The two biggest male R&B stars of the 21st century touched down in Detroit on Thursday, July 2, as Usher and Chris Brown played to a packed Ford Field to open a three-night stand at the downtown stadium.
They’ve embarked on what the pair has cleverly dubbed the R&B Tour — or Raymond & Brown, in a nod to their respective surnames — which will put them in North American stadiums through December. Opening night at Ford Field showed us that between the collective star heat, the high-end production and the crisp live band that powered things in the back, it’s one of the biggest R&B spectaculars in recent memory.
Thursday was the third date of the nascent tour. Here are some bullet points:
It’s a marathon affair
At nearly three hours and 60 songs, fans got an ample serving of music from two of this era’s leading showmen. The pace was brisk, and aside from a quick “Detroit!” shout from Brown early in the evening, they wasted little time on banter with the crowd.
The R&B Tour set is loosely structured into a series of acts, with Usher and Brown swapping turns onstage a la Kendrick Lamar and SZA in 2025 and Charli XCX and Troye Sivan the year prior. The two occasionally teamed up, including collaborations on “Party” and “New Flame,” which bookended the show.
While both artists offered a variety of musical moods as they dug into hits from across their catalogs, the overall vibe found Usher playing the role of suave crooner to Brown’s assertive bad boy. Performing “Can U Handle It” and “Take You Down,” each indulged in an R-rated segment mid-show that found them acting out bedroom moves with females escorted up from the audience. (Despite the implication they were concertgoers chosen on the fly, the women were surely hired hands, given the smooth choreography of the scenes.)
Eric Bellinger, a singer-songwriter who has penned material for both artists, got some solo time onstage during one show break, while R&B vet Mario chimed in with a medley of his own hits.
They’ve stepped it up for the occasion
This is the most sophisticated live outing ever staged by either artist. The show played out on a massive diamond-shaped stage that sprawled across Ford Field’s floor, where pole dancers, fire twirlers and the two artists’ own athletic dance teams did their thing.
Cinematic video sequences served as interludes as crews changed out the elaborate sets, including Usher’s swanky supper club and Brown’s circuit-sparking data center-turned-dance floor. The latter closed out his last solo set with the high-flying aerial stunts that have become a staple of his live shows, whisking him high above the stadium crowd.
While Brown wound up with the bulk of the time onstage, including a nearly hour-long stretch of power balladry that allowed him to flex his vocal prowess (“Residuals,” “Fallen,” “Don’t Judge Me”), Usher flexed his chops with his own series of smoothly choreographed stage pieces.
These two are big-time Detroit draws
As we noted earlier this week, Usher and Brown are the first artists to pull off a three-night run in Ford Field’s 24-year history, a testament to Detroit’s famously avid R&B audience.
Those supporters were in their element Thursday, with chants of “Team Breezy!” from Brown fans heading into the venue and screams with every bare-chested reveal or suggestive dance move from each artist onstage.
Fans were also in strong voice for singalongs as the hits piled up — Usher’s “My Boo,” “Burn,” “Climax” and “Confessions,” Brown’s “Loyal,” “Ain’t No Way,” “Kiss Kiss,” “Forever.”
We’ve seen plenty of both artists here in recent times: For Brown, Thursday was his fourth Detroit concert in 15 months, including a pair of solo shows last summer at Ford Field. Usher, who spent a decade absent from the market, has been back in full force: This trio of Ford Field shows follows a pair of sold-out Little Caesars Arena dates in fall 2024, and he’s stamped his presence in town with his work for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit.
Usher and Brown will be back at Ford Field for shows Friday and Sunday. Note: They took the stage Thursday just before 8:45 p.m. If opening night was any indication, fans should brace themselves for long outdoor entry lines in the ongoing heat wave. The situation was exacerbated in part Thursday by bottlenecks at security detectors.
Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Usher, Chris Brown at Ford Field: 3 opening night takeaways
Reporting by Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
