Photo: Daniel Vesco/Parkwood Entertainment/AP Invision
Beyonce kicked off her UK tour last night at Sunderland’s Stadium Of Light – a name much more glamorous than the place really warrants, but entirely appropriate given the behemoth it was playing host to.
Here's 5 things we learned.
Bringing up God doesn’t get the same reaction in the UK
“If you are a woman, you are born strong,” announced Beyonce as she neared the end of a rousing speech about heartbreak and empowerment. Cheers erupted from the crowd – there was no Chimanda Ngozi Adichie sample tonight, nor did the word ‘feminist’ flash up triumphantly on the screen, so we were overdue a good pep talk. “Because God,” she continued, clutching her heart, “is right here.” The cheers to that little addendum were a lot less enthusiastic. Know your audience, Bey.
Beyonce understands what her sweat is worth to people
Every time her image was briefly removed, inbetween songs, from the three enormous screens, Beyonce glided over to the corner of the stage, and dabbed at her face with a white towel before tossing it towards her fans. She could have used just the one, but instead, she continued to bring out new towels throughout the night, each one barely grazing her cheek – just enough contact to be anointed with her magic – before being launched into the crowd to be scrabbled over as if some holy relic.
Beyonce fans are remarkably respectful
When she wasn’t bombarding them with sweaty towels, Beyonce paced slowly but surely along the front row, her hands outstretched as fans awaited their turn to touch her. Of the fifty or so whose hand she briefly held, not a single one clung on, or grasped too hard, or tried to use her grip to hoist themselves onto the stage so they could propose. They simply brushed their hand against hers, and their lives were ever changed because of it.
Beyonce finds it difficult to stick with a song to the end
One of the very few frustrations of a rousing, indubitably slick (tardiness aside) two hours was Beyonce’s seeming inability to sing an entire song from start to finish. Some of the cameos from her biggest hits, like ‘Crazy In Love’, can’t have been more than 30 seconds long before she skidded to a halt and launched into something else. It was fuelled, at least in part, by necessity – by a back-catalogue so rich in hits that it would be impossible to get through it all in five hours, let alone two. And yet, somehow, the disappointment that came from having some of your favourite Beyonce tracks dangled in front of you and then snatched away was worse than not having them at all.
Lemonade is still the most powerful album of the year
With the expansive, anthemic ‘Freedom’, Beyonce and her dancers made literal the line, “Imma wade, I’m a wave through the waters,” filling the stage with a shallow pool of water, refracting the song’s defiant edges with every splash and kick. With the country-tinged ‘Daddy Lessons’, scenes of rural America beamed behind her as she cocked an imaginary gun, and with ‘Hold Up’, the mid-tempo nod to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Maps’ reverberated around the stadium. Every track from Lemonade was every inch as dynamic and potent as on record.
Beyonce’s UK tour continues on Thursday in Cardiff, before continuing onto London, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin. See the full dates below, as well as last night’s setlist. For tickets and more information, visit here.
Thu June 30 2016 - CARDIFF Principality Stadium Cardiff
Sat July 02 2016 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Sun July 03 2016 - LONDON Wembley Stadium
Tue July 05 2016 - MANCHESTER Emirates Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Thu July 07 2016 - GLASGOW Hampden Park National Stadium
Sat July 09 2016 - DUBLIN Croke Park
Beyonce played:
Intro
(with samples of 'No Angel' and ‘Formation’)
Formation
Sorry
Kitty Kat
(a cappella)
Bow Down
('Tom Ford' outro)
Run the World (Girls)
Superpower
(Interlude)
Mine
Baby Boy
Hold Up
Countdown
(with samples of 'Pop My Trunk’)
Me, Myself and I
Runnin' (Lose It All)
All Night
I Care / Ghost
(Interlude)
Don't Hurt Yourself
Ring the Alarm
(with samples of 'Lost Yo Mind’)
Diva
(with samples of 'Cut It', & ‘Panda’)
***Flawless
(Interlude)
***Flawless
(Remix)
Feeling Myself
Yoncé
Drunk in Love
Rocket
Hip Hop Star / Freakum Dress
(Interlude)
Daddy Lessons
Love on Top
(a cappella)
1+1
Crazy in Love
Naughty Girl
Party
(with samples of 'La Di Da Di’)
Die with You / Blue
(Interlude)
Freedom
Survivor
(Destiny’s Child song)
End of Time
(with samples of 'Grown Woman’)
Halo
