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Review: ‘Formation’ World Tour, Beyoncé Through ‘Lemonade’-Tinted Glasses

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By Jon Caramanica

• April 28, 2016

MIAMI — “Crazy in Love,” Beyoncé’s first solo No. 1 single, remains, even 13 years after its release, a signature — an exuberant sparring session of jubilant horns and percussive vocals, overlaid with singing that’s somehow both acrobatic and sauntering.

When she started to perform that song at Marlins Park here on Wednesday night, though, it was something else altogether: slurry, gothic, desiccated. She and several dancers had just arrived onstage in adjacent wooden boxes. From afar, they looked like a row of coffins.

But after a couple of minutes of stretching “Crazy in Love” like taffy, Beyoncé reset. There were the erupting horns. There was the familiar voice-over introduction by her husband, Jay Z. There was the megawatt smile and the cocky stroll.

After a quick detour past a disruptive fun-house mirror, Beyoncé had set everything right again.

That transition was a microcosm of this whole concert — the opening night of her 41-date “Formation” World Tour — which began at something like a funeral and ended very surely at baptism, an arc that was already familiar from “Lemonade,” the rather staggering tale of disappointment and perseverance that Beyoncé had released just days earlier as a stunning hourlong HBO special and a straightforward album.

On “Lemonade” — and perhaps in real life, though no one’s telling — Beyoncé is a love-racked naïf, newly woken to the failed state that is her marriage. The first half of the album is pure vengeance. Beyoncé has always been a fanatic about technique and structure and sheen, but on the record, for the first time, she’s a zealot about vulnerability.

She performed many of the best songs from the album here: “Sorry,” during which her backup dancers extended two indignant middle fingers; “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” during which she was backed onscreen by unforgiving flames; “Daddy Lessons,” where she sang about her pain as a sort of cross-generational inheritance.

Even more vividly, this show refracted her old catalog through the prism of “Lemonade” and its revelations. Take the anxiety of “Me, Myself and I,” from her solo debut album, “Dangerously in Love,” released in 2003, the year after she and Jay Z began dating, or the grown-folks problems captured on “Mine,” from her self-titled 2013 album . Suddenly, an alternate history of Beyoncé is available, one that de-emphasizes her exceptional voice and ruthless perfectionism and underscores her persistent unease with love.

The stage’s centerpiece was a giant rotating tower that served as a jumbo screen simulcasting the action to the cheap seats, a video-interlude delivery device (midshow, the large screen went purple as the sound system blared Prince’s “Purple Rain”) and an interactive movement partner, splitting in the middle to reveal dancers suspended in air.

At either side of the stage were smallish pens that held several dozen of Beyoncé’s loudest fans. From time to time, she would give one of them a long glance, share a laugh or offer the microphone for a shared song.

But for someone who excels at spectacle, and who conducts and executes grand-scale group activity with military precision, Beyoncé made the striking decision to spend large parts of this show alone, unvarnished under the night sky.

In these poignant moments, she seemed not particularly preoccupied with the pyrotechnics that ordinarily are used to fill stadiums (though later, there were actual fireworks). Clearly, she felt that a meditative approach to her anguish was sufficient. And indeed, in the shadow of such an overpowering emotional manifesto, some of her breezier material felt misplaced here, as did bits and pieces of songs that weren’t hers — a quick dance routine to O. T. Genasis’s “Cut It,” a needless bit of Eurythmics’s “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” pasted into her own “Sweet Dreams.”

This was mild clutter, though, especially for a pop star who is a fiery dancer and can keep up with her backing troupe at peak speed and complexity. Several times, they all strutted down a long catwalk that led to a platform in the middle of the field, holding court and striking poses along the way.

At the end of the show, that platform was covered in water, and Beyoncé and her dancers stomped and kicked and splashed in a deeply visceral display of earthy power. As on “Lemonade,” the show’s final act served as a resolution and salve — fury giving way to release.

That stretch of songs was the night’s most provocative: the new “Freedom,” with its screaming guitars; the martial “Survivor,” newly relevant; the twitchy love song “End of Time”; and the temperate ballad “Halo,” which she dedicated “to my beautiful husband,” adding, “I love you so much.”

