Twenty years after contemporary R&B singer Usher's 2004 album "Confessions" propelled him to superstardom, he's coming to the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture to celebrate it.
Usher's performance at the Caesars Superdome during this summer's 30th anniversary Essence Fest will include the entire "Confessions" album, the festival announced. Thanks to the No. 1 singles "Yeah!," "Burn" and "Confessions Part II," "Confessions" became one of 2004's biggest-selling albums.
Essence Fest released the Usher news May 23 at 7 p.m. central time, a nod to a lyric in the Usher song "Nice & Slow": "It's seven o'clock on the dot/I'm in my drop top, cruisin' the streets, oh yeah."
With a supple singing voice, a boyish charm, a thousand-watt smile, movie star good looks and top-notch dance skills, Raymond Usher IV, who is now 45, has ranked among contemporary R&B's leading men for a quarter-century.
He is no stranger to Essence. He made his Essence debut in 1998 at age 19 and has returned to the festival, and New Orleans, multiple times. His performance at the 2011 Essence Fest concluded around 2 a.m. He also performed at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with the Roots.
In 2019, he sang on New Year's Eve as part of the free, outdoor Allstate Fan Fest in the Jax Brewery parking lot ahead of the Sugar Bowl. In an interview before that show, he expressed his fondness for beignets and antique shopping in the French Quarter.
The 30th anniversary Essence Fest opens in six weeks with a jam-packed schedule of daytime events at the Ernst N. Morial Convention Center and elsewhere, as well as the evening concerts in the Superdome.
The Dome concerts also include a tribute to Frankie Beverly and Maze on the festival's final night, Sunday, July 7, curated by producer/songwriter Bryan-Michael Cox; Birdman & Friends Present 30 Years of Cash Money Millionaires; Janet Jackson; Charlie Wilson; SWV; TGT featuring Tank, Ginuwine and Tyrese; Victoria Monet; and D-Nice Presents Club Quarantine Live featuring Big Boi, Lloyd, Method Man, Sheila E, Donnell Jones, Machel Montano and Tweet.
Other recent additions to the lineup include rapper Busta Rhymes and singer Jacquees.
Additionally, the Roots, the hip-hop house band for "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," are set to curate performances featuring Ari Lennox, Mickey Guyton and special guest T. Pain.
In a nod to the Essence Fest's host city and "forever home," Grammy-nominated New Orleans R&B/soul/spoken word band Tank & the Bangas is slated to perform with fellow New Orleanians Teedra Moses, HaSizzle and Dawn Richard.
Three-night ticket packages for the 2024 Essence Fest nighttime concerts at the Superdome July 5-7 are on sale now through Ticketmaster, starting at $192 plus fees.
Single-night tickets, as of this writing, are not yet available.
