R&B leading men Usher, Charlie Wilson topped second night of 2024 Essence Festival

Two generations of contemporary R&B leading men topped Saturday at the Caesars Superdome on the second night of the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture.

Just as he did at the 2011 Essence Fest, “Uncle” Charlie Wilson, who came to prominence in the ‘80s with the Gap Band, preceded Usher, one of the genre’s biggest stars of the 2000s.

In 2011, Wilson’s sweat equity resonated with the Essence audience more deeply than Usher’s more high-tech, but less personal, presentation.

Thirteen years later, Usher, now 45, made an effort to be more personable, and held the crowd’s attention more successfully (that his show ended on time at midnight this year, and not 2 a.m. as it did in 2011, likely helped). And Wilson, at 71, worked as hard as ever.

D-Nice's hit parade

On Saturday, the Superdome was nearly full to capacity. Unlike Friday, there were no downpours to thwart early arrivals. So a sizeable audience was in place by the time the smartly attired contemporary R&B trio TGT – featuring Tank, Genuwine and Tyrese – stepped out. Inevitably, the chiseled Tank concluded the set shirtless.

DJ D-Nice, augmented by live musicians, presided over an all-killer, no filler revue similar to what the Roots did on Friday. He and the musicians backed a quick succession of artists performing only their best-known songs. They included the singer Lloyd Polite Jr., professionally known as Lloyd, who was born in New Orleans and is an alumnus of the boy band N-Toon. He lofted “Lay It Down” in his airy falsetto.

Big Boi, from the Atlanta duo Outkast, touched on “Ms. Jackson.” Sheila E, singing and/or working out on a percussion rig, wrapped her own “The Glamorous Life” around sections of her mentor Prince’s “U Got the Look” and “Baby I’m a Star.” Trinidadian soca star Machel Montano, a veteran of the 2022 Essence Fest, charged into a typically high-energy, aerobic set, running in place and hopping as the music churned around him.

Wilson bridges the Gap

After the excesses of his Gap Band years left him destitute and addicted. Charlie Wilson got clean and sober and built a second career as one of the most successful and respected practitioners of R&B for grown-ups.

Along the way, he became one of the Essence Festival’s most beloved acts and most dependable crowd-pleasers. He long ago mastered the art of winning over the crowd despite the dicey acoustics and distant seats of the Superdome. He appeared at Essence every year from 2009 through 2016, and twice before that.

His return on Saturday played out much like those previous Essence runs. The members of his crackerjack band sold the songs not just with their musicianship, but by looking like they were enjoying themselves as much as anyone.

Early in the set, Wilson and company served up the Gap Band’s “Early in the Morning” and “Burn Rubber,” plus “Computer Love,” Wilson’s collaboration with Roger Troutman of the funk band Zapp.

He downshifted for a long middle section of mid-tempo songs and ballads from his solo career, including “Charlie, Last Name Wilson” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.” He updated the setlist with singles he’s released since his last Essence appearance, including a truncated “I’m Blessed” and last year’s “Superman.”

He reached back 15 years to dig into the chorus of the ultra-smooth “There Goes My Baby.” The easy groove of the Gap Band’s “Yearning for Your Love” would not have been out of place on a Maze album.

Wilson did what was necessary to connect, whether it was blowing a bit of harmonica or stepping out in a pair of sparkling silver shoes. Seated at a piano, he testified in the quasi-altar call that has long been a staple of his show. It got much of the audience up and cheering, primed for the band to swing into the funk of the Gap Band’s “Outstanding.”

He implied he’d come back out for an encore if so beckoned; a chant of “Go Char-lie! Go Char-lie!” broke out. But his allotted time was up and, after the previous night ran so late, Essence was likely looking to stay on schedule. So Wilson had to leave them wanting more.

Usher confesses

Raymond Usher IV made his Essence debut in 1998 at age 19 and has returned to the festival, and New Orleans, multiple times. He’s been coming long enough to celebrate a career milestone this year: the 20th anniversary of his 2004 album “Confessions,” the multi-million-seller that catapulted him to super-stardom.

He opened his Saturday show backed by singers/dancers in choir robes on a set that evoked a church, complete with a lighted crucifix and video screens that looked like stained glass windows. “It’s been 20 years since my last ‘Confessions,’” he intoned.

He and his band proceeded to perform the entire “Confessions” album, with a couple of deviations from the original sequence of songs – “Bad Girl,” for instance, turned up in the show sooner than it does on the album – and additions.

All the assets that made him a star – the supple singing voice, boyish charm, thousand-watt smile, movie star good looks and top-notch dance skills – are still present (even if he didn’t dazzle quite as much as a dancer this time around).

Acknowledging the passage of time and shifts in the music industry, he asked, “Is there anybody in here who bought an actual physical copy of ‘Confessions’?”

He then detoured into a song that probably no one has bought an actual physical copy of: “Risk It All,” his 2024 single with H.E.R., during which an elegant passion play between two dancers played out on the video screens.

Late in the set, a slow and sexy “Burn” got a big reaction. So did the subsequent “Confessions Part 1.”

Before the final song, Kenny Burns, the main stage emcee, came on to announce a giveaway: Some attendees seated in Superdome sections 117 and 309 would receive free tickets to Usher’s upcoming Past, Present, Future world tour.

With that, the star returned for a final “Lovers and Friends,” wrapping up the night at exactly midnight.