Beyoncé Knowles-Carter probably caters to the most diverse audience in pop music, so I really didn't really know what to expect. In my mind it would go something like this: Southern Gothic imagery, dramatic interludes accompanied by spoken word, 19th century Creole doily fashions, Mardi Gras costumes. A WEALTH of natural hair, textured hair, braids. You get the idea. I was imagining something like "Lemonade LIVE", and I was curious as to how some of the more socio-political themes would translate onto a big stage.
Let me REALLY set the scene. I went to the show at the Lincoln Prudential Center in Philly, Sunday, June 5th. The stage’s centerpiece was a 50 foot rotating high definition video tower, and two large monitors on either side of the stage. Looked pretty simple at a glance. The show was delayed about an hour and a half because of thunderstorms, but honestly nobody seemed to care. Like divine intervention the clouds dispersed and the sun came out, only 20 minutes after the scheduled showtime.
Everyone's favorite hype man and self proclaimed Snapchat King, DJ Khaled came out to greet us around 8:00pm and got the party started with a big "Make some noise Phillyyy!" He was joined by the bawse Rick Ross, and Philly's own Meek Mill. I was a little surprised to see Meek, but apparently he was granted permission to perform, even though he's still serving house arrest. They had a 40 minute set, but given the delay the crowd was full of anxious energy. Finally at 9:30pm the sound system booms, the lights go off, the big cube in the middle of the stage starts flashing and rotating slowly, and the THX Sound logo shows up on the monitors to let us know it's about to go down.
The tower completes its 360 and comes to a stop to Queen Bey in a black unitard and wide brimmed Black wide rimmed hat. The screen magnified her to giant size, making every seat in the stadium feel like the best seat in the house. The backup dancers marched in perfect formation as Bey led them through Lemonade's debut single. Following was a spirited, middle fingers up, performance of Sorry that had every woman out of her seat. Surely everyone knows by now that Sorry is the breakup anthem of the year, calling for every jilted woman out there to say "Boy Bye" I could feel my mom side eyeing the hell out of my sister and I for singing "suck on my balls", but we were completely caught up in the moment. Dancers were suspended and twirling from wires, all of the dancers were women, if not women of color. There was so much Black girl magic on that stage I felt transcended. Mrs. Carter also gave lots of shine to her band. Her drummer, Venzella Joy Williams had a dope extended drum solo at the end of Bow Down/Tom Ford, this show was FUN.
I encourage anyone who is going to a show on this tour to put your cellphones DOWN. Don't watch this through your phone. There were times during the show where cameras zoomed in on the audience at floor level. This one girl had Beyoncé right in front of her face, holding her hand and she wouldn't put the phone down. WHY? You're at a Beyoncé concert. There were a lot of surprise throwbacks like Dangerously in Love's Baby Boy, B’Day’s Kitty Kat and Destiny's Child single Bootylicious. These made some of the earlier songs she performed feel like they were from a different artist altogether. She shouted out Nicki Minaj during Feeling Myself, and according to Nicki's Instagram she was in the audience that night screaming along with the fans. Don't Hurt Yourself, my favorite song on Lemonade, and my favorite performance of the night happened after a short interlude. The lead guitarist was shredding for her LIFE! She added Kanye West's New Slaves to the intro. It was more than fitting as a throne ascended from the guts of the stage holding Beyoncé in a long red fur mantle fit for a queen. If that was the last performance I saw all night I think I would've been satisfied.
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