Image Credit: Lyle A. Waisman/Getty ImagesLast night, R&B’s present and future pulled into New York City for the first of two nights at Madison Square Garden for Usher’s OMG tour. Upstart vocalist Miguel, riding high off the success of his “All I Want is You” single, warmed up the audience. But Trey Songz, with his recent surge of aggressive yet smooth sex-pop hits, made things sizzle.
After breezing through recent jams like “Say Aah” and even covering Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” Songz took some time to appreciate the signs out in the audience. “Can I have your t-shirt, tie, or towel?” one girl’s poster asked. Trey did her one better. He peeled off his sweaty tank top and lowered it into her eager arms. Her night was made. Then it was time for Usher to please everyone else.
While most stared at the stage watching his stick-wielding dancers flash lights, Usher opened the show hovering over the audience before eventually floating down front and center. In a black leather jacket with matching sunglasses and pants, Usher wasted no time getting to his smashes. He has plenty. “Yeah” was the first he leaped into. His dancing, crisp and precise as usual, mirrored the 2004 video. Next was “U Remind Me,” which was followed by a brief skit with his four lovely dancers. “You know I have a past,” he said to his irritated “girlfriend” as he pointed to three jealous women behind him. “But you’re my future.” Nice try, but the line didn’t work—his exes strutted off. As did his new girl. “That’s not how we rehearsed the s— earlier,” he joked. Such was the evening’s loosely tied storyline: a thriving playboy trying to walk the straight and narrow path of monogamy.
Alone again, Usher looked to the crowd to find his next girl to the tune of his steamy, role-reversing “Trading Places.” He pulled an absolutely giddy woman out of the crowd to join him onstage. Excited but poised, she had no problem grinding against the superstar on a chair in front of the sold out arena. Though as the song wound down she got a little too loose, attempting to swing her leg across Usher’s chest. Whap! Instead, she kicked the side of Usher’s face. Embarrassed and profusely apologetic, she quickly rose to see if her clumsy stunt left a mark on his dimpled cheek. Luckily there wasn’t one, and ever the gentleman, he was all smiles. “We play rough in the bed,” he quipped. “We kick each other in the face and all kind of good stuff.”
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