It felt warm but incomplete, lacking the earned resolution she achieved on “Lemonade,” thanks to conciliatory songs like “Sandcastles” and “Forward,” neither of which she performed here.

“Lemonade” was first made available on Tidal , Jay Z’s streaming service, and if you’re inclined to believe the sort of people who give anonymous quotes to entertainment reporters, then there’s this, from E! News : “He knew the lyrics; he knew the implications. He had to approve the songs before release.”

Which is to say that the act of enjoying this phase of Beyoncé’s career demands a tacit forgiveness of her husband and apparent antagonist. Before the night’s final segment, the screen showed videos of her, Jay Z and Blue Ivy, their daughter, in scenes meant to reaffirm the certitude of their familial bliss. Some people did boo, though, when Jay Z appeared onscreen.

When Beyoncé shifts moods on “Lemonade” away from indignation and toward healing, Jay Z shifts from a shadowy figure to a near-collaborator, even though his voice is nowhere to be heard. Though this show followed a similar path, Jay Z remained an abstraction throughout — this wasn’t his stage, even if he was nearby, watching.

During “Flawless (Remix),” Beyoncé sat at the edge of the stage surrounded by her dancers, and sang about the 2014 episode in which her sister, Solange, assaulted Jay Z in an elevator , the event that was the first high-profile public rupture in the outwardly perfect Beyoncé-Jay Z union.

After that line, though, Beyoncé laughed, said, “Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn,” then segued into “Feeling Myself,” a giggly song about how no one is better suited to loving you than yourself.

Things To Do | How Beyonce’s ‘Formation’ tour mirrors Janet…

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Things to do | how beyonce’s ‘formation’ tour mirrors janet jackson’s ‘rhythm nation’.

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To social injustice

A generation full of courage

Come forth with me — “Rhythm Nation”

That’s how Janet Jackson felt in 1989.

Beyonce is a continuation of Jackson’s dream on her latest album and accompanying short film, “Lemonade,” where the pop star weaves us through an hour of songs, poems and visuals of black pride, female empowerment and infidelity in ways similar to Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation.”

Yet, since the release of “Lemonade” and pop culture’s reinvention of Beyonce into a bat-wielding black woman scorned, the album’s worth has been reduced to gossip about the 34-year-old’s marriage, and hubby Jay Z’s alleged affair with “Becky with the good hair” instead of her first order of business: “Formation.”

The Grammy-winning singer is bringing her Formation World Tour to Soldier Field this weekend with back-to-back dates. If you don’t have tickets to Friday’s or Saturday’s show by now, know that the resale prices for good seats in the 100 section range from $200 to $500.

It’s been months since Beyonce stopped the world with the surprise digital drop of the “Lemonade” lead single and video, “Formation,” so it’s possible that many have forgotten the track’s overall effect. Understanding its significance is crucial, especially since the tour bears the same name as the cut.

Packed with images of black women rocking Afros, a young black boy dancing in front of riot police and Beyonce posing atop a police car sinking in Hurricane Katrina-esque floodwaters, the video was not only a stance against police brutality but also peak blackness — a first for Beyonce, who typically shies away from such political statements.

I like my baby hair with baby hair and Afros

I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils — “Formation”

The style of “Formation” coupled with its socially conscious lyrics is reminiscent of Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation 1814” record and mini-movie. Let’s travel back to its release in 1989.

It was a time when the U.S. declared a war on the same drugs that continue to disproportionately devastate black communities today. It was also a time when a lone gunman walked onto a school playground in Stockton, Calif., and stole the lives of five children, injuring dozens more.

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Jackson — fresh off the success of her third studio album, “Control” — had grown tired of the endless violence shown on the still fairly new 24-hour news cycle at the time. She made her voice heard on her fourth album, “Rhythm Nation 1814,” which, according to producer Jimmy Jam, captured Jackson’s state of mind at the time.

“(Back) then, there was the cry for our youth. Our youth was deteriorating (and) Janet wanted to save the youth of that time,” said Jimmy Locust, the short dancer in Jackson’s black-and-white “Rhythm Nation” video.

“Today, the sign of the times, you have Black Lives Matter. You have police brutality that is happening and is very evident and people are getting tired of receiving that,” Locust continued. “So, I think she (Beyonce) used her platform to speak about it.”

