John Legend Dazzles At Stripped-Down, One-Night-Only Performance In Atlantic City – Essence
John Legend shined his light at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City as June came to a close, regaling the intimate crowd with stories of life, love, loss, and lessons learned from his childhood through his illustrious R&B career.
The EGOT has long used his music as a means of therapy and catharsis. In his latest intimate concert series, simply titled An Evening With John Legend, the crooner shares acoustic songs and accompanying stories in a unique one-man-show experience.
While many may expect a rotation of the greatest hits that made him a 12-time Grammy winner, this show finds Legend stripped down, no accompaniment, no dancers, no grand graphics and stage production – just a man with a piano and a life of transformative experiences and rich memories to share.
Among those experiences: his strict religious upbringing, discovering his love for music in the church band, and how depression and addiction rocked his family and shook his late childhood. He later details his earliest big breaks into the industry when he was still just John R. Stevens, playing an iconic riff of piano instrumentation on Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation album, before eventually being dubbed “The Legend” by Kanye West and becoming an R&B phenom in his own right.
Legend’s revealing show kicked off a weekend of celebration for the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which has undergone an overhaul in recent years. Widely known as the premier entertainment destination of New Jersey, the Atlantic City jewel features luxurious hotel rooms and suites atop its expansive casino, which now also features simultaneous online and in-person play on some of its table games. Borgata is also currently celebrating the first anniversary of the $55 million remodel and rebranding of its MGM Tower.
Of course, one cannot forget the spa that adorns the property’s title. Spa Toccare offers relaxing treatments that are guaranteed to exhilarate, relax, and reset. We had the pleasure of indulging in their 50-minute Signature Massage, which was the perfect reset after a night of belting out R&B classics from the audience alongside John Legend and leading into an afternoon of cocktails and lobster rolls at a poolside cabana at the Borgata Outdoor Pool and Beer Garden.
The weekend was punctuated by several trips to the casino’s tables to try our luck (roulette, of course), and fine dining at several of the property’s fine-dining restaurants and cocktail lounges, including breakfast at The Sunroom, lunch at The Metropolitan, and dinner at American Bar & Grille. A stellar standout was Borgata’s B-Prime Steakhouse, a beloved modern and chic alternative to the classic steakhouse featuring a first-class culinary experience in an energetic, dinner party atmosphere.
In addition to John Legend’s standout show, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City has a steady offering of concerts, comedy shows, DJ showcases, and more, with Boyz II Men coming up in August and announcements for more fall shows coming soon.
