Beyoncé brings rodeo to London
On 7 June, Beyoncé returned to London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a three-hour-long showcase for her most recent album, Cowboy Carter. She set the tone with her opening song, 'Ameriican Requiem' – distancing herself from her best-known R&B hits of the 2010s and confirming her transition to a hybrid, country-inflected genre of her own creation. 'Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they,' the opening line of 'Spaghettii' playfully states, in the middle of an album that weaves together plucky banjos and a more predictable R&B soundscape.
The show gained momentum with every song. There was a flurry of costume changes: from white-fringed cowboy trousers to LED colour-changing dresses to bejewelled leotards. The singer's lauded vocals were so strong they overpowered the microphone as she sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner', the US national anthem, leading into the R&B-gospel mix 'Freedom'. But the crowd were inevitably most animated during her old hits: 'If I Were a Boy' and 'Crazy in Love', released in 2003. Not even intermittent rain could dampen the spirits of performer or audience.
The staging was elaborate: at one point, Beyoncé sang from atop a gold mechanical bull. Later, she was suspended over the crowd in a huge horseshoe, followed by a red cabriolet as she performed the country ballad '16 Carriages'. Both of Beyoncé's daughters were present. Eight-year-old Rumi sat with her mother during 'Protector' – an ode to motherhood – and Blue Ivy, 13, performed as a back-up dancer.
The night finished with a bang: during the expansive prayer for America, 'Amen', columns of fire spread a welcome wave of heat over the audience – many of whom were wearing fringed shorts or cropped denim shirts covered with plastic raincoats. 'I'm not like other singers,' Beyoncé sang, with a wink.
Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter Tour
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London N17
[See also: Bruce Springsteen faces the end of America]
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