Usher's Crazy Houston Night

Usher makes the most dramatic concert entrance ever, flashes nipple and teases Houston in record Rodeo night

Mark your journals in red, Houston. March 7, 2014, that was the night we’ll always remember, the night we met our perfect rodeo luvah, Usher.

We first felt his presence, not by his whisper of our name echoing to us across Reliant Stadium, but by the growl of engines. Suddenly, 12 single headlights illuminated the darkness. Where only minutes before steers were wrestled and mutton busted, at that moment, in what is likely the most epic rodeo entrance ever, motorcycles came zooming unto the dirt floor.

Circling the stage again and again, one popped a little wheelie. Could that be Usher? We know it was.

Of course we scream. We had to scream. Our perfect rodeo boyfriend had arrived.

The lights dimmed and then exploded as he stopped with an intentional skid in front of us, ripped off his helmet and bound onto the stage. He was wrapped all in black, jeans and a leather motorcycle jacket, because he knows what we like. He nodded to us, surveying his domain. And then he said our name: “Houston.”

Of course we scream. We had to scream. Our perfect rodeo boyfriend had arrived.

He stayed with us for a little over an hour. We leaped to our feet early on for “Love in the Club,” and never sat down again. Instead, we stayed up dancing like it was the last night of our life.

He burned us up on “Burn.” He called us “Bad Girl,” and we let him know just how bad. During “U Remind Me” he crooned us into taking a little soul trip. Sometimes he sang straight to us. Other times, he fell to his knees like the song was breaking him in two. He joined his backup dancers in so many routines his jeans seemed to grow blacker with sweat. Others times he stood apart and like a maestro conducted his dancers in a kind of half-clothed simulated orgy.

He teased us mercilessly when he asked if we minded if he got a little comfortable and slinked off his jacket, even giving us a few nipple glimpses, now and then. Still he wouldn’t show us the goods.

He swore to us again and again that this was his first rodeo, but his moves and the way he worked us into a frenzy made us wonder if he could be lying. Surely there had been others before. But no, when he looked into our eyes — or the camera, whichever — during our Usher/crowd duet of “Climax,” we knew in our hearts he’d always be true.

He joined his backup dancers in so many routines his jeans seemed to grow blacker with sweat.

Yet, for one brief moment late into his serenades, he seemed almost adorably self-conscious when we gave him cause to doubt our love. Yes, in the intro to “Yeah” when he mentioned his Voice partner in bromance, Blake Shelton, we might have let out a little squeal for Blake, but we were only trying to make Usher jealous. We’re not really that fickle. So when he tested us with a “Blake” vs. “Team Usher" poll, oh boy did we yell his name.

He prepared for our bitter parting with our favorite “Without U,” and ended with the words “I will never be the same, without you, Houston.” He told us he loved us, dropped mike (literally) and jumped back on his waiting motorcycle. As he circled once around, perhaps to glimpse our 75,067 faces one last time (a new Black Heritage Day Rodeo record crowd), fireworks exploded from the earth.

Then, as the smoke cleared, he was gone, back into the night, leaving us with only a faint hope in our hearts that one night he would return to us.

Come back, Usher, come back. We promise we’ll love you forever. Or at least until Adam Levine gets here on Thursday. Yeah, we might be a bit fickle.

Set List:

OMG

Love in the Club

U Make Me Wanna

Lemme See/Lil Freak

U Remind Me

Twisted

Caught Up

Climax

Burn

U Don't Have to Call

Bad Girl

Yeah

DJ Got Us Fallin in Love

Without U

Usher, the perfect Rodeo boyfriend? You'd better believe it.

Photo by © Michelle Watson CultureMapSNAP.com

Usher, the perfect Rodeo boyfriend? You'd better believe it.

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Weekend Event Planner

These are the top 15 things to do in Houston this weekend

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Water for Elephants.

