Last night at BB King’s in NYC, Eric Benet performed before a sold out crowd and for a streaming audience around the world to cap off this Valentine’s Day weekend. The weather was frigid outside, but Eric immediately heated things up as he took the stage, thrilling the audience with his energy and awesome stage presence opening with a remixed version of “Love Don’t Love Me”. As he took the room through many of his biggest hits and album favorites, there were more than a few highlights that stood out on this occasion.

Following the completion of his single “I Wanna Be Loved”, he instructed the men in the room to sing along from their heart, and after some hesitation, they joined right in. This of course drew an impressive ovation from the ladies. However, the best ovation of the night came after Eric absolutely killed his #1 single “Sometimes I Cry”. As he belted out the final notes, the whole room was on their feet and stood cheering for over a minute straight. A rarity for an NYC crowd.

Finally, before performing his first #1 single “Spend My Life With You” with his background singer, he told the story of how the duet with Tamia came together. Essentially, he was hoping to spark a flame with her by inviting her to join in on the song, but she showed up to the studio with her boyfriend Grant Hill and showed off her engagement ring! Of course, the song still became a huge success, and every background singer we’ve seen Eric choose to duet with him live has done an outstanding job.

After touching on all of the singles from “Chocolate Legs” to “Femininity” to “Pretty Baby” to “Never Want to Live Without You”, he came back for an encore to perform “Georgy Porgy”. Eric is enjoying so much success in his career right now, and his live show is a big part of that; he’s one of the best right now in r&b. When Eric Benet is in your city, it’s easily worth the price of admission.