Trey Songz performed on the first night of the 2015 Essence Music Festival, which took place at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Thursday evening (July 2). This is the crooner's fifth year on the main stage but he seemed to be having an off night.

Songz struggled to find the right key during his performance of his current hit "Slow Motion" even with a live band behind him. A number of concertgoers, seated on the floor of the Superdome were growing impatient, although his die-hard fans stood by him, swaying to the melody as though nothing was wrong.

Then, the R&B crooner brought out hometown hero Juvenile to perform his own "Slow Motion" song and the crowd collectively jumped to their feet. The audience rapped along, "Ah slow down fa' me / Ah, you movin' too fast..." as Trey seemed to relax a bit, even playing hypeman to Juve until the song was over.

Afterward, no one was sure if the sound issues were on him and his vocal cords or maybe he couldn't hear himself through his earbuds. Still, the "Bottoms Up" singer was having a tough time staying in tune.

His ballad "We Can't Be Friends" was near unrecognizable and Songz kept hitting these riffs to see if maybe he could still bring the song together but several concertgoers cringed at the result. In fact, the best thing about his set was how great the singer looked onstage.

As he moved into "Neighbors Know My Name," two college-aged women in the crowd were overheard debating whether or not Songz would be removing his shirt during his performance. "Girl, he always takes his shirt off. Always. He takes off a blazer first, then the button-down. But the tank top underneath, that's what he tears off," said one fan.

It was the truth. the 30-year-old singer has a habit of dressing in layers onstage at the Essence Festival. Tonight, there was no blazer though, so logically, the young woman figured he was one layer closer to being shirtless.

Her friend replied matter-of-factly, "I don't know. He doesn't look like he's in the mood for all that tonight."

Her intonation though, had a hint of hope within. And it turned out she was right. Songz didn't remove his shirt that night -- a first -- and at the time it was rumored that he would be interviewing with no one, although he did visit the media room for a single question after his set.

Unfortunately, although the Superdome was about half full, Trey Songz missed his mark on the festival's first night.

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