On stage, a giant beacon of white light glows. It burns brightly for almost two hours, the seats in front of it slowly filling with zealous followers. When anticipation in the coliseum builds to palpable levels, the icon suddenly begins to rotate and display bizarre voodoo images reminiscent of American Horror Story: Coven. As the day turns into night, the séance activates and the Goddess of the Night rises to take her throne.
Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour graced Dallas with its presence yesterday, and tens of thousands of screaming fans traveled from all over the metroplex to join together under the massive AT&T Dome. An hour after the concert was supposed to begin, opener DJ Khaled roared onstage and brought the entire crowd to its feet, remixing classic hip hop/rap songs and bringing on several featured artists with him. But, just as the irritation at the concert delay started to disappear, so did Khaled, leaving the entire audience lingering anxiously for the main event. Other than ads for Knowles’ clothing line and charity, the next thirty minutes of delay drew angry shouts of indignation from nearby fans desperate for the superstar’s appearance. However, as my friend predicted, “the instant she comes on stage we’re not going to care anymore.”
She couldn’t have been more spot on. After Beyoncé wiped the floor with us in an explosive performance of “Formation,” I easily would have waited three more hours for the concert The Queen had in store. No matter your opinions on Beyoncé, there is no doubt that she masters the art of performance, and the level of excellence this tour reached is something I doubt anyone could one-up, except future Bey. Outside of the massive cube that was capable of splitting in half, projecting tantalizing images, and producing cutouts for the “Partition” dance break, the performance was offset by fireworks, flamethrowers, the iconic “Freedom” water stage, and acrobatics on par with Cirque du Soleil.
Instead of trying to complete the impossible task of picking a favorite song, I decided to try and isolate a few of the dozens of masterful performances Knowles dished out one after another. The commanding opening anthem “Formation” had the entire audience singing along perfectly, and the “Run The World (Girls)” performance destroyed fans of both genders. Beyoncé demonstrated her diverse skillset with a head-banging explosive version of “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” complete with an epic guitar solo. Her mashup of three of my favorite songs “Diva,” “Flawless,” and “Feeling Myself” epitomized the sass and choreography that Queen Bey has perfected over her career. Always a master of alternate versions, Beyoncé performed both versions of her smash hit “Crazy in Love,” before making literal waves with the aquatic anthem “Freedom.” “7/11,” “Single Ladies,” and “6 Inch” were sorely missed, though my personal favorite “Haunted” at least got a tease in one of the beautiful VCRs.
Outside of the theatrics and extravagant choreography, Beyoncé revealed a more nuanced emotional side and bared her soul onstage proclaiming “I thank you guys for allowing me to grow, and supporting me, and loving me. I love you so much.” While she has evolved over the last two decades into a superstar capable of commanding the attention of packed venues worldwide, Beyoncé’s Houston roots shine just as brightly as her opulent stage costumes. She continued to reference her home state throughout the two-hour set list (especially during country-influenced “Daddy Lessons”) and sported a Texas flag wrapped around her shoulders for the encore.
The inordinate fees for a Beyoncé concert (tickets, parking, food, and merchandise easily totaling in the hundreds of dollars) don’t just cover a concert; when you buy a ticket, you pay for an experience. Beyoncé has risen to the level of cultural divinity that we will willingly do whatever it takes to see her highness grace the stage. Might my frustrations with the two-hour delay have stemmed from ignorance of Beyoncé’s standard concert demeanor? Probably, but this irritation couldn’t make a dent into the life-altering experience that Beyoncé the phenomena, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles the authentic woman behind the stage, and the show-stopping larger-than-life stage persona Sasha Fierce created together. Was the entire concert Flawless? No. Would I wait for two hours, pay $50 for a t-shirt, get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, stay up ridiculously late on a school night, and wake up exhausted the next day just to see her perform again? Absolutely.