Locust isn’t just talking about “Formation” the song and video. He’s also speaking about Beyonce’s Super Bowl 50 halftime show performance. Clad in all-black outfits and berets, her set was a nod to all things sacred in the black community — from the subtle Black Power salute and militant moves to the all-black female HBCU-style band. Keep in mind that all of this happened at the Super Bowl, for the entire world to see.

“Anytime you put anybody in black and there are more than 15 people moving crisply together, automatically you think about ‘Rhythm Nation,’ which is a really cool honor to have,” said Anthony Thomas, the legendary choreographer who came up with the militant “Rhythm Nation” dance routine.

But in Thomas’ eyes, the message in “Formation” is very different from Jackson’s hope for unity across racial lines in “Rhythm Nation.”

“You look at the video ‘Rhythm Nation’ and we’re in a warehouse killing it, dressed as funk soldiers,” Thomas said. “We are moving as one in unity and we are moving in power. We’re here but we’re ready to go and take on the world.”

Beyonce’s video, he said, “Is more directed towards black pride and being confident in who you are as a person of color. That’s where I think the differences really, really lie.”

For Tina Landon, another member of the original “Rhythm Nation” dance crew, Beyonce’s approach could come off as divisive to some. At least that’s how it was first received by some — including the Miami Fraternal Order of Police union, which encouraged people to boycott the performer’s Miami show.

“What Janet did was unite people of all races,” Landon said. “I think Beyonce’s message (in “Formation”) doesn’t unite and that’s OK.”

Regardless of the positive and negative chatter, Beyonce used her platform to talk about something that’s current — another similarity to “Rhythm Nation’s” success.

“It was a strong message,” Locust said. “I feel like now, people are tired of black people being killed and beaten and mistreated. (Beyonce’s) the voice for a lot of people.”

Jackson’s chart-topping “Rhythm Nation” was an open invitation for future artists to march unafraid and unapologetically to the beat of social justice, freedom and equality. After nearly 20 years in the business, Beyonce is now choosing to be more than a pop star with a catchy chorus. She’s woke, and her movement is just beginning.

Tiffany Walden is a freelancer.

[email protected]

Twitter: @chitribent

When : 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Where : Soldier Field, 1410 Museum Campus Drive

Tickets : $45-$305; www.ticketmaster.com

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The Formation World Tour

• View history

The Formation World Tour is the seventh concert tour by Beyoncé . It is in support of her sixth studio album, Lemonade . The tour began on April 27, 2016, at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida, and concluded at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 7, 2016.

• 1 Background
• 2 Production and development
• 4 Tour dates
• 6.1 Clothing
• 6.2 Accessories

Background [ ]

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released " Formation " for free on the music streaming service TIDAL and its accompanying music video on her official YouTube. On February 7, 2016, Beyoncé performed "Formation" during her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. Immediately after the performance, a commercial aired announcing The Formation World Tour, which would kick off in Miami on April 27, with the first pre-sales going on sale just two days after the announcement on February 9, 2016.

Production and development [ ]

The focal point of the tour's main-stage was a 60 feet tall rotating cuboid, nicknamed the 'Monolith' by designers. The stage also consists of a runway, which also acts as a treadmill leading onto a B-stage that fills with a pool of water. The treadmill on the catwalk was designed to be waterproof in order to withstand unpredictable weather found in outdoor stadiums. The B-stage stores 2,000 gallons of water inside of it and takes approximately 10 minutes to fill up, which occurs without the audience even realizing.

Setlist [ ]

The setlist varies from date to date, but in total it has been composed of 45 songs: 9 from Lemonade , 7 from Beyoncé , 7 from 4 , 4 from Dangerously In Love , 2 from B'Day , 2 from I Am... Sasha Fierce , 2 collaborations, 1 soundtrack song, 1 Destiny's Child song, and 6 other songs that are used as intros/interludes that Beyoncé does not perform.