Now that the arctic blast has finished with us, several events that were cancelled last weekend – Gallery Sonja Roesch’s 35th anniversary show, a dual opening at Foltz Fine Art, Asia Society Texas’s Kawaii Market – have been rescheduled for this weekend.

As for the scheduled events this weekend, there’s an “autoboative” show, a screening of a sci-fi classic with live musical accompaniment, an all-star show for autograph collectors, a fashion competition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the return of Houston's noisiest music festival.

Thursday, January 29

Houston Autoboative Show
It’s the 42nd Houston Auto Show at NRG Park this weekend, which is also combined (for its third year) with the Houston Boat Show. The event showcases a diverse array of vehicles, from electric cars to trucks and sedans. It also offers a fantastic opportunity to get up close and personal with the hottest models on the market and learn from brand experts about each vehicle/vessel without the pressure of being sold to. 11 am (10 am Saturday and Sunday).

Asia Society Texas presents Offside
Asia Society Texas will kick off the World Cup with Offside, a 2006 dramedy from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. (It’s also part of this year’s Festival of Films from Iran.) Set during a World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, the film follows a group of young women who attempt to circumvent a ban on women attending sporting events by disguising themselves as men to enter the stadium and watch the game, leading to a series of increasingly absurd situations. 7 pm.

Performing Arts Houston presents Blade Runner Live
Ridley Scott’s stylish, 1982 noir classic Blade Runner (aka the 2007 Final Cut) will screen while Vangelis’ synthesizer-led cult score is performed live by The Avex Ensemble. In this futuristic hriller, detective Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) must continue as Replicant Hunter following the escape of four Replicants (including main baddie Rutger Hauer – RIP) from colonies who’ve returned to earth. His mission, however, is complicated when he falls for Rachel (Sean Young), a Replicant based at the Tyrell Corporation. 7:30 pm.

Friday, January 30

TRISTAR Houston Collectors Show
For three days, a lot of stars will be flocking to the NRG Arena in order to give Houstonians their signature. Along with lots of sports memorabilia for sale, the 40th Annual TRISTAR Houston Collectors Show will have tons of celebs signing autographs. Just on Saturday alone, we’ll get Karate Kid/Cobra Kai castmates Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, and Martin Kove; the cast of The Sandlot, Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Dennis Rodman, former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, former Rockets player Elvin Hayes, and Houston’s own Randy Quaid. 2 pm (10 am Saturday and Sunday).

The Hobby Center presents Houston Is Inspired - [Jk]creativ: Our Road Home
Multidisciplinary company [Jk]creativ gives us Our Road Home, an interactive rhythmic production created and directed by native Houston artist Jakari Sherman. Through layered rhythmic storytelling - spoken, rapped, preached, and sung - the work honors the communal labor and ingenuity that built spaces of freedom across time. Inspired by the legacy of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town, the work asks: Once freedom is gained, how do we live in it, preserve it, and pass it on when the pull of bondage lingers near?

MFAH and HCC present Fashion Fusion X
Frida Kahlo meets contemporary couture in Fashion Fusion, the 10th edition of the annual fashion competition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Open to aspiring designers in the Fashion Design program at Houston City College, Fusion challenges students to create original garments in response to art on display in the museum’s galleries. This year, the aspiring designers will showcase garments addressing the exhibition, "Frida: The Making of an Icon." 7 pm.

Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Water for Elephants
After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train, unsure of where the road will take him. He finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling circus, and a life - and love - beyond his wildest dreams. Seen through the eyes of his older self, his adventure becomes a poignant reminder that if you choose the ride, life can begin again at any age. 7:30 pm (2 and 7:30 pm Saturday; 1:30 and 7 pm Sunday).

