Courtesy
Brian McKnight performs at Encore Theater on February 8.
Monday, Feb. 3, 2020 | 2 a.m.
For 16-time Grammy-nominated R&B singer and songwriter Brian McKnight, performing at Wynn Las Vegas last year was a dream come true.
“I’d stayed there many times, played the golf course many times, and it was like, why am I not playing here? I’ve played everywhere else on the Strip. I want to play here,” he says. “So I’m back again and I’m hoping we can make this more of a regular thing. I’m really excited.”
Known for soulful pop ballads like “One Last Cry,” “Back at One,” “Anytime” and “Love Is,” a duet with Vanessa Williams, McKnight will perform again at Encore Theater on Saturday, February 8, and he’s planning on an emotional show stacked with all the songs his audience wants to hear. He’s taken the same approach for his new album, “Exodus,” set for release in May — and he says it will likely be his last album of entirely original music.
Here’s the rest of my conversation with Brian McKnight.
What can we expect from this Wynn show in terms of your setlist and your approach?
I sell nostalgia. I basically play the same songs, the same hits, I’ve been doing for years, I just put it into different packages every time I come around. I’m going to play my ass off, I’m going to sing my ass off, and we’re going to have some fun. It will take you through the full range of emotions and I like to say I play every song the people are coming to hear. I listen to fans. One of the good things about social media is they’ll tell you when you don’t play the songs they love, so you try to figure out a set that makes the most sense.
You call it nostalgia and the music from the era when you really arrived on the scene is very popular again at this moment.
Absolutely. I truly believe the ’90s is the greatest decade of music ever created. You only have to see the fans that come out to this show to prove that to be the truth.
What was your approach for your new album?
It’s piggybacking on the last one, “Genesis,” and this one is going to be “Exodus,” and I’ve been saying this is probably going to be my last record of completely new music. I’m not saying it’s the last record I’ll ever do, but I’m really trying to make an anthology of everything I do on one record. There will probably be close to 15 or 20 songs on this one.
That’s some pretty big news for your fans. How have they reacted to your last album?
I’ve said it in interviews maybe twice, and I haven’t put it on my social media yet, but I am really gearing up to sort of slow down. I’ve been doing 150 shows a year at this point and it’s taken its toll in the last few years. I want to do some other things. I’m not saying it’s retirement, but this will be the last one for the foreseeable future.
Maybe you could take that extra time and settle into some sort of a residency in Las Vegas?
That would be amazing, to be able to stay in one place. We’ve all been watching the Celine [Dion] model for so many years and obviously that’s a different fan base, but I’ve always wanted to put together some kind of show that could play in a Las Vegas residency kind of setting and I’ve been talking with different places about that, so we’ll see how it goes.
Brian McKnight takes the stage at 8 p.m. on February 8 at Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas (3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 702-770-9966) and more info can be found at wynnlasvegas.com.
