Beyoncé"s "Mrs. Carter Show" at Izod Center Robin Harper/Invision, via Associated Press Beyoncé at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Wednesday. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - At first it seemed that Beyoncé was taking one of her pop-star nicknames, Queen Bey, all too seriously. Her show at the Izod Center here on Wednesday night opened with a bombastic orchestral dirge and a video presenting her as a Marie Antoinette figure in a Gothic palace, receiving a crown. But as the queen's female retinue - wearing white unitards and hoops without skirts - reappeared onstage, the dirge segued into the martial beat of "Run the World (Girls)." Beyoncé, shaking the epaulets on her shoulders and flipping her hair, was taking power not for herself but for her entire gender. The set that followed was not about aristocratic aloofness, but about energy, empathy and a beaming smile. It was the first stop in the New York region of Beyoncé"s current tour, "The Mrs. Carter Show," which continues on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and Saturday to Monday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Mr. Carter is, of course, Shawn Carter, better known as Jay Z; he didn't show up, though his recorded voice was heard in "Crazy in Love." Except for its title, the two-hour show was no tribute to wifely self-effacement. It ranged through Beyoncé"s repertory - all the way back to "Survivor" from her years with Destiny's Child - to zigzag between romance and single-gal resilience, between making out and breaking up, often in successive tunes. Unlike Jay Z's songs, which boast about his savvy, his possessions and his individual success, most of Beyoncé"s music speaks for a high-achieving Everywoman balancing love and independence, pleasure and ambition. When she got to the line "I'm a host of imperfections" in "Flaws and All," she gripped and wiggled the skin on her upper arm, which was slightly less toned than the rest of her body. Beyoncé hasn't released an album since "4" in 2011, though she has been busy since with motherhood - her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, was born in 2012 - and performances this year including singing (along with a prerecorded track) at President Obama's second inauguration and doing the halftime show at the Super Bowl before going on tour. The newest song in her set, the Afrobeat-driven "Grown Woman," was first heard in a cola commercial this year. But with a live band - all female musicians - she had new arrangements for some of the old songs. Beyoncé has been headlining arenas on her own for a decade, and she's a song-and-dance trouper. "The Mrs. Carter Show" is a pageant of costumes - white lingerie, black leather, rhinestones, gauzy dresses, a glittery catsuit - along with choreography, fireworks and a second stage at the back of the auditorium, which she reached by traveling over the audience on a rope harness. Every detail was in place. Somehow, no matter where Beyoncé placed herself onstage, an unseen fan was blowing back her hair, even when she was on her back atop a piano and singing a ballad, "Speechless." Beyoncé matched her female dancers nearly strut for strut and shimmy for shimmy. But she didn't let dancing overshadow the music, and her voice shone. It held wounded fury in "If I Were a Boy," predatory sensuality in "Freakum Dress," soulful indignation in "Why Don't You Love Me" and gospel exhortation in "Halo" - which she preceded with an a cappella homage to Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You." Even without a new album, Beyoncé has less and less competition as an arena pop diva. She can play to a camera and ride a hip-hop track, but she also has the gifts of past soul generations. On Wednesday, she hit her notes and hit her marks, never showing the effort. She was a superwoman singing for Everywoman, smiling through all the ups and downs. The tour continues on Friday in Uncasville, Conn., and Saturday through Monday in Brooklyn; beyonce.com.