Saturday, January 31

The List One Year Anniversary
East End creative space The List will be celebrating its first anniversary with a bevy of weekend events, with two going down on Saturday. The day starts off with the return of the Vinyl & Furniture Garden Market, curated by local DJ vet Malcolm Bravo, over at the List Cafe. Bravo and other DJs will be spinning tunes as stores and vendors will be open for business. Later that evening, DJ/TikToker Sheri Koko will be working the turntables, along with some special-guest pals, at Room808. 11 am and 9 pm.

Burger Bodega present For the Culture
Chef and restaurateur Abbas Dhanani is taking a break from burgers to pay homage to his Pakistani heritage by partnering with the PX Project for a one-day only pop-up. Working with his mother and his aunt, the four-item menu showcases some favorite childhood dishes, including Nihari, slow-braised, spiced beef stew with naan; Hina Khala's Chicken Biryani, fragrant basmati rice layered with boneless chicken; the Chicken Sixty-Five Po' Boy; and a mango lassi sundae with a cardamom snickerdoodle cookie.

$\u200bBroadway at the Hobby Center presents Water for Elephants$

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Broadway at the Hobby Center presents Water for Elephants.

Seven Sisters presents Ping Zheng: Soft Interference opening reception
Soft Interference presents a new series of oil-stick works on paper by Ping Zheng, following her 2024 exhibition Nature’s Canopy at Seven Sisters. In these works, Zheng continues her investigation of landscape as a site of perception and interiority. Through repeated mark-making and shifting chromatic fields, she constructs images that hover between observed nature and remembered experience. Through Saturday, February 28. 2 pm.

MGEntertainment presents The 5th Annual Harsh Noise Houston
Believe it or not, there’s a heavy experimental-music scene here in H-Town. This weekend, you have the opportunity to see a lot of the scene’s most valuable players over at Super Happy Fun Land, where the fifth annual Harsh Noise Houston fest will be going down. 13 acts, representing some of the best experimental music, performance art, and noise that Texas has to offer, will be performing, including HauntedPixel, Ether Research, Astrogenic Hallucinating, and Psychosomatica’s sister project Del Norte. 7 pm.

Rice Cinema presents American Sons
Film producer and Rice alum Elizabeth Avellán presents American Sons, a documentary using first-hand footage captured by fallen Marine Cpl. Jorge “JV” Villarreal, a native of San Antonio. The film focuses on a brotherhood of U.S. Marines a decade after their Afghanistan deployment, focusing on their struggle with combat trauma, PTSD, and reintegration, especially after losing their friend Villarreal. Avellan and director Andrew James Gonzales will be around for a post-screening Q&A. 7 pm.

Sunday, February 1

ReelAbilities Houston presents ReelArt For All
The ReelAbilities Houston Film & Arts Festival’s ReelArt For All program will feature art and interactive activities, brunchy bites, and more. Guests can see the world through the eyes of artists from Celebration Company, an entrepreneurial employment program for adults with disabilities, and explore the works of featured artist Emmett Kyoshi Wilson. A Chicago-based artist living with Down syndrome, Wilson has created over 150 works, exhibited in five galleries, and even painted the American Flag for the U.S. Embassy in Croatia. 10:30 am.

Shepherd School of Music presents Inside Look: Modern American Operas
The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University will present a deconstructed look at two full-length American comic operas: Karim Al-Zand’s 50th anniversary commission A Joint Interest and William Bolcom’s Lucrezia. Aleko Endowed Artist Paul Curran guides audiences through these mischievous and delightfully theatrical worlds. Shepherd School Chamber Players will accompany both contemporary operas from the pit, led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Bolcom's Lucrezia contains adult content and is not suitable for all audiences. 2 pm.

Cultural Center Our Texas presents Popovich Comedy Pet Theater
The World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater is a family-oriented blend of the unique comedy and juggling skills of Gregory Popovich, and the talents of his furry costars. There are more than 30 pets (dogs, cats, horses, birds, etc.) in the show, and each one has been rescued from animal shelters and given a new leash on life. Bad pun aside, this show will be a joy for viewers of all ages. 4 pm.

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