O.M.G

I admit it, I am a secret Usher fan. So when a good friend of mine sent me a text and asked if I wanted a ticket. I thought why not? I wouldn’t need to travel far as it was just round the corner in Media City.

It is has been a rich time of year for gigs in the UAE and the choice in March has been bewildering – Usher, Stevie Wonder, 30 Seconds to Mars, Eric Clapton,Sharon Corr, Brand New Heavies, The Streets and Flo Rida. Really, we have never been so spoilt. I guess you can’t go to everything and I ended up choosing only Usher this month. So what was it like?

I thought it was brilliant. Long time readers of my blog will recall me raving about Justin Timberlake when he played in Abu Dhabi and how much I loved that. I often reminisce with my fellow Timberlake concert goers that it was the best gig ever and how could it be topped. Well Mr Usher came mighty close last weekend.

He started off with a dance routine to the track “Monster” that was Michael Jackson inspired. His vocals while busting out those moves weren’t the best but no one seemed to care. The light and dance show was spectacular:

After the massive opening Usher slid into his more normal smoochy R&B style and in this relaxed atmosphere he was able to show off his vocal talent better. This allowed me to pop to the bar and grab some refreshments.

The fun part of this segment was when he brought a very cute girl from the audience up on to stage and sang her a song. From what I have heard from the web and my friends in the UK who have also seen the show I can report that Usher was “Culturally sensitive” during this part of the performance. The girl he had up there was in a state of disbelief with gawking eyes and constantly mouthing “OMG” it was very entertaining and I am sure she will never forget those five minutes:

Usher performed for a full two hours treating us to a little Jackson 5 montage and a host of his biggest back catalogue hits like – Burn, You Make me Wanna and Yeah – this had the whole crowd rocking and dancing:

He closed on the tour title song OMG and it was special – going all out on the dance routine and pyrotechnics I could not have wanted more for one my favourite club songs of last year. The huge mixed crowd of all ages and some remarkable hairstyles all left the concert a buzz with excitement about what they had just witnessed. It felt to me as if the mood in Dubai has turned. Is Dubai back? Maybe it is judging by the huge traffic at the end of each working day and this concert was the first sell out in the last couple of years. Times it seems they are a changing.

As I ambled home to the Marina to avoid the mass of people looking for a taxi I thought to myself. “How would I rate that gig – simple OMG!”