Usher talks filling Michael Jackson shoes - The Michael Joseph .

Usher has one matter on his brain with his latest tour: leaving his audiences saying, "OMG." "That`s the whole point. You know, with an incredible record, I wanted to also provide a big impression. Live performance has ever been my thing. It`s my intention to overcome and seize the moment every time I give you connected," the 32-year-old says of his tour, which hits Staples Center on Thursday.

"I wanted to make certain [the record] was land of the art. I wanted to make certain that in comparison to the early shows that are passing on about the world, you get the case of experience that leaves you saying, `OMG.` " The "OMG" tour, aptly titled after the will.i.am-produced smash from this year`s "Raymond v. Raymond," marks the Atlanta native's (born Usher Raymond IV) return to arenas, his first big-budget spectacle since 2004`s "Truth Tour." The trek supports the platinum-selling disc, which followed a bitter public divorce and introduction of his protg, pop phenom Justin Bieber, as easily as the recently released companion EP "Versus." Both discs were seen as critical comebacks after the lukewarm reception of 2008`s "Here I Stand." Raymond, always the consummate performer, said he was looking to up the ante with this tour. And judgment from Pop & Hiss` glimpse at his Anaheim show Sunday, he has. The futuristic-themed high concept show is heavy on the theatrics. Between hovering atop a platform suspended 50 feet above the audience, high-flying acrobatics and, of course, impressive footwork, he pulls off quite a show. "A lot of time and technical practice has gone into it. So await a picture that`s above and beyond what you ordinarily would get from Usher," he said a few weeks before the tour's launch. "My aim is to artistically take people on a journey they might not otherwise be capable to experience, meaning the dancing and everything that I`ve created that has been planned for this tour." For lots of his nearly 16-year career, he`s appeared to be groomed as the heir to Michael Jackson, especially since Jackson's death. Raymond isn't facing much competition for the title; Chris Brown is still trying to restore his damaged image, and Justin Timberlake has become a viable movie star. The show confirms that not alone does Raymond believe he`s inherited the crown , but besides that he`s a worthy successor to Jackson`s glitter-studded shoes - the latter of which he literally fills during one stop in the present when a sparkling black pair of high-top sneakers mysteriously appear onstage. After announcing to the interview that "when I put these things on, I just . turn into a . animal," he launchess into a moonwalk, almost conjuring Jackson's ghost. "You know, we lost Michael Jackson. A lot of force is on me, and I don`t mind taking it," he said later. "The overarching impression that I`d care to forget is that, you know, this guy is really stepping it up to a level where people can hopefully compare him to people like [Jackson], and great entertainers of the past." Though the tour does provide a startling amount of visual nods to "This Is It," Jackson`s would-be last hurrah, Raymond isn`t so sure he wants to go as he ages, having told the New York Times before this year: "Hopefully, at 40, I won`t take to be on the stage."