Usher played a brutal prank on his crowd at Dreamville over the weekend, tricking them into thinking he’d be joined onstage by Beyoncé.
The third edition of J. Cole’s boutique festival – named for his Dreamville Records label – went down at the Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina over the weekend (Saturday April 1 and Sunday 2), with Usher appearing alongside the likes of Drake, Burna Boy, Sean Paul, Lil Durk, J.I.D and GloRilla.
After performing both parts of ‘Confessions’ towards the end of the set, Usher brought his prank – teased repeatedly throughout the night – to its climax: spurring on an eruption of cheers, he told the crowd, “I said I would have a special surprise for you tonight, ladies and gentlemen. You guys wanna know what that surprise is? Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, put your hands together for the one, the only, Beyoncé!”
Usher then turned to the side of the stage while his crowd cheered, pretending to be confused when “Beyoncé” didn’t walk out and signalling to his crowd that he’d run off to check on her. Upon his return to the mic, the R&B icon slyly quipped, “April Fools.”
Have a look at the moment below:
The set was not without an actual surprise, as Usher then welcomed City Girls out to perform their recent collab ‘Good Love’. That track arrived last July, some eight months before Usher ended a three-year drought of solo material – he dropped the single ‘GLU’ last month, signalling that his long-awaited ninth album is finally on the way.