Always Winning: ESSENCE FEST!

The Essence Festival has come and gone. It was a glorious time from July 6-8th, three days of concerts, convention center entertainment, good food and friends.

Upon arriving in New Orleans on Friday, and my crew which consisted of Sonja, Cordelia and Robyn headed over to the convention center. This is the place where you can see celebrities including singers, actors, etc. There were also concerts on the McDonalds stage of artists like Eric Benet and Fantasia. Pooch Hall and Kim Whitley hosted a dance contest which was quite entertaining. I was excited to see my lil cuz Erica in the mix who came down for the show with her friend. On the Sirus/XM stage, I saw Maxwell and a few others.

After hotel check in at La Pavillion, we made our way to the first concert. Tori joined us at the concert who then completed our group. The lineup was Brandy, LL Cool J, Jill Scott and Maxwell. All of them put on a great show. Robyn and Cordelia are big Maxwell fans and they raved about how great he was going to be. I enjoyed him but it took a while for me to get into his show.

On Saturday morning, Sonja stepped out a bit and when she came back, she was too excited. How about Mike Bivins of New Edition was walking by our hotel. He stopped and took pictures with them and was very nice. Check out her picture. I tweeted the picture and he retweeted it. It was so funny because that set us off on a rant of New Edition songs. Of course they were the headliner for the show this night so we were ready.

We had lunch at a local restaurant in which I treated myself to shrimp and grits. We then ventured back over to the convention center. I met up with Sheryl and Shakira, my Delta sorors and diehard New Edition fans. I also saw my BF Tracie. The center was far more crowded but we still had a good time. Bell, Biv, Devoe and Johnny Gill were at the center so we got to see them at the Sirus/XM stage. When they saw our NE gear they pointed to us and Mike came over, grabbed Sheryls phone and tried to take a picture. It was too close so he passed it to their manager. Unfortunately, he could not figure it out so he owes us a raincheck.

The lineup for Saturday night was Solange, Keisha Cole, Trey Songz, Charlie Wilson and New Edition. I always enjoy Trey and Charlie Wilson. The main event was New Edition and they really rocked the house. Over 50,000 people in that joint and they were up singing and dancing from beginning to end even on slow songs. Never seen anything like the energy level there and their shows are always a blast. They did not stay on as long though but they were great and looked good. See their picture below. We went to the famous Bourbon street after the concert and of course it was crowded but with a younger crowd.

My work is never done even on vacay so even though I went to sleep close to 5am, I was up at 8am in order to grade papers and turn final grades in for one of my courses. We finally got out and about and went to eat at the Gumbo Pot in the French Quarter. We also went to Southern Candymakers for pralines and I was in line in front of my classmate Jonathan Henry and his wife Michelle. It was so nice seeing them.

Sunday night concluded with TGT (Tank, Ginuwine, and Tyrese), Janelle Monet and Beyonce. The show was great and the overall Essence experience was the best.