us to create that full-circle moment.”
During one of the 2022 Essence Fest’s more memorable unscripted moments, Patti LaBelle decided at the last minute to sing during her own tribute. Might Frankie Beverly do the same thing?
“If Frankie Beverly asks for the mic,” Holmes said, “I can’t tell him no.”