• " No Angel " (video intro) (contains elements of "Formation)
• " Formation "
• " Sorry " (contains elements of "I'm Sorry")
• " Kitty Kat " (a capella version) *
• " Irreplaceable " (a capella version) *
• " Irremplazable " *
• " Bow Down " (contains elements of "Tom Ford")
• " Run The World (Girls) "
• " Superpower " (video interlude) (containing elements of "Made It")
• " Mine " (contains elements of "Standing on the Sun Remix")
• " Baby Boy " (contains elements of "Freaks")
• " Hold Up " (contains elements of "Bam Bam")
• " Countdown " (contains elements of "Pop My Trunk")
• " Me, Myself and I "
• " Runnin' (Lose It All) "
• " All Night "
• " 6 Inch " *
• " I Care " (video interlude) (contains elements of " Ghost ", "New Slaves", "The Hills" and "6 Inch" )
• " Don't Hurt Yourself "
• " Ring the Alarm " (contains elements of "Five to One", "Ring the Alarm (Tenor Saw song)", "Independent Woman Part I", "Lost Yo Mind", "Naughty Girl" and " I Been On ")
• " Diva " (contains elements of "U Mad", "Still Tippin'", "Panda" "Cut It", "Man", "I Got The Keys" and "Dey Know")
• " Flawless (Remix) "
• "Feeling Myself"
• " Drunk in Love " (contains elements of "Swimming Pools (Drank)")
• " Partition " *
• "Hip Hop Star" / " Freakum Dress" (video interlude)
• "Daddy Lessons"
• " Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) " *
• " Love On Top "
• "The Beautiful Ones" *
• "Purple Rain" (video interlude with the original recording)
• " Crazy in Love " (contains elements of the 2014 Remix and excerpts from "Bootylicious")
• " Naughty Girl "
• " Party " (contains elements of "La Di Da Di")
• " Blow " (contains elements of "Give It to Me Baby" and "Nasty Girl") *
• " Sweet Dreams " (contains elements of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)") *
• "Die With You" (video interlude) (contains elements of "Blue")
• " Freedom "
• " End of Time " (contains elements of "Grown Woman")

Songs marked with an asterisk (*) were not performed at every date.

Tour dates [ ]

a. The show on June 14, 2016 in Detroit, United States was originally scheduled to take place on May 29, 2016, but was postponed due to scheduling changes.

b. The show on October 2, 2016 in Nashville, United States was originally scheduled to take place on May 5, 2016, but was rescheduled for unknown reasons.

c. The show on October 7, 2016 in East Rutherford, United States was originally scheduled to take place on September 7, 2016, but was rescheduled due to doctor's order for vocal rest.

Merchandise [1] [ ]

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Beyonce Announces ‘Formation’ World Tour Following Super Bowl Show

By Jerry Portwood

Jerry Portwood

One day after surprise-releasing a new song and video ,  Beyoncé  followed her Super Bowl 50 halftime show performance with news of the Formation World Tour.

The tour is the singer’s first solo trek since her ambitious Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013. It kicks off April 27th in Miami, Florida at Marlins Park, with an additional 21 stadium dates that include New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, Dallas. The European leg of the tour starts June 28th in Sunderland, U.K. at Stadium of Light and includes dates in London, Manchester, Zurich, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Stockholm, Frankfurt and more.

Bey debuted “Formation” live Sunday at Santa Clara, California’s Levi’s Stadium dressed in a tight black jumpsuit with gold military “ammunition” that seemed to reference Michael Jackson’s signature look from the Eighties. Bruno Mars, another previous Super Bowl halftime show headliner, also appeared during Coldplay’s set.

“Formation” is available to stream and download for free exclusively through Tidal .

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Beyoncé Formation World Tour Dates

