Usher Road Manager Keeyah Johnson Chats ‘Past Present Future’ Tour & Breaking Into The Biz

Usher has earned praise for his career-spanning spectacle “Usher: Past Present Future” Tour, for both the cutting-edge production and his always-dazzling showmanship – including being crowned the R&B Tour of the Year at the Pollstar Awards. As part of Pollstar’s coverage of the transportation sector, we checked in with road manager Keeyah Johnson to get her take on working on the trek and learn more about how she advocated for herself to find her way in the live industry.

Johnson has been serving as a road manager for Usher for the past three years, starting with his 100-show Las Vegas residency that hosted over 500,000 fans and followed by his 2024 Super Bowl Halftime show. The “Past, Present, Future” Tour, which marks his first full-fledged global run since 2014-2015’s “The UR Experience Tour,” launched in August 2024 with two shows at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. In early May, he wrapped the European leg with his final two shows of a 10-night residency at The O2 in London.

Pollstar chatted with Johnson in late April during Usher’s run of shows at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In addition to being a road manager for Usher, Johnson has worked in partnership with The Ayars Agency on Mary J. Blige’s “Strength of a Woman” festival and contributed to events such as the GRAMMY Awards, talent booker for ESSENCE Festival of Culture, BET AWARDS the NAACP Image Awards and more.

Usher is managed by Laffitte Management Group’s Ron Laffitte and his agent is WME’s John Marx.

Pollstar: How are your travels going on Usher’s “Past Present Future” tour?

Keeyah Johnson: Right now we’re in Amsterdam, which is a really beautiful city. But the interesting thing is this weekend, we had shows in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. So we literally went from Paris to Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia to Amsterdam. So it’s been nonstop. (laughs) 

To go from all those different cultures must have been such a contrast. That’s amazing.

It really was. And I’m vegan and gluten-free, so I love that every time we go to these places finding out which countries have the best cuisine.

Which place had the best food so far?

So, it has been a challenge for me and my dietary restrictions on the road. (laughs) We have catering, and a lot of times they’ll have [options], but I will say in the Middle East, they’ve had a lot of the Indian and Thai food dishes, and those cultures traditionally have a lot of vegan options.

Can you tell me a bit about your role as road manager on Usher’s tour?

On our tour, it’s a little bigger because we have so many people. So the road manager actually is a part of tour management, and in our tour, management is made up of four different people. I’m one of four in a group. I work in tour management, but my position title is road manager, and we pretty much do use it interchangeably because we’re responsible for the lives and the livelihood of everyone while they’re on tour. In my role, I manage more of the flights, the cast family and friends ticket requests, their daily day-to-day schedule, those day sheets which include hair, make-up, wardrobe, physical therapy, warm-ups, on-stage reminders and ground transportation. So while I work in tour management, those are some of my specific responsibilities. I also work alongside our Tour Management Team, Production, and our Stage Manager and Creative Director on all special guest performers, arrivals, stage entrance reveals and exits.

How many people are part of the whole crew on this tour?

I would say we have about maybe 130 for this tour and that’s with everything from production to the dancers, the cast, wardrobe, crew, management, and staff. And then for the U.S. tour, we had about 160.

Were there any other tours or artists that you’ve worked with before?

Prior to this, I worked in partnership with the Ayars Agency and Live Nation Urban on Mary J. Blige’s “Strength of a Woman” festival. It was more of an empowerment festival where we had panels and seminars and things like that. And then in the evening we had nightly concerts at State Farm Arena.

And then I also worked with R&B singing group Xscape. With them we did a lot of one-offs and not like a full tour. My experience also includes just a lot of time working in PR, from ESSENCE Festival and BET Awards and the Grammys and being an executive assistant.

How did you first get your foot in the door in the live business?

I grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, right outside of New York. I’ve always been fascinated with entertainment; always knew that I wanted to work in entertainment. And I worked in all of those different avenues to get to where I am now. But I think now that I’m touring, this is exactly where I want to be. 

In my journey I went from being an assistant – I was an executive assistant in Atlanta to two CEOs in the restaurant industry and really just managing their day-to-day lives. And then that’s when the “Strength of a Woman” festival opportunity came up. And that was really a great re-introduction [to live entertainment]. On that one … I was responsible for booking the talent and influencers for the festival. So I booked the talent and then I was responsible for their experience on site at the festival from booking, through contracting and everything in between the appearance, deliverables and requirements were met.

Right after that, I got the call that team Usher was looking for someone to do more assisting, and that’s what my background was at the time. But in my interview, I [said] I was ready to pivot. I wanted something more. I didn’t want to just be an assistant, although that’s what they were looking for. So when I got to my interview, I was like, “Is there anything else that you guys have, or you might be open to? Because I’m looking to pivot and transition in my career.”  And then [Usher’s] tour manager was like, “I am looking for a road manager, someone to help out with the travel.” Because by that time, the travel was getting out of control on the residency. So he was looking for someone to do that and manage the day-to-day of the cast, and I said, “If you take this shot and give me an opportunity, I promise that I will literally outwork anyone; learn what needs to be done. …if you give me a chance, I promise to learn the ins and outs of the industry.” And that’s how I landed the role as road manager and it’s been an amazing journey after taking the leap. 

I love how you put yourself out there and asked for what you wanted.

Otherwise, I would have been somewhere, maybe still being an assistant. But I think that’s so important for women, too, to think outside of the box – while I didn’t have that road manager experience on paper, everything that I’m doing in my role as a role manager, I’ve done before in the assisting role. I’ve booked travel before; I’ve managed groups; I worked on the day-to-day. I’ve styled; I oversaw glam. Now, it’s just different working on it for multiple people on a much larger scale but the foundation is the same. I still had that skill set and it is hands-on. It’s things that you learn as you go. Had I not put myself out there, I wouldn’t be where I am today. 

