Big, big stage: Wachusett High grad will play with Usher at Super Bowl halftime show
The Patriots may not have made it to this year’s Super Bowl, but Massachusetts will still be represented on your television screen when the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco ‘49ers battle it out for the NFL championship Sunday in Las Vegas.
Fans watching Usher perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show will be able to spot Dmitry Gorodetsky, who grew up in Holden, and his bass guitar onstage.
“For 13 minutes of music, people can't even fathom the amount of work that goes in,” Gorodetsky said. “Everything has to be firing on all cylinders for it to work out.”
The biggest televised concert of the year is a culmination of decades of work for Gorodetsky, whose road to the top began when his family moved from Russia to Holden.
From Russia to Holden
The Gorodetskys left Russia in 1992, shortly after the Soviet government dissolved, but for 10-year-old Dmitry, the most important new influence in his life was not political but musical.
“Once I moved to America, I got really into Black American music — soul music, funk, a lot of jazz,” Gorodetsky said. “That drew me in once we moved to this country.”
As a teenager, Gorodetsky picked up a guitar first, starting short-lived bands with classmates at Wachusett Regional High School, but he quickly realized that there always seemed to be a shortage of bass players.
An older musician told him that the bass was “a working man’s instrument,” always in demand, and he made the switch, first to upright bass, then to electric bass. Soon, he was studying with Worcester’s most seasoned jazz musicians and joining jam sessions at Gilrein’s blues bar in Main South.
“My dad used to take me to clubs when I was way underage and chaperone me so that I could be around real musicians,” Gorodetsky said. “There were always a lot of older, seasoned musicians that we could learn from, so sitting in with them at a jam session, I'd get my butt kicked.”
Gorodetsky eventually moved away, first to Boston, where he would often set up shop and play to passersby in Harvard Square, then to New York, where he would do the same in subway stations. Now living in the Los Angeles area, he still gives Worcester’s '90s and early-2000s jazz scene credit for getting him started.
“It was a great foundation,” he said.
Moving to bigger stages
Since moving to Los Angeles, he has worked with artists ranging from Dionne Warwick to Snoop Dogg to Christina Aguilera. For six years, he played bass in bedroom pop songwriter Charlie Puth’s touring band, a job that allowed him to travel around the world.
In the end, it was Gorodetsky’s work with influential producer and Tony! Toni! Toné! lead singer Raphael Saadiq that put him on Usher’s radar.
“(Saadiq) is that guy, so if he puts his stamp of approval on you, people are going to listen,” Gorodetsky said.
Gorodetsky was one of Saadiq’s go-to session musicians at the time, having worked with him on albums like John Legend’s “Bigger Love,” and in 2020, the producer called him in to play on the score for a commercial that would feature an appearance from Usher.
During filming, Usher heard something he liked and got in touch with the session band to ask Gorodetsky to join him.
In the three years since, Gorodetsky has played bass behind Usher in the Tiny Desk Concert series, at the iHeartRadio Awards, and throughout the “Yeah!” singer’s 2022-2023 Las Vegas residency.
“Usher is definitely in the tradition of James Brown, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye. He's the closest thing we've got to that,” Gorodetsky said. “He's the consummate performer, dancing, entertaining and singing at the same time.”
Gorodetsky said Usher’s style onstage was particularly reminiscent of Brown, who famously expected his band to be equally comfortable sitting on the same groove for 10 minutes and stopping at a moment’s notice.
“He can take the music anywhere and you've just got to follow him in the moment. He knows exactly what he's hearing in the band and has no hesitation in telling you what he wants you to play,” Gorodetsky said. “He'll come right over to you and sing you your part and you've got to have it quick.”
The big game
During the last months of Usher’s Las Vegas residency, Gorodetsky and the band heard rumors that the Super Bowl could be in their future, which were all but confirmed when representatives from the NFL came to a performance.
In September 2023, the league made the announcement that Usher would headline the 2024 halftime show, and rehearsals began.
According to Gorodetsky, every musician who performs at the Super Bowl is required to mime to a pre-recorded track, with the only exceptions being Prince in 2007 and Bruce Springsteen in 2009 (the Boss sang live, but the rest of the E Street Band recorded their parts in advance).
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However, miming does not necessarily make the performance easier.
“Even without playing the music live, the production is the biggest thing I've seen in the world,” Gorodetsky said. “It is an insanely giant production with an insane amount of people involved on the field and entertainment and facets of all kinds, much more than just music.”
Gorodetsky was unable to confirm his future plans, but Usher is scheduled to perform Oct. 27 and 28 at the TD Garden in Boston.
Speaking on the phone from Las Vegas, where he was about to spend an afternoon in dress rehearsals for the halftime show, Gorodetsky said he credited his ascent through the music industry to two things: good luck and a willingness to put in time and effort.
“If you prove yourself and keep a good reputation, and all the other things that have to align, then you move up to the next level and somebody calls you and you get an opportunity,” Gorodetsky said. “My first gig was in 1996. It's 2024 now.”
This article originally appeared on Worcester Magazine: Dmitry Gorodetsky to play with Usher at Super Bowl halftime show
