Live Review: Usher – 8th April 2025 – O2 Arena, London, UK
5 min read
When you think of the word ‘Icon’ in this modern musical landscape, there aren’t too many left from a time when truly impactful artists dominated their genres and had a lasting impression on their genre and the industry as a whole. When it comes to RnB, there hasn’t been, nor will there ever be anyone who has carried that status so justifiably within the genre as Usher.
With a massively successful 30+ years as a recording artist under his belt and following on from last year’s monumental Super Bowl Halftime performance, the singer announced a world tour soon after, including an impressive 10-night residency at London’s O2 Arena and we were lucky enough to catch Tuesday’s impressive spectacle.
Arriving to the venue nice and early, the scene was already one of high spirits as groups of fans danced together to 90’s RnB grooves that were being spilled out by DJ Mars who challenged the crowd’s knowledge of 90’s hits through singalongs of numbers form Whitney Houston and Ginuwine among many others. As the lights dimmed at 8.30pm, the stage lit up with a wall of lasers and the giant backdrop of screens transformed into a cube that revealed itself to be an AI program called Celeste, self-described as a “computer driven by AI technology to help Mr Raymond tell his story” and who would appear periodically throughout the night, intertwining the sections of the show through images and narration as we were introduced to different eras of Ushers remarkable career in music.
Much of the singer’s repertoire was included in the set with around 40 songs being included as part of this ‘Past, Present, Future’ residency. While most would go unrecognised by a casual Usher listener, there didn’t seem to many of them in the crowd at this show with everyone in the venue bouncing along and singing at full volume to most of the numbers being dished up throughout the 2 hours of stage time.
From the opening performance of new album track, Coming Home the night was a full throttle trip back through the years with the star delivering gutsy, sexually provocative and energetic performances of numbers like Big, Climax and massive career hit, Love In This Club which came compete with impressive chronography on roller skates; the singer showing off his skills as he sang and glided around the stage in his matching London embroidered MowaLola attire – clearly a major partner in this latest tour given the blatant branding on display across many of the singers – and his backing dancers – outfits.
To be able to fit the sheer volume of hits and fan favourites from the musicians 30+ year career into a show like this meant that the occasional song would be cut short and that a number of medleys would be present throughout the set. But each was either subtle or perfectly stitched together to keep the fans going insane at even the most abridged version of their favourite number.
You Make Me Wanna carried a heavy boyband feel to it as the singer performed with 4 of his male backing dancers, using chairs as props as they delivered the hit in baggy attire and backward worn caps, taking us on a nostalgic ride right back to the peak years of MTV. This was one of many massive career staples that appeared during the night – a shortened version of My Way and a memorable rendition of U Remind Me also sliding into the early section of the set.
Burn, Confessions (interlude) and Confessions Part II injected a soulful centre to the night with smoky flames burning across the enormous screens and the singer playing out a steamy dance routine with one of his female backing dancers for the latter two.
While the set was full of career notables, the number of shortened inclusions and medleys did unfortunately result in the set becoming quite disjoined at times – especially during the second half when it was hard to make out when one song started and another had begun. This was all usually happening at the same time as either someone pole dancing from the rear B-stage strip joint themed section or when the singer would hand the vocal duties over to his impressive backing band and backing singers as he paced the stage bare-chested and wearing sweat soaked pants and an oversized fur coat the dragged behind him in a display of 90’s hip hop grandeur.
It’s evident that a staggering production budget has been invested in this show. From the enormous, futuristic Celeste AI screens and indented stage where storylines would be played out as if we were watching a theatre performance, through to the light and laser show, no penny was spared on this career retrospective tour for the superstar.
With the stage designed to extend into the depths of the floor section of the crowd and allowing for a small VIP standing section to be positioned right in the heart of the event, the star encouraged his female punters to eat cherries from the superstar as he made his way from fan to fan with a cheeky grin and each participant taking things to the next risqué level and getting a rapturous applause from the crowd who watched to see which girl would perhaps take things a little too far. With the section heating up the set, a sweet moment followed as the superstar climbed the sides of the seated area to give attention to a disabled fan in a wheelchair; encouraging her to sing along with her idol as her carer seemed to have her own mini meltdown in disbelief at the sweet moment. The star then set off to sing with members of the audience as he made his way – with the help of some tough looking security – around the O2 Arena floor and to a raised area of female fans who went about gyrating and aggressively twerking in an awkward effort to get as much attention from the singer as they could.
All in all, the return of Usher to London shores has really hit a chord with followers of the superstar and of RnB fans who have sold out each of these 10 nights at the O2 – something last seen with the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson and only a handful of others in the time the venue has been operating.
USHER’s Past Present Future tour continues at London’s O2 Arena for selected dates in April and May, Paris on 15th and 16th April, selected dates in Amsterdam on 22nd April-28th April, and selected dates in Berlin from 1st-4th May.
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
