Essence Festival Tickets 2024 Tickets

Essence Music Festival is a music extravaganza that features African American artists, musicians and their culture. It is the biggest event that aims at celebrating the music of African American singers in the mainstream. The festival first began in 1995 in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Louisiana Superdome. This became its permanent venue for all subsequent years except in 2006 when the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina. Houston, Texas had been chosen to be the venue that year. The festival is a production of Essence magazine-a magazine that is solely dedicated towards promoting women of African American descent. In Louisiana, it is sometimes referred to as the Essence Fest.
 
Each year, an array of talented, mainstream musicians are selected to play at the festival. Perhaps the most Essence Music Festival tickets bought were for the event's fourteenth year in 2008. It was also host to one of the most noticed lineups the festival had ever had. It consisted of immensely popular artists, all of whom had chart-topping hits at the time. Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Grand Master, Patti Labelle, Chris Rock, Chris Brown, Flash LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Beyonce Knowles were all in attendance.
 
For the 2009 festival, Beyonce volunteered to headline again. This would make her the longest running female headliner of the Essence Music Festival. She also set the record for garnering the biggest audience the festival had ever seen; a smashing 72,000 people came to see her perform. This was also the first time that Essence Music Festival tickets were totally sold out, a new record for the festival in all of its fifteen years. This record was soon to be broken the following year when Janet Jackson headlined the festival. In 2010, there were a total of 72,668 people in attendance. Tickets did not just sell out-there were waiting lists as people lined up to get a chance to enter the festival. The capacity of the venue was expanded by adding seats behind the stage as well, and all of them sold out, too. During the two hour concert set, the entire crowd at Essence Music Festival was reportedly on their feet.
 
Ever since the festival first began in 1995, it has been produced by the same company chosen by the executives at Essence magazine itself. It was not until the festival in 2008 that the production was contracted to a new company. Essence magazine now gave the responsibility of throwing, reinventing and marketing the festival each year to "Rehage Entertainment Inc.". A new stage was built, designed by Stefan Beese, and a brand new look was given to the festival. Additionally, an Essence Weekend was proposed by Studfish productions and Traxx Girls Inc. This would especially target the women who attend the Essence Music Festival, highlighting their alternative lifestyles. This would be for women who want a grittier, edgier participation. 

This year, the Essence Music Festival has yet another talented ensemble of artists lined up. The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin herself will take the stage at the Louisiana Superdome, epitomizing not only good African American women in music, but one of the best female voices of our time. She last performed at the festival in 2005. This year, Essence will honor her with the "Power Award".

Also in the lineup is Fantasia, the American Idol winner who captured the nation with her inspiring story and a voice unlike any other. Her soulfulness and the message of empowerment in her songs is what make her the perfect star for the Essence Music Festival. Moreover, she is also a commercial success. Her latest album, "Back to Me" won her a Grammy Award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance".
 
Another superstar lined up to perform is none other than Mary J. Blige. She is no stranger to the Essence Music Festival stage; in fact, she has the record for the most appearances by a female artist on the festival. She has often been heralded as the most successful artist in R&B, yet her talent is not restricted to it-she has won Grammy Awards in not only the R&B category, but also gospel, rap, and pop.
 
Essence Music Festival tickets will also be sold for performances by Estelle, Keyshia Cole, Marsha Ambrosius, Mary Mary, Maurette Brown Clark, Stephanie Mills, SWV, The Pointer Sisters, Vivian Green, and The Stylistics. Apart from amazing music, the festival will also host empowerment seminars. Maxine Waters and Steve Harney have been chosen to speak at them.