By Trevor Chee-A-Tow
Usher’s Truth Tour rocked the Air Canada Centre October 10th packing every seat in the house. After Kanye West’s energetic opening performance, the crowd’s anticipation to see Usher only grew. A single spotlight followed Usher as he floated down on a gliding platform. The roaring crowd was silenced only for a quick moment until Usher teased his fans as he revealed himself piece by piece first removing his shades then his jacket.
This multi-talented superstar moved the audience from slow R&B hits like “You Make Me Wanna” to the popular clubbing anthem “Yeah!”. The fast paced dance performances had Usher’s backup dancers throw down some high-flying breakdance moves. I recognized the main breakdancer, Flow Master of the NYC Rocksteady Crew. For that matter, the night before the concert I met with Flow Master at a breakdancing competition held at the 360 Club on College St. I was surprised to see such a founding pioneer from the breakdancing world jamming here, in a Toronto break competition. I later found out that Flow Master is currently teaching Usher dance moves for an upcoming movie featuring Usher.
Usher’s newest album “Confessions” is his 4th album following the ground-breaking album “8701” released in 2001 which launched Usher’s career into superstardom. Usher gets really personal in “Confessions”. He’s fearless to reveal the past mistakes he’s made as he repents of things he’s done mostly involving women and infidelities. His honesty makes him even more attractive to the female audience, and the guys can also relate to the messages in his lyrics.
Usher has worked with the biggest producers like P.Diddy, Jermaine Dupri and Donnel Jones to produce hit after hit since he was as young as 18. Now, at 26, he has more creative input into his songwriting and instrumentation. We will see more of Usher in many collaborations in the near future. He is definitely an artist who will keep on top of the Billboard Hits.
