Mary J. Blige gave a whole new meaning to the saying “Life is better in boots” because she put on her tall boots and left a Texas-size print on the hearts of the Houston metro area.
The ‘Queen of R&B’ gave fans 90 minutes of high-energy performance recently during her “Good Morning Gorgeous” concert. As the music drifted beyond Toyota Center, the area was buzzing with excitement as countless women strutted to and through the concert grounds wearing their own boots: tall boots, short boots, cowboy boots. Was your mamma there? If so, she was probably “booted up” too.
Article by contributing writer LJ Garfield
The 23-city tour kicked off in September, celebrating Blige’s fourteenth studio album released in February. The tour is presented by Hologic in conjunction with the Black Promoters Collective.
Houston’s show opened with popular trending artist Queen Naija followed by Ella Mai singing tracks from her junior LP. Ella Mai had all the couples “Boo’d up.”
The “Good Morning Gorgeous” tour is scheduled to hit many other cities including Fort Worth, three cities in Cali, Vegas, NOLA, Memphis, Nashville, Brooklyn and others before wrapping up in Atlantic City at the end of the month.
The “Good Morning Gorgeous” album is a woman’s empowerment collection inspired by Blige’s 30 years in the R&B game. She sang new cuts from the album that the audience enjoyed. But fans went wild when she performed the classic songs that garnered Blige a huge following in Houston that rivals the Beehive. Maybe Queen B and MJB will do another duet, but that’s another story.
Mary J. wooed the crowd with slow, melodic ballads, then moved the crowd with hip-hop bass lines. The fans loved the bangers and were hyped up with club hits. Of course, Blige sashayed through her old-school dance moves, skillfully directing the fans to a thunderous “Go Mary” mantra that shook the whole stadium for several minutes on several occasions throughout the show.
Mary even shared some tearful moments with the fans as she crooned “Not Gon’ Cry.” Cell phone screens lit up the arena as she strutted back and forth in her knee-high boots releasing the energy of her past trauma. Blige has been helping mothers and daughters navigate relationship drama for three decades. She used the glittery tall boots to stomp on the haters and inspire the congratulators.
“These are happy tears,” she reassures the audience as she wiped them away. “I’m alright,” she affirmed, and the crowd cheered excitedly in acknowledgment and support. Blige took a moment to regain her composure and transitioned into her award-winning single “I’m Going Down,” a remake of the late 1970s classic by R&B group Rolls Royce. The crowd answered by singing the lyrics so loudly, MJB just swayed and held the mic to the audience for most of the song.
It was a “Gorgeous” sight to behold!
From the shooting pyrometric flames during the opening scene, to the MJB brand dance moves, to the sexy bouncing squats in tall boots, to the soulful delivery of the lyrics, to the stage lighting patterns, to the wardrobe changes, to the health and wellness messages for the ladies, all of it combined made the concert masterfully curated.
If you missed it, you better catch a last-minute flight to Vegas or NOLA. It will certainly be worth it! https://www.maryjblige.com/
