It’s been a minute since Monica has hit that New York City stage for her enthusiastic fans, but last night (Decmember 13) at the Gramercy Theater, she finally made her return.

The R&B veteran wrapped up her Code Red Experience tour right in the middle of a bustling Manhattan, and she certainly went out with a bang. The tour was the main lead-up to her highly anticipated album, Code Red, that finally drops this week, and fans did not leave disappointed.

The evening started out with a few opening acts to tide over the crowd, just before R&B mastermind Rico Love hit the stage to perform hits off of his 2015 album, Turn The Lights On. As fans sang along to records like “Ride,” “Somebody Else,” and “Run,” everyone was reminded that this night was particularly made for the pleasure of real R&B heads. After a 30-40 minute long set, Rico set the tone for how the rest of the evening would play out.

By 9:30 or so, it was time for fans to have their wishes granted, as Monica was finally ready to hit the stage and take over. As fans, media, and VIP’s were warmed up by the DJ playing some classic New York hip hop, the audience started to become restless with anticipation. Soon enough, the lights went off, and a familiar voice was heard through the speakers, but it was not that of Monica’s.

The singer’s 1-year-old daughter, Laiyah, graced the screen, to the delight of the crowd, who told everyone to meet her mom’s arrival with enthusiasm, and told her how much she loved her. The moment was certainly a default highlight for the crowd full of fans who follow the hard-working mother’s move with her little girl. Following the video, fans were met to the sounds of Monica’s newest title track, “Code Red,” which has an introduction from little Laiyah, as well as an opening verse from the one and only, Missy Elliott.

During a brief pre-show interview we had with Monica, she spoke on working with the legend hit-marker:

“Our friendship always dictates the way we work. We don’t let the work dictate anything else. So we spent a lot of time together, and I’d go to her house in a lot of times in Atlanta, even sometimes and chill there. We talk about the things that mean the most to us, and we create the music around what’s kind of happening in my life, and things she knows about my past. So as we were working, it was really fun for me because I got a chance to tune everything else out. It was really really easy to work with Miss, and it’s always a relief for me as an artist since she loves the music first, and not the politics or the monetary part of it. Everything is really about the music for us.”

Although Missy was absent for the concert, fans knew that their fave hitting the stage would quickly turn that into a non-factor.

Photo by @lindseyindia