April 27 – Miami @ Marlins Park April 29 – Tampa @ Raymond James Stadium May 1 – Atlanta @ Georgia Dome May 3 – Raleigh @ Carter-Finley Stadium May 5 – Nashville @ Nissan Stadium May 7 – Houston @ NRG Stadium May 9 – Dallas @ AT&T Stadium May 12 – San Diego @ Qualcomm Stadium May 14 – Los Angeles @ Rose Bowl May 16 – Santa Clara @ Levi’s Stadium May 18 – Seattle @ CenturyLink Field May 20 – Edmonton, Alberta @ Commonwealth Stadium May 23 – Minneapolis @ TCF Bank Stadium May 25 – Toronto @ Rogers Centre May 27 – Chicago @ Soldier Field May 29 – Detroit @ Ford Field May 31 – Pittsburgh @ Heinz Field June 3 – Boston @ Gillette Stadium June 5 – Philadelphia @ Lincoln Financial Field June 7 – New York City @ Citi Field June 10 – Baltimore @ M&T Bank Stadium June 12 – Hershey @ Hersheypark Stadium June 28 – Sunderland, UK @ Stadium of Light June 30 – Cardiff, UK @ Millennium Stadium July 2 – London, UK @ Wembley Stadium July 5 – Manchester, UK @ Emirates Old Trafford July 7 – Glasgow, UK @ Hampden Park July 9 – Dublin, Ireland @ Croke Park July 12 – Dusseldorf, Germany @ Esprit Arena July 14 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Letzigrund July 16 – Amsterdam @ Arena July 18 – Milan, Italy @ Stadio San Siro July 21 – Paris @ Stade de France July 24 – Copenhagen @ Parken July 26 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Friends Arena July 29 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Commerzbank Arena July 31 – Brussels, Belgium @ Roi Boudoin

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Beyonce’s ‘Formation’ Tour Is The Most Important Event Of The Year

Beyonce’s “Formation” tour is the most important tour in the world right now. Since the HBO debut of her visual album Lemonade in April, it’s been impossible to shake the impact this record has had on 2016. Whether or not you personally care for the music or the magnificent machination of Beyonce matters little — though history will and has consistently proven her detractors wrong — but to put it simply, the “Formation” tour is not for men. They may attend and enjoy it, they will probably be just as enthralled by the visual spectacle as their female companions, but every moment of the show caters to women.

In my observation at the Santa Clara date this past Saturday, not a single man appears on stage as part of Beyonce’s performance; all her backup dancers were women — women of color actually, save one — and she makes a special point of thanking her backup singers — all women of color — and “all-female band” toward the end of the show. The ease with which she pulled off this staffing decision lays to rest any excuses about lack of options within the industry, while the sheer excellence of the show proves much more than that. Multiple people within the industry and without have told me this is the best show of their lives. I’m inclined to agree.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKe7mTvh9Jh/?taken-by=uproxxmusic

The most telling moment of Beyonce’s “Formation” tour does not come during a performance of a song off her new visual album Lemonade . It doesn’t come during one of the spectacularly choreographed dance numbers from 2013’s industry-shifting Beyonce , or from a reworked reclamation of a throwback hit from her Destiny’s Child days. Instead, it comes approximately one third of the way through the show, when she dismisses her entourage, tones down the enormous monolith screen behind her and tells us she’s going to sing a track off her debut solo album Dangerously in Love .

Before launching into “Me, Myself and I,” she gently commands her fans to embrace the power of self-love. For all the ferocity of “Formation,” all the delicious defiance of “Sorry,” and the deafening girl power of feminist anthem “Run the World,” this moment encapsulated the emotional core of her latest tour, and drew a through-line from her earliest work as Beyonce all the way up to her latest project. Lemonade is rather infamously an album told from the perspective of a woman who has discovered her beloved has cheated on her. Despite the album’s technical and artistic brilliance, the conversation was quick to swirl toward gossip and the veracity of the story: Was this album about Jay Z? Was Beyonce finally addressing those persistent cheating rumors that have dogged her marriage with the rapper-turned-mogul in the most public way possible? Of course, we were asking the wrong questions.

The core of Beyonce’s music has consistently addressed negative scripts that are applied to women — particularly within her own identity as a woman of color — and flipped those stereotypes into a source of affirmation so sweeping they impacted the world at large. From her Destiny’s Child days, “Bills, Bills, Bills” attacks the idea of the money-grubbing girlfriend and reframes the need for shared economic responsibility as a valid foundation for a romantic partnership. Later, in the even more influential “Bootylicious,” the group directly challenged the standard of beauty-as-waif-thin and elevated curvier bodies into the most desirable position.