What qualities make you a successful road or tour manager? 

Organization is so important when dealing with so many different people. And I will say I’m kind of like organized chaos. I work the way I work. But I will say that [the tour management software] Master Tour is super important, and to think that just a few years ago I didn’t even know what Master Tour was, and now it’s something that I use daily to help keep the tour on track. … [And] your normal communication skills cause you’re dealing with the daily lives of not only the artists but everyone in the camp as well. It’s really important to be able to communicate with them. No matter how crazy my day gets or whatever we have going on, I never do what I do without a smile.

I’m always caring about what’s going on with someone … And I try to always remain calm and just be a problem solver because these people are away from home, they’re away from their families. They’re out on stage every night. And there’s just really no need for me to do it without a smile. And this is just something that I love doing. 

Was there someone on the Usher tour who kind of took you under the wing or showed you the ropes? 

I’m so grateful for the team here. They allowed me to jump right in and give my expertise and say, “OK, I think if we have this spreadsheet or if we do it this way, that I think that will add to the overall good of the organization.” They were open to that. Our tour manager is Michael “Huggy” Carter, and he’s been a tour manager for over 30 years for everyone in this industry. I’m so grateful that I get to work with him every day … getting that experience from a veteran. … He’s such an open book. He lets us bounce ideas off of him, but he doesn’t micromanage. He gives us the opportunity to problem solve. He’ll give us his input. He lets us tell him what we think things should work and then he’s really open to that. He was that person who pretty much took me under his wing, showed me the ropes, and we’re still working together to this day.

We started in Vegas, and then we did the Super Bowl together and the U.S. tour and now we did the international tour. And that’s just amazing because it is a male-dominated industry, but he’s so open to teaching young women everything that he knows. There’s no gatekeeping. He’s such an open book. He’s like, “I’ve done this for 30 years and there’s no need to keep that knowledge.” He empowers us with that knowledge and then allows us the opportunity to use that and shine in our own right.

With fluctuations in the economy, has that affected you and your role as far as booking flights or budgeting the tour?   

Thankfully, our organization is so large that we work with a travel agent. Our travel agent Wendy is our saving grace. She’s also been an agent for 20-plus years, so I’ve learned so much from her … especially with organization.

When I’m booking multiple flights, spreadsheets are my best friend to do a flight grid, and then we do our flight and hotel confirmations. Then we add another layer of ground transportation on top of that. But with that, we always try to stay on budget … even when we don’t have ground transportation scheduled, we have to do Uber vouchers and things like that. Then that also needs to be thrown into the budget. When you’re seeing the show live, you’re not thinking about [how] there was a flight and a hotel and ground transportation involved to get these artists here.

Do you have a favorite tour story from your time on the road?  

There are so many tour stories. We always call Atlanta our “Past, Future Festival” [because] we always have the most special guests. I want to say in Atlanta or in major markets, too, in New York, we had [multiple special guests] as well. We had up to six special guests in one night. That was pretty challenging but also rewarding …  ’cause one of my responsibilities is getting the cast to stage on time every night, and band and skaters to the stage as well. 

So, we have a running joke. I’m always like “Walking, walking!” I give them the schedule and we walk to the stage at around 8:00. We do our huddle, get the core cast on stage and once the show is starting, that’s when we start to get our special guests for their big reveal. … One of my favorite [things] is getting all of those guests on stage and at their proper cues and then looking out in the audience and just seeing them react to their favorite artists. At this one particular show, we ended up having Kirk Franklin, we had GloRilla and a choir … It’s like, who would really expect to see Kirk Franklin at a Usher concert? And GloRilla, who had one of the hottest songs of the summer.  

Any advice you would give to someone coming up today who wants to be a road manager?

I would say that it is a male-dominated industry, but don’t let that deter you because there are a lot of male-dominated industries, but there’s room for women. You just have to be focused and be willing to be a sponge and literally soak up any and everything. A lot of times, people come to me and they ask, “How can I get started?” And honestly, I feel like there’s no right or wrong way. You just have to put yourself out there.

If you love concerts, you start going to concerts and maybe you’re meeting a road manager, you’re meeting a tour manager, and you’re learning about what they do, and then how you can keep in touch for open opportunities or things like that. But the number one thing I would say would be to put yourself out there to learn more about the industry and about those tours. 

I would say this year is the year of the tour. Everyone’s going on tour. There are so many stadium tours that have recently been announced. So following things like Pollstar, too, ’cause that can tell you who’s on the road and what the trends are and what venues are doing well and things like that. I would [also] say always being a student of the game and perfecting your craft as well as putting yourself out there.

Those are the ways that you’re going to get in front of the road manager or the tour manager. And then once you get in front of them, you have to be ready to just outperform anyone else ’cause it also is a competitive industry as well. Once you get those opportunities, you just have to be willing. There are long hours. My day, I’m at the venue at noon, and sometimes I’m not leaving until after midnight. That’s 12 hours back to back. So make sure you’re prepared for that too. … I want to continue to [highlight] the work that I do and hopefully inspire someone else coming up to be able to know that you can have a credible, fulfilling, and successful career in touring. 

EDITOR’S NOTE:
In early July Ticketek announced that Usher’s scheduled Australia tour, which was booked in late November and early December, has been called off. The intro to this Q&A has been edited to reflect that.

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‘One Of The Most Enjoyable Tours I Have Worked On’: Usher Wraps Euro Leg With Ten O2 Shows In London