At her first world tour in 2007, a 26 year-old Beyoncé Knowles asked the audience, “Are you ready to be entertained?”
A decade and a half later, at the first California stop of her blockbuster Renaissance World Tour last night, Mrs. Knowles-Carter came ready not just to entertain but to claim her throne. In a two-and-a-half-hour tsunami of songs, Beyoncé commanded the sold-out audience of 50,000 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, leaning heavily into the Black queer music and culture from the metallic world of her latest album, Renaissance.
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Rising up out of the floor in a black Marc Jacobs miniskirt and platform boots, Beyoncé greeted a screaming stadium of silver-clad fans with five simple words: “Bay Area… I love you.”
Across an opening six-song block of mostly ballads, Queen Bey delivered a reminder that her vocals are still the foundation of her artistry, perching on a silver grand piano to serve an intimate “1+1.”