Under a bright sun, the public is already boiling hot when getting off the RER. How long had it been since we had witnessed such a spectacle? Five years after her previous visit to the Stade de France, in duet with Jay-Z in the middle of the World Cup, Beyoncé is back on the scene of the dream and her fans, who tore off in fifty minutes the 80,000 places of this unique date in Paris — a second date in France, on June 11 at the Vélodrome de Marseille —, put on their best looks: the girls in silver cowgirl hats and the boys, responding just as much to the spangled dress code of this Renaissance World Tour repeated in April in Paris – the Arena de la Défense privatized for a month in the greatest secrecy -, some of them were decked out in long blonde wigs, microskirts and wedge heels. Logic: Beyoncé is a Queen and Paris is a party. We are then happy, even if all alcohol sales have been banned by the singer of Methodist obedience in person, to find a little of this atmosphere which made the great hours of the Palace at the end of the 1970s. Moreover, a title of Prince, Controversyisn’t it broadcast before the giant screen in the background unravels the mystery of this show blowing on the embers of disco.
A blue sky has replaced the wallpaper representing the pattern of an ORTF television set. But, just after interpreting Dangerously in Love 2taken from the eponymous album which saw her explode twenty years ago just solo with the tube Crazy in Love, the ex-member of Destiny’s Child wishes to speak. The lioness died two days later, so the panther wants to address her: “I just wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to Tina Turner, said his young heiress. If you’re a fan of me, you must be a fan of Tina Turner, because without her I wouldn’t be here. » The Queen is dead? Long live Queen B!
“He’s a legend, he’s an icon »
The Texan can resume her recital: “I’m a train wreck in the morning / I’m a bitch in the afternoon / Every Now and then without warning / I can be really mean towards you. » (“I’m a wreck in the morning / I’m a bitch in the afternoon / Once in a while without warning / I can be really mean to you”). By these pictorial rhymes — Flaws and Allon his second album, B’Day (2006) — the public is warned: in a few titles, the Stade de France enclosure will take on the appearance of a huge dance club. The plastic of the LGBTQIA+ icon will have invaded everyone’s minds. Projected like a billboard on American expressways, the absolute feminine becomes a mythological goddess under digital mascara will even have made you forget the show in the show: the presence of Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams (accompanied by chef Jean Imbert), Jean Paul Gaultier or Christian Louboutin for this show launched on May 10 in Stockholm. Cast in sequined designer dresses, the legend shines even in her ears with a thousand sparkles Tiffany — jeweler partner of the tour — takes up all the space. She’s a legend, she’s an icon, she’s a figure confronting the crowd like a cat more ready to purr than to show her claws.
NOBODY I mean NOBODY is at the level of Beyoncé … she is so above the whole music industry it’s unreal. Best performer of all time, dead or alive, female or male #RenaissanceWorldTour pic.twitter.com/a3Src4xF8S
— greg von d (@greg_crchl) May 27, 2023
In a dozen paintings quoting both Metropolis and Moebius, the android creature quickly invites us to dive into a SF universe with dystopian borders. Quotations from Albert Einstein and Jim Morrison, making us understand that the imagination is stronger than knowledge on the one hand and that the control of the media is dangerous for our critical freedom on the other hand, confirm that the capable star to afford a residence by the architect Tadao Ando for the modest sum of 200 million dollars is always aware of the vibrations of the world. And we want to believe it, in view of the review it offers to its public.
Not a false note
Arrival of a train at La Ciotat station projected by the Lumière Brothers had more effect in 1896 than the two-and-a-half-hour show set like digital paper? Nothing is less sure. Accompanied by around twenty dancers, giving the adjective elastic its noblest synonyms, the singer defies the laws of biology: not a note is missing in these thirty-three songs carried out in a dance step. It takes breath and Beyoncé knows what belly singing means. And if some compare her to Madonna, it is to forget that Beyoncé dispenses with playing on a band-orchestra. Weighted with an equal band, the singer can recall what fuel we are heating up in Texas. All dressed in silver jumpsuits, these will accompany him in an inventory of Afro-American music. But if Beyoncé cites Nino Simone or Bessie Smith, it’s more Diana Ross (love hangover, performed as an interlude by his backing vocals) that we hear between two slap bass notes and two riffs of funk riffs. My God that beats!
We didn’t want to let go. At 42sec she clearly tells us stop but we continue with our slammed voices 😅 #RenaissanceWorldTour #Beyonce #beyonceparis pic.twitter.com/skq5lGVDq1
— Asta🥢 (@BrefJeSuisIDE) May 27, 2023
In this copious menu skilfully choreographed, even on the side of the musicians, Beyoncé will manage to cram practically the entirety of her album linked to this tour, Renaissance. Night has now completely fallen. Twelfth title of the show, the single house Break My Soul literally sets the arena ablaze. Perched on a silver tank, the singer advances towards the heart of the reactor, offering one of the craziest moments of the show, stretched to the limit. Hedonism, exaltation of bodies. The Twins twin dancer duo, loyal to the American artist since 2011, flutter in the air.
The Sarcellois will finish, draped in a French flag paying homage to their city of origin. Because everything is pride here. To this house success will respond thirteen titles later the second bomb of the show, Crazy in Love. We will then move on to the final. In a America has a Problem remixed by Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé poses as Cassandre of the times of the frenzy of the world. We came out of the dream, we come back to reality, which is dark. Fortunately, the singer will have time, before leaving the stage, to ride her silver horse and fly above the crowd. Has she ever considered taking over? This is what the presence of her daughter Blue Ivy halfway through the show could suggest. But she has time to grow again because, at 41, the Texan is not ready to hang up her cowboy boots. ****
