We felt as if we were watching a Broadway musical:The guys looked sharp on stage in their white suits, twirling their canes in step with the music; their partners - slim, lanky women in slinky, backless numbers over high-waisted pants.

But no. It wasn't a scene from All That Jazz or an equivalent. The troupe actually belonged to an R&B entourage - that of Ne-Yo's.

Indeed, the show presented by this superstar, was to say the least - slick.... with a big dose of soul.

The date was January 7, at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach. And we were huddled right behind the VVIP seats. Just as the skies start to change a darker hue of blue, local songstress Najwa Mahiaddin came up on stage as the opening act of the headlining concert.

Providing an excellent entree, Najwa's neo-soul tracks - of which she delivered six original numbers - were akin to performances by Etta James and Beyonce - vocally-speaking. 

She managed to bowl the crowd over with all her renditions.

Before we knew it, it was time for the main-attraction. This was signalled by a loud play of drums and percussion, solid bass and the saxaphone.

In a minute, there was Ne-Yo on stage, looking as if he just stepped out of a magazine cover, dressed in a sleek, snazzy attire - white pants paired with a crisp white singlet under a short-sleeved top. Naturally, there was also his signature fedora hat to complete the look. 

Right from the very start, he had the crowd eating from his hands. Utterly enraptured by his hit "Because of You", the star had his audience singing their hearts out as they took in his fancy footwork, not unlike the style of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Energised by the high of the concert goers, Ne-Yo continued to belt out hits from his latest and previous albums. Songs like Single, Miss Independent, So You Can Cry, Lie To Me were among the tracks in his repertoire that night.

Some 30 minutes later, the crooner took the liberty to introduce his protégé Jadyn Maria, whom he had signed under his record label Compound Entertainment. Jadyn, a singer-songwriter fairly new to the scene, managed to impress us with her vocal range as well as her dazzling blue sequinned attire.

After a couple of songs, Ne-Yo came back on stage and performed a duet with her.

As he entertained his endearing audience, he would dole out words of wisdom from his mother. One of them was to "never, never, never, ever go to bed mad," just before he launched into the song 'Mad'.

Cheekily, he later quizzed the crowd and asked them, "Let me see how well do you know your Ne-Yo?" Accompanied by his band D-Band, he then delivered some familiar tracks that were sung by different artistes and asked the crowd to sing along  The familiar tunes belonged to Beyonce, Rihanna, Mario, Flo Rida and Jordin Sparks. Later, he revealed that the songs - Irreplacable, Take a bow, Let me love you, Be on you and Spotlight, were all his compositions.

All too soon, it was nearing the end of the concert. The chants of 'Encore, Encore' were answered when he reappeared on stage minus the black shirt exposing his ripped muscles causing a raucous cheer among the ladies.

His last song of the night 'Closer' ended the concert. With an exaggerated gentleman's swagger, complete with his walking cane and a slight tip of fedora to the cheering crowd, he bade us goodnight.