In her solo career, specifically, she begins to address the pain of infidelity early on (“Ring the Alarm,” “Resentment,” “If I Were a Boy”) and continually confronted the hard, difficult work of monogamous relationships (“1+1,” “No Angel,” “Jealous,” “Mine”) all the way up through her self-titled and most personal album. Throughout, she also praises the power of monogamy in terms that veer toward spiritual and hyperbolic in their adoration (“Halo,” “Dance for You,” “Love on Top,” “Rocket”). But Lemonade directly addresses the “worst” thing that society tells us can happen to a woman in love — the cheating husband.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKgnxbKByjs/?taken-by=uproxxmusic

The “Formation” tour preaches that surviving this is not only possible, but argues that the experience of it is yet another source of power to tap into. It doesn’t matter if any of this really happened to Beyonce or not, because it has probably happened to almost every single woman in the crowd at every stadium on her tour. Whether it’s cheating, betrayal of another kind, or simply romantic rejection, there are still few touchstones in our culture at large that acknowledge and tend to the painful emotional wounds women endure at the hands of men. Speculation about whether Lemonade is about Jay Z or Beyonce’s own father is similarly inconsequential; the ambiguity makes it even more accessible for women to work through their own betrayals, regardless of the circumstances. Lemonade makes something sweet out of all of these wounds; it is not just a successful pop album, it is an assertion that this pain matters, that it deserves to be addressed, and that it can be risen above.

Even in 2016, society teaches women that their primary source of worth is through validation from relationships with men. What a husband or boyfriend’s infidelity really boils down to is being told you’re not enough in a world that already identifies you as a second-class citizen. The narrative of Beyonce’s entire tour asserts that she is more than enough, and by experiencing that, the audience leaves with the affirmation that they are too. Lemonade and her tour are based around the idea that even if her relationship was broken and full of betrayal, it doesn’t make her less in any way. That’s why the moment when she tells us she understood that on “Me, Myself, and I” remains the crux of the entire performance; the music exhibits an independence in radical self-love that supersedes male romantic rejection.

The tour’s setlist is structured in such a way to mimic the emotional chapters of Lemonade , incorporating the anger from the beginning and running through toward the end into the deeper, lasting love. Instead of seeing this betrayal as an endpoint in the relationship, it becomes a beginning, a source of self-exploration and an examination of redemption that ultimately embraces one of the most powerful forces on Earth — that of unconditional love and forgiveness.

Pop music is often designated as a genre for fluff or shallow topics, and a big part of that is because the genre’s biggest fanbase is young women. It is written off as a industry-churned hits designed to stimulate the lowest common denominator, and maligned for the armies of experts who craft these songs, as though a community of creators is somehow less worthy of praise than a lone songwriter making music with traditional rock sounds and literary lyrics. Yet, the last two Beyonce albums have specifically sought to elevate literary works by two women of color writers, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Warsan Shire respectively, to the same level as an international pop star. The “Formation” tour is the most important tour in the world right now, because it presents a different world — one in which women are the dominant force — completely catered to, wounds and all. That is certainly something worth falling in line for, whoever you are.

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Beyoncé: Formation tour review – defiant, victorious and glorious

Marlins Park, Miami She stunned the world with her magnum opus Lemonade and now Beyoncé’s new world tour puts the furious politics of black womanhood centre stage

A we has always seemed like the only appropriate response to Beyoncé , a star who makes even the best of the rest look a bit amateur. She tells us over and over again that she’s number one (she woke up like this, she’s flawless, fresher than you, she slays every day) – and we sing along because they’re all unassailably true. She sounds, moves and looks like a goddess and most of us “bow down” accordingly.

But when she surprise-released Lemonade, an hour-long film presentation of her sixth studio album , there was suddenly a radical new dimension to this rhetoric of self-affirmation. Threaded with the bold and bodily poetry of British-Somali poet Warsan Shire , steeped in antebellum imagery and peopled with phalanxes of young black women, the film takes its title from footage of Hattie White, Beyoncé’s grandmother-in-law, giving a speech at her 90th birthday party. “I was served lemons,” she says slowly, melodiously. “But I made lemonade.”

Beyoncé’s subject emerges as nothing less than the black female body, the police state and black lives past and present. The lemonade that she’s making in her 34th year isn’t just from the bitter juice of her famous husband’s infidelities, it’s the pain of black mothers and grandmothers and their mothers. Suddenly, she is doing something so much bigger than telling us she’s the flyest. She’s telling us you can make something sweet out of something bitter, something as defiant, victorious and straight up glorious as Formation – a black power anthem that’s also the rump-shaking banger that closes Lemonade. It’s this she opens with tonight, to a sold out Marlins stadium, on the first night of a sold-out tour, confirming, within seconds, that she did not come here to play, she came here to slay.

