Usher and Chris Brown share the stage during the R&B Tour.
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A run of fall concerts — reggaeton, emo, heavy metal — at the Alamodme winds up tonight with the R&B Tour. Here’s what fans of Usher and Chris Brown need to know about the concert and getting to the venue.
What is the R&B Tour?
The R&B Tour stands for co-headliners Usher Raymond and Chris Brown, as well as the music both singers have helped adapt to the hip-hop era.
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Music by Usher, who released his first album when he was 15, was everywhere in the late ’90s and early ’00s, when he had a string of big hits including “Yeah,” “Burn” and “U Got It Bad.” Fans got a career recap when he performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2024.
Usher performs during the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
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Like Usher, Chris Brown was a teenager when he had his first success, the No. 1 hit “Run It!” in 2005. He’s had a dozen Top 10 hits, including “No Air” with Jordin Sparks, and collaborated with the likes of Usher, Drake, Ariana Grande and Kendrick Lamar.
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Fans who cheer for Breezy, as Brown is known, may have made their peace with it, but for many, his career will always be overshadowed by a crime he committed in 2009 when he was 19, assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna. Music journalist Steve Holden summed it up in an interview with the BBC.
“For many news outlets and tabloids, Chris Brown is more synonymous with his personal troubles than his music,” Holden said. “As long as Rihanna remains the huge star she is, he will forever be associated with what he did to her.”
When does the concert start?
The concert starts at 7 p.m. today at the Alamodome, 100 Montana St.
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Are tickets still available?
Except for the pits on either side of the main stage, tickets are available in every section of the ’dome, from the floor to the upper level. Tickets cost $49.80 to $502.40.
What is the best way to get to the Alamodome?
VIA Park & Ride is the most economical and stress-free way to get to any concert at the Alamodome, but there are other options, too. Here’s a look:
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Alamodome parking: Parking at the Alamodome typically costs $60, with Lots B and C opening several hours before the concert.
Park & Ride: VIA’s Park & Ride service will run to the Alamodome from 4 to 7 p.m. and leave from the venue until one hour after the concert. Service will be available from Crossroads, 151 Crossroads Blvd., and Brooks (Walmart), 3302 SE Military Drive. The service costs $1.30 per ride.
Off-site parking: Concertgoers can reserve parking at more than 25 lots in advance through ParkWhiz. More downtown parking options can be found here.
Ride share: Drivers can drop off and pick up ride-share customers at Lot D, across Interstate 37 from the dome between Montana Street and the Tower of the Americas Way. Expect to pay surge prices on concert nights.
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Usher takes a curtain call with the cast of “Chicago” on Broadway in 2006.
Jemal Countess/WireImage
Five facts about Usher and Chris Brown:
• Though he grew up in Tennessee before moving to Atlanta to pursue music, Usher is actually a Texas native — he was born in Dallas.
• Usher has performed in the Alamodome twice before. He was still a teenager in 1998 when he was part of the lineup for the KTFM Winter Jam in January, and he opened for Janet Jackson on her Velvet Rope Tour that same year in September.
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• Chris Brown headlined the Alamodome about a year ago on his Breezy Bowl XX tour.
• Usher has had a pretty decent side-gig as an actor. He has appeared in movies including “The Faculty” and “Texas Rangers,” and he played Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway.
• Concerts aren’t rated like movies, but if they were, the R&B Tour might be flirting with an R. “The Raymond and Brown show is all about sex, sex, sex,” according to a review in the New Yorker. And the season debut of “Saturday Night Live” featured a sketch about a support group for men whose girlfriends were brought onstage during the R&B show. “This kind of stuff don’t happen at the Noah Kahan concert,” one says.
Mario has been performing a short set in the middle of the R&B Tour concerts.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE
Is there an opening act?
According to reports, there is no opening act, but R&B singer Mario (“Let Me Love You”) performs during an “intermission” in the three-hour concert.
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What’s next at the Alamodome?
The next concert scheduled at the Alamodome isn’t until next year, when Metallica brings its M72 World Tour to town on May 22.