The UR Experience was the fifth concert tour by American artist Usher. Visiting North America and Europe, the tour played over 40 concerts in 2014 and 2015.

Background

The tour was announced on September 2, 2014.

"With 'The UR Experience', I want to give my fans an ever-changing live show full of surprises and special guests", says Usher. "I am really excited to be with my fans and give them an Usher experience like they've never seen or heard before."

To promote the tour, Raymond released a 30-second black and white video of him training, dancing and preparing for the upcoming tour. Prior to the tour Usher began working with fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond For the tour, they created a custom Pyer Moss bike jacket that he wore over a mess shirt with black cargo pants. Completing the outfit he wore Martin Margiela chain embellished red suede sneakers. The November 30, 2014 concert, held at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; was livestreamed via Yahoo Live!.

Critical reception

The tour was met with positive reviews. Jon Paroles from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote: "He has established himself as one of R&B's supreme performers and craftsmen, following through on what he learned from

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

in particular." Ashley Lee of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "His routines were sharp, effortless and even playful at times, and he didn't need to rely on constant gyrating to entertain. Usher also shined vocally when he took the time to do so: bouncing his gold mic stand during 'Caught Up', hitting the top of his range on 'Climax', adding extra runs to 'U Remind Me', impressively closing 'Burn' a cappella." Robbyn Mitchell of the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' wrote: "Usher reminded fans constantly that they've been supporting him for 20 years in the music industry -- an unfathomable stat whenever he paused to smile his charming schoolboy girl". A.R. Shaw from ''Rolling Out'' commented: "With new age R&B acts such

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

building their presence in music, some may forget Usher's overall impact on the genre. But the 'UR Experience Tour' proves, again, that Usher's legendary status remains intact.". Gerrick D. Kennedy of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote: "An Usher show has long been an exhilarating affair packed with high-octane choreography held together by sleek, masterful showmanship." François Marchand of ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' states, "Usher can embody the cybernetic physicality of a MJ and the pure funk swagger of a JB (as on party jam Twisted — 'Hit me one more time!'), and you can applaud an artist who doesn't rely so much on tape playback and shows just how much blood and sweat he leaves out there on the stage." David Smyth from the '' London Evening Standard'' gave the performance in London 4 out of 5 stars. He said: "Usher himself was quite the mover and shaker, invoking his idol Michael Jackson as he slid and shimmied about the stage in gold trainers. During one triumphant spell, including 'Twisted' and 'Caught Up', his band became an old-style soul revue, horns blasting while the lights blazed. There were snippets of

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

and, more surprisingly,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

Opening acts

* DJ Cassidy * August Alsina * Nico & Vinz

Setlist

The following setlist was obtained from the concert held on November 1, 2014; at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It does not present all concerts for the duration of the tour. #" My Way" #" OMG" #" Love in This Club" #" You Make Me Wanna..." #"Video Sequence" #" Nice & Slow" #" U Remind Me" #"Twisted" #" Caught Up" #" She Came to Give it to You" #"Video Sequence" #" Climax" #"Seduction" #"That's What It's Made For" #"Confessions Part I" / " Confessions Part II" #"Instrumental Sequence" #" Burn" #" There Goes My Baby" #" U Got It Bad" #" Superstar" #"Video Sequence" #"Bad Girl" #" Good Kisser" #" U Don't Have to Call" #" DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" #" Yeah!" #"Video Sequence" #" Without You"

Tour dates

Box office score data

Personnel

*Lead Artist *Lead Vocals/Guitar/Drums/Percussion: Usher Raymond *The Funk Rock Orchestra *Guitar/Keyboards/MD: Natural *Drums/Percussion: Aaron Spears *Percussion/DJ/MPC/Sampling/String Programmer/Hype Man: Iz Avila *Keyboards/Organ/Synthesizer/MD: Buddy Strong *Keyboards/Keybass/Keytar/MD: Valdez Brantley *Additional Musicians *Bass Guitar/Playback Engineer: Andre "Dre" Bowman (on certain dates) *Horns: Rashawn (Trumpet), Rob (Sax), Sean (Trumpet), and Kevin (Trombone) *Vocalists *Backing vocalists: Kristal Lyndriette, Gene Noble and Neka Brown *Dancers *Choreographer: Jamaica Craft *Dancers: QuitaBee, Eyal Pipo Layani, Kento Mori, Josh Smith, Jessica Digi (Europe only), Yusuke Nakai, Marc Marvelous, Ashley Everett, Antonio Hudnell and Naeemah McCowan

Notes

References

{{Usher 2014 concert tours 2015 concert tours Usher (musician) concert tours Concert tours of the United States Concert tours of Canada Concert tours of the United Kingdom Concert tours of Ireland Concert tours of Switzerland Concert tours of Denmark Concert tours of Austria Concert tours of Sweden Concert tours of Germany Concert tours of France Concert tours of Belgium Concert tours of the Netherlands