MINNEAPOLIS — Remember when Jay-Z toured with Beyoncé? When piano men Elton John and Billy Joel shared a stage? When Kendrick Lamar and SZA braided together for an entire evening?

Pairing Usher and Chris Brown, two of the biggest R&B stars of this century, is a no-brainer. Not only have they both collaborated on hit songs but also they have reputations for being dynamic showmen. Their R&B Tour that landed Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium is a natural.

However, before we can talk about this entertaining but flawed three-hour marathon, a certain reputation must be addressed first.

Brown, 37, a prince of cancel culture, is known for outbursts of violent behavior (see the 2024 docuseries “Chris Brown: A History of Violence”) with romantic partners (Rihanna, Karrueche Tran) and others (Frank Ocean, a U.K. music producer).

Can music fans separate the art from the artist?

Apparently. Because since 2009, when Brown plead guilty to felony assault with Rihanna, he has scored seven No. 1 R&B albums as well as three more that made the Top 3. His 2025 Breezy Bowl XX, his first stadium tour, grossed $295 million and sold just under 2 million tickets, according to Billboard Boxscore. He last performed in the Twin Cities in 2017 at a half-full St. Paul arena.

Brown is fully aware of his standing. Last year on Instagram, he addressed how hard he’s worked for two decades but “I understand I will never be recognized for nothing more than drama.”

Usher, 47, is coming off his most successful concert run. His Past Present Future Tour (2024-25) grossed $184 million and drew 1.1 million fans in arenas, per Billboard. He performed for two triumphant nights at Target Center in Minneapolis two years ago.

Like Lamar and SZA last year at U.S. Bank Stadium, Usher and Brown alternated performances Tuesday, with occasional collaborations. Without any opening act or announcement, Brown hit the stage for “Party,” joined midsong by Usher, in a full-length fur coat, for their 2016 duet.

Their joint appearance from the jump excited the crowd, even though the stadium was maybe only two-thirds full at showtime.

After that party starter, Usher took over. Looking sharp in a red suit, he commanded with 2004’s megahit “Yeah!,” the biggest song of his fruitful career.

Accompanied by numerous dancers, Usher cruised through a quick five-song set, showcasing his nifty dance moves and a lot of attitude on “Bad Girl.”

Then Brown took over, saluting his influences Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson and Prince before emerging for “Poppin’” and “Wall to Wall.” He proved to be a nimble dancer, more physical than the equally impressive Usher, a master of subtle movements captured on giant video screens.

But there was a problem with Brown’s performance — at times, it was hard to spot him onstage because he tended to wear the same color outfits as his backup dancers. If it weren’t for his blond hair, he seemed a bit invisible.

Brown could have taken a tip from Usher, who later wore an ivory suit and a silver spangly top that made him stand out in a massive venue as much as his earlier red outfit had.

These two R&B superstars clearly had the audience in mind with their stage design. It was one of the more fan-friendly setups for a stadium concert, with a giant diamond-shaped stage (with cutouts for standing fans) that covered maybe half of the football field. In addition, there was a sizable satellite stage at the opposite end, surrounded by plush couches and lucky fans in a fenced-in area.

Given the staging, both singers worked the room, especially Brown, who flew over the crowd on a harness during “Ayo” and landed on the satellite stage for a short set.

Brown spent considerably more time in the spotlight than Usher, offering maybe 10 more songs but breezing through abbreviated versions at times.

The pacing of the concert was odd and not just in the division of time. Things dragged midshow when Brown was onstage for 55 minutes for a ballad-heavy set that included “Don’t Judge Me” and the new bluesy “Fallin’.”

Although he had less time onstage, Usher opted for more elaborate stagings, including a segment set in Raymond’s, a sophisticated vintage nightclub, and another on a giant chessboard with him portraying the king, of course. By contrast, Brown favored romping in boudoir scenarios and singing atop a vintage vehicle.

There were occasional awkward interludes between appearances by the two superstars, with filler by a DJ and cameo performances by R&B singers Eric Bellinger and Mario, both of whom have written songs for the headliners.

As is often the case at U.S. Bank Stadium, the sound was echoey, which didn’t flatter the vocals, especially Usher’s falsetto on “Climax” and the background vocals on “Confessions Part II” and “Superstar.”

Brown was sometimes backed by recorded music, sometimes by a live band, a situation that might challenge any sound engineer in a domed stadium with lots of hard surfaces like the Vikings palace.

Despite this being billed as a joint tour, Usher and Brown were together onstage only for a handful of songs, notably on the closing “New Flame,” their 2014 collab. At song’s end, they stood at the point of the diamond-shaped stage, slapped hands and hugged. Then walked off to separate exit doors.

Maybe they will regroup offstage. This was only the second night of the 51-show R&B Tour, so some seams were showing. But both Usher and Brown are such smooth performers that they should be able to smooth things out.

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