Even the merch confirmed the ruthlessness: you could buy T-shirts printed with “Boycott Beyoncé”, a reference to the ruckus over whether or not the Miami police would indeed boycott the show . (Their feelings were hurt, it seems, by her Super Bowl performance, which paid homage to the Black Panthers.)

Tonight the stage is set with a colossal white prism upon which she’s frequently rendered 50ft high, thus making her real self look tiny. But whether watching her small self on stage, or as a screen giantess, it’s stupefying to see her snap from mane-tossing snarl to still, seraphic smile in a disarming instant. In Don’t Hurt Yourself, for example, with its explicit, enraged threat (“This is your final warning / You know I give you life / If you try this shit again / You gon’ lose your wife”) her fury is so incandescent that when actual pyrotechnics flame red from the stage the illusion is perfect: she’s caused this spontaneous combustion herself.

By contrast, she practically swoons through All Night, sublime and adoring. Speaking of adoring: she gives due and scrupulous love to her Beyhive fan club tonight. One interlude includes projections of YouTube fan videos but even better are the two young women she picks from the crowd (prearranged, most likely, but who cares) to dance every move to Single Ladies.

Later in her set she introduces Survivor, the 2001 Destiny’s Child classic, with these murmured words: “If you’ve survived any bad relationships”, and here she gave a very small smile that you could feasibly describe as wry. “If you’ve survived anything in your life, I want you to celebrate with me tonight”.

The more explicit reference to Jay Z, however, comes later. “I want to dedicate this song to my family,” she says, and there’s a roar of affirmation. “I want to dedicate this song to my beautiful husband, I love you so so much” and the roar doubles in decibels. The song is Halo, 2008’s indelible ballad addressed to “the only one that I want ... my saving grace ... everything I need and more” and it’s the last song of the night.

She sings it alone on stage in her bare feet, hair wet from a previous number, and seems to know, as the crowd does too, that neither she nor the moment can be improved on. We don’t even need one final blast of white fireworks from the front of the stage but here they are, soaring off, as she tells us she loves us. Four women around me wipe away mascara trails as they stand looking.

It is not, however, the most moving moment of the show.

It seemed inevitable that this first night would include some kind of tribute to Prince, particularly since her debt wasn’t just the cultural one that we all owe him but a deeply personal one too: he was the man that told her if she learned to play piano she’d be unstoppable. (Lemonade features her cross-legged at her keyboard, playing and singing Sandcastles.)

Which song would she cover? None, it turned out, because she did one better. Stars of her magnitude understand when their own brightness might eclipse the thing they want to honor. They understand when to vacate. And, in her case, that meant turning a giant white cube violet, leaving the stage and letting Prince’s Purple Rain play to a stadium full of people, waving their iPhone lights slowly in the night.

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All the Photos From Beyonce's 'Formation' Tour

Beyoncé kicks off the 'formation' world tour, beyoncé opens formation tour in miami.

Beyoncé kicked off her Formation world tour on Wednesday in Miami, where she performed old classics like "Crazy in Love" and new hits off Lemonade.

Beyoncé began the night by teasing her return with a video showing her walking up to the stage and the vastness of Miami's Marlins Park. Only hours later, did she bring the stadium to its feet with hits like "Baby Boy" and "Survivor."

Flanked by backup dancers, Beyoncé took the stage just four days after releasing her stunning visual album Lemonade .

Stills from Lemonade featuring Amandla Stenberg and Zendaya were projected behind Beyoncé while she performed tracks from the album.

During the show, Beyoncé paid tribute to the late Prince, who died April 21, by playing "Purple Rain." The crowd joined in for a sing-along and at the end of the concert, she thanked him "for your beautiful music."

Beyoncé ended the night with 2008's ballad "Halo." "I’d like to dedicate this song to my family,” she said before beginning her final song of the evening. "I’d like to dedicate it to my beautiful husband ." She added, "Blue, I love you so much."

Beyoncé's Formation tour will continue in North America through June, before heading to Europe. The whole run will wrap in August.

May 1, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia

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The formation world tour.

