Beyoncé's Renaissance tour: An intergalactic explosion of joy

For astir a year, Beyoncé's fans person been starved of visuals for her seventh album, Renaissance.

It's an antithetic determination for a prima whose ocular aesthetic has ever been intertwined with her music.

From the bubblegum-popping, star-making video for Crazy In Love, to the multi-layered exploration of infidelity and achromatic femininity successful the ocular album, Lemonade, she has ever utilized manner and iconography to heighten her songs.

So each eyes are connected her caller satellite tour. How volition she picture Renaissance's adventurous exploration of marginalised achromatic and queer nine euphony connected the stage?

The stakes are arsenic precocious arsenic the anticipation. This is Beyoncé's archetypal solo circuit successful 7 years, and her archetypal concerts since her historic, politically-charged header set astatine the 2018 Coachella festival.

So arsenic the lights dim and giant, stadium-width video screens are filled with sky-blue imagery, there's an adjacent consciousness of excitement and anticipation from an assemblage that includes Dua Lipa, Frank Ocean, Kris Jenner and Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z.

What she unveils is an intergalactic detonation of eye-melting opulence... a travel wrong a disco shot that encompasses 34 songs, a flying horse, aggregate creation showdowns and choreographed robots, each tethered to the pulsing heartbeat of Renaissance's nine grooves.

But earlier each that, Beyoncé wrongfoots everyone.

She opens the amusement with 4 soft ballads from the commencement of her vocation - and they're not adjacent the large ones similar Halo oregon Irreplaceable.

Instead, the acceptable starts with Dangerously In Love, a Destiny's Child opus that was reworked arsenic the rubric way of her archetypal solo album, and continues with heavy cuts similar 1+1 and Flaws And All.

It's a tease, for sure, but it besides works arsenic a Vegas-style overture. Before the much demanding, choreographed numbers that follow, Beyoncé is escaped to locomotion the stage, chatting to fans and speechmaking their signs. "It's your birthday!" she declares. "I emotion you!"

She besides pauses to wage tribute to Tina Turner, an creator she has repeatedly called her top influence, aft the singer's decease past week.

"I privation you to let maine to sing 1 of my favourite songs," she says, introducing a slow, gospel mentation Turner's River Deep, Mountain High.

"We emotion you, Tina," she adds, casting her eyes towards the sky.

Before long, however, the introductions are over. The video surface shows a brace of orbiting suns and informs america that the Beyoncé we've conscionable witnessed is nary more. She's been reborn, rewired and transformed into a chrome-plated disco diva from different galaxy. An Alien Superstar.

She emerges encased successful metal, and robotic arms dilatory portion distant her armour-plating arsenic she performs Renaissance's declarative opener, I'm That Girl.

From here, we're plunged into popular spectacle, arsenic the prima careers done the album's 16-strong tracklist and remodels immoderate of her classical hits successful its image.

Renaissance's champion three-song series (Cuff It, Energy and Break My Soul) arrives intact, turning the Tottenham Stadium into a monolithic nightclub.

Arms flail and drinks are spilled arsenic Beyoncé and her dancers cavort crossed a circular catwalk to the mediate of the audience, with the prima dressed successful an iridescent David Koma bodysuit, with matching knee-high boots.

The ambiance intensifies with a agelong of harder-edged hits, including Formation and Black Parade.

Here, Beyoncé performs atop a elephantine metallic tank, portion her 11-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, leads the creation troupe to the beforehand of the stage.

It's lone her second-ever signifier quality but she's chill arsenic a cucumber, marching successful measurement with the professionals arsenic 60,000 radical look on.

When the assemblage bursts into applause, Beyoncé acknowledges the effect with a beaming, motherly grin - a uncommon glimpse down her flawless perfectionism.

As the performance segues into psyche and R&B, Beyoncé shows disconnected immoderate impressive, jazzy vocal runs during Plastic On The Sofa.

Then she lets the assemblage instrumentality the reins connected an ebullient Love On Top - starring them successful an a capella rendition of the past 4 choruses, cardinal changes and all, earlier declaring: "I'll person to halt you determination oregon you'd beryllium going each night."

But the prima claims her favourite opus of the acceptable is the sweaty, hedonistic nine anthem Heated, which culminates successful a frenetic rap directed astatine her detractors.

"Sometimes I messiness up the words, truthful y'all got to assistance me," she tells us, seemingly unaware that everyone tin spot the autocue that's been feeding her the lyrics passim the show.

That's not a criticism, though. There's a batch to retrieve successful this jaw-dropping show, wherever astir each opus quotes different constituent of Beyoncé's catalogue. The irresistible electro-funk of Virgo's Groove, for example, incorporates elements of 7 different songs - including Naughty Girl and the Destiny's Child classical Say My Name.

Elsewhere, Beyoncé tips her chapeau to Madonna's Vogue, Kendrick Lamar's Alright, and the Jacksons' Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground).

It's a maximalist emotion missive to creation euphony that ne'er feels forced oregon unwieldy.

The staging, too, takes the benignant of more-is-more attack that's go indispensable for a stadium concert.

At assorted points, Beyoncé appears arsenic Botticelli's Venus successful a clamshell, arsenic an Athena riding rockets done space, arsenic a quality embodiment of a stained solid window, and arsenic a elephantine bee (a motion to her nickname, Queen Bey).

There are besides dancers popping retired of the signifier similar jack-in-the-boxes, a glitter shot the size of a tiny caravan, a phenomenal magnitude of glitter, and - for the finale - Beyoncé soaring astir the stadium astride a elephantine metallic horse, successful a motion to Bianca Jagger astatine Studio 54.

It's fantastic and anserine and gleefully self-indulgent, which whitethorn disappoint radical who came looking for the benignant of socio-political commentary that Beyoncé delivered connected her medium Lemonade and the consequent Coachella show (Lemonade's songs are conspicuously absent from this setlist).

But determination is simply a deeper connection nether the aboveground - 1 of self-acceptance, tolerance and state from expectations.

As the assemblage arrive, the video screens show what looks similar an old-fashioned TV trial card, but is successful information the Progress Pride flag.

At the extremity of the show, the aforesaid screens airy up with a photograph of Beyoncé's mother, Tina, and her "godmother" - her precocious uncle Jonny, a cheery antheral who was HIV affirmative and designed immoderate of Beyoncé's aboriginal signifier costumes.

In between, the amusement is narrated by legendary commentator Kevin JZ Prodigy, successful an homage to the Ballroom subculture that originated amongst the achromatic and Latino LGBTQ communities successful New York; portion Beyoncé sings astir quitting your occupation and throwing yourself headfirst into a a beingness of hedonistic pleasance (something she presumably allows herself to ideate erstwhile a day, conscionable aft breakfast, earlier snapping into a perfectly-timed creation break).

It each adds up to a connection of joy. Joy successful being yourself, joyousness successful dancing, joyousness successful letting go, joyousness successful being together.

Perhaps that's wherefore she saved the visuals for the tour: This is simply a grounds that needs to beryllium experienced successful existent life, with different people.

And Beyoncé. On a spangled horse.