After 2 and a half very intense hours of fighting for tickets, 2 months of listening to every track on every album, several visits to You Tube to watch her videos and countless spontaneous squeals of excitement, the time had finally come; I was going to see Beyoncé in the Mrs. Carter World Tour.
On entering the arena the first thing that catches your eye is the B stage, oh yes two opportunities to get close enough to grab that mane of delicious caramel hair, (for anyone who is yet to go I recommend getting there early). The support act, Luke James, was horrific – the Pepsi and Chime for Change adverts got more of a cheer than him. Dressed as a stripper priest (who then went on to strip off his top half) made me feel literally sick with cringe! What made Beyoncé pick him I have no idea – maybe he knows one of her darkest secrets or she hoped a crap support would make her look better. Who knows?
As the house lights dimmed for a second time I could not contain my excitement, and along with the rest of the audience I went crazy as the opening bars of RUN THE WORLD kicked in. Then, on she came. Queen B was in the same room as me, breathing my air. Dressed in a sparkly, beaded, white one piece, she looked unbelievable, screaming power and femininity.
Her voice was amazing, so powerful and so strong. She interacted with the crowd throughout the whole night – a person favorite was her pronunciation of ‘Birmingham’, and she put on a truly great show.
Her outfits were exactly what I wanted from her, sexy but not slutty, showing enough skin but not too much that it was tacky, and of course topped off with her signature sky scraper heels. From a flowing red dress, to a black and gold two piece, a skin tight bodice to an animal print dress she looked sensational. The best was the glitter-covered blue, full body cat suit she wore when she zip-lined over the audience to get to her B-stage – yes, she did that.
Here she rocked out to IRREPLACEABLE, RESENTMENT, and the classic LOVE ON TOP, whipping her hair all over the place before giving some words of advice and zip-lining back to a burst of Destiny’s Child’s SURVIVOR.
Next she was off stage for a quick outfit change as an interlude of Countdown played. As the song counted back to ten, I was ready for her to come back on and jump straight into the lyrics, but boy was I in for a surprise. As the countdown reached one there was a slight pause in the music, then boom straight into the opening chords of CRAZY IN LOVE.
Well I nearly burst into tears (FYI this was the song I had been waiting all my life for). I was finally getting to see ‘the strut’ live! It was amazing. The crowd was going just as crazy as me and it was such a great moment to be in. I had no other cares in the world apart from being right there, right then.
From CRAZY IN LOVE we went straight into SINGLE LADIES and it was clear that the show was coming to an end. Fitting in another costume change, Beyoncé sang her latest song GROWN WOMAN which included a dance routine with a very strange blind folded moment- this wasn’t really explained so I just went with it.
(Weird blind fold bit?)
Finally she gave a little rendition of I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, again slightly strange but I guess a tribute to her many fans, before departing the stage. At this point I realised what her encore would be, and I was right: HALO. Slightly disappointed as it’s not one of my favorite songs of hers, but amazing none the less. This was followed by a massive thank you to everyone involved in the show’s production to the backing track of GREENLIGHT, before the curtains came down on what had been a spectacular night.
The night was sensational, not only was there great singing, it was a great show. Well worth the money. The Mrs. Carter World Tour was everything I wanted it to be and more. So much so, as soon as I got home the next day I was looking for more tickets, and really considering buying tickets for V Fest where she is due to headline this summer.
Beyoncé is at the height of her game, and I hope she stays there long enough to tour again, as I will definitely be in the queue for her next show!