Late concerts
by Connie on 8/10/25Caesars Superdome - New OrleansRating: 3 out of 5Essence has gone down from the previous years! I really hope they get back on track. There's no reason for concerts to still be going after 2:30am!!

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About ESSENCE Festival
Essence Festival of Culture always brings the biggest and best names in Hip-Hop, R&B, soul, funk, and gospel to the Evening Concert series lineup. Buy your tickets NOW for the music, and join us for the party as we celebrate Culture, Community and Commerce, only at #essencefest in New Orleans!
The multi-day ESSENCE Festival of Culture celebrates the CULTURE, delivering on its promise of loving us, bringing joy and creating space for community and commerce in New Orleans every 4th of July weekend, for the past 30 years. Originally a one-time affair to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence magazine, this multi-day experience will commemorate 55 years of the magazine that has changed people's lives.
Black Culture comes to life in experiences beyond the Evening Concert Series, including SOKO MRKT™ celebrating emerging Black businesses; empowering conversations on multiple stages with the Global Black Economic Forum; a special edition of Beautycon™, Essence Authors; AFROPUNK and its kaleidoscope of Black futurism; Suede (The Men's Experience); a culinary exploration of the diaspora at Essence Food & Wine Festival; and community activism in the Community Impact Hub.
We Love Us. Let us show you how!
Essence has gone down from the previous years! I really hope they get back on track. There's no reason for concerts to still be going after 2:30am!!
Terrible performance this year at the Superdome, hopefully next year will be better.
It was great returning to Essence Festival after 20 yrs, the vibe was different from what I remembered. I attended the concert on Saturday night really enjoyed Erika Badu, Jill Scott, Jasmine Sullivan, Donnell Jones and Patti Labelle. The Concert went a bit late I left after one of Jill Scott’s Performances. Will definitely like to return with staying an extra day, I missed the Sunday Concert, enjoyed the Bear Cat Breakfast, tried to get in Mondays on Sunday too crowded, 2Phat Vegans was okay but will try another restaurant next time, Drago’s Oysters were delicious also. Looking forward to a return trip in the next year.
It was the best birthday of my life. I’m really glad my husband chose to take me. I’ve been talking about the essence festival for years and I finally got a chance to experience the magic. ❤️❤️
I was very disappointed with the essence festival this year first of all, it was very unorganized. The intermission in between the concerts were too long as a matter of fact the Friday concert we did not get out of there until 4 o’clock that morning, which threw off my whole schedule because I was too tired to do any dining. I also had VIP passes at the convention center with no instructions and when I did receive instructions, everything that was promised would be passes were not given or executed. I really don’t think that I’ll be attending anymore.
First time going Essence Festival-with 15 girlfriends and it definitely lived up to all our expectations! We did 3 days at Convention centre - all very busy with crazy long queues! But we got some really good Freebies! My Juvias Place Goodie box was definitely worth the 60 mins wait- awesome products inside my box! We also purchased all 3 Caesars Superdrome concert tickets- each evening started 8pm and finished between 3-4am! A very long evening! Great acts / energy/ performance- but adverts/ breaks were too long. Fridays timings were all very late. Venue very very cold. Too many artists to mention. Definitely value for money! Would have preferred less artists and a shorter evening. Overall, a very good experience!
Well unfortunately I was expecting the same as previous years with the exception of adding back the Super Lounges. First I don’t understand why performers aren’t solidify until May or June, but you all expect people to procure tickets and not knowing whose performing. Well I was happy to hear the Super Lounges were returning just to be disappointed to find out that now you have to purchase tickets for them, no communication from Essence found this out on Facebook. Again I just feel as the organizers take people for granted since it’s been successful for so many years. My biggest issue is the lack of communication and the Essence App leaves a lot of room for improvement. Lastly the performance all we’re not on time per Essence App timelines seems as if everything was least one hour delay, if you all could become a little better organized in between acts. Thanks Essences Attendee since 2019
I had a good time 🔥. Going back next year. My 12th time
The event was extremely late and it was like sitting in a freezing box. Even with a sweater it was not possible to enjoy the show. I asked for permission to get more clothes from my nearby hotel but couldn’t return to the venue. I didn’t get to see the last performances due to the low temperatures.
I go every year and will continue. Great performances.