USA – On the heels of Beyoncé’s World Premiere Event with HBO and the debut of her sixth solo studio album, Lemonade, Beyoncé presents another visual masterpiece with a massive stage for The Formation World Tour kicking off at the Marlin’s Ballpark in Miami, Florida.

TAIT, the global company that designs and fabricates world tour stages for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, U2, Madonna, and many more, worked with Beyoncé and her team: Malcolm Weldon (production manager), Jake Berry (production manager), Es Devlin (set designer) and Tim Routledge (lighting designer) to build an enormous custom-designed stage including a treadmill runway, a B Stage Pool filled with water, winches carrying acrobatic performers, a stage lift, and the full structure that supported PRG Nocturnes 70 foot video screens. The former key stage elements are controlled by TAIT Navigator, a technology automation platform.

“The Formation World Tour is not the typical stadium show, in fact, this tour is a game-changer for what can be achieved in a stadium touring environment. The entire collaboration from scenic, to structure, to mechanics was custom made to create an epic experience for both Beyoncé and her fans,” said Brian Levine, senior project manager, TAIT.

28th April 2016

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Beyoncé Dedicates "Halo" to Jay Z and More Major Moments From Her Formation Tour

By Lauren Brown

Let's get real: This week belongs to Beyoncé . We haven't stopped discussing Lemonade since it debuted on HBO Saturday night. "Becky with the good hair" has been such a hotly-debated song lyric that Rachel Roy and Rita Ora both had to release statements to set the record straight that they're not the woman who allegedly cheated with Jay Z. And then last night, Queen Bey took her royal throne by kicking off her Formation world tour in Miami. She ruled even before she took the stage, posting this spine-tingling video:

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If Beyoncé has a super power, it's stage presence. She could just stand there for the whole show, and we'd be sitting up straight, ready to pay attention. With the tour rolling on through August (and hopefully you're a lucky one with tickets!), here's everything you need to know after last night's epic first show:

1. She owns her haters. Only Beyoncé could even dare to sell T-shirts at her concert that say "Boycott Beyoncé." After her "Formation" video and Super Bowl half time show featured strong #BlackLivesMatter themes, some non-fans claimed the singer is anti-police ( a stance she's since denied ). The Miami Fraternal Order of Police even threatened to boycott last night's concert and urged police at stops on the rest of the tour to do the same. Bey's merch is the equivalent of an eye roll to the drama:

PS: We need that "Slay All Day" shirt.

2. She literally performs on a throne. ...like we said, she is the Queen!

By Emily Tannenbaum

By Lauren Murdoch-Smith

By The Glamour editors

3. Prince was there in spirit. During a costume change, "Purple Rain" played as the crowd sang along. With a purple screen behind her, Beyoncé said, "Prince, thank you for your beautiful music. He's an artist that inspired all of us."

4. Blue Ivy gave her mom good vibes. Bey shared with the crowd, "We were driving to rehearsal today, and she said 'Mommy, are we going to your work?' And it reminded me that I dreamed of this day my whole life." Awwww !!!

5. She brought all the hits "Drunk in Love," Crazy in Love," and "Naughty Girl" all made the cut. And yes, "Sorry" was performed too—including a mention of "Becky." You can see the full set list here . And check out the dance moves of these lucky fans she brought up on stage during "Single Ladies":

6. Make no mistake, Jay Z is a proud husband. In case you were wondering, "Becky with the good hair" has not torn them apart. Ending the night with "Halo," Beyoncé said, "I want to dedicate this song to my beautiful husband. I love you so much." Jay Z was at the show—and showing his support at rehearsal during the day.

7. Beyoncé's an open book. That's why we love her so. She's sharing lots of behind-the-scenes shots from the tour like this beautiful shot with Blue Ivy:

And you can see so many more intimate scenes on her official web site here .

By Anna Moeslein and Krystin Arneson

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By Danielle Sinay

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Beyoncé’s Tour Style Slays! The Most Showstopping Costumes From Her Kickoff Show

By Marjon Carlos

We perhaps saw this coming. While Beyoncé poured us a hefty glass of lemonade with the release of her visual album of the same name last Saturday, we knew the hour-long feature-length film and 12-track album was simply a taste of what was to come. After all, the first night of her Formation world tour was days away, kicking off in Miami last night for a 41-date stretch. And as Bey strode into the Marlins arena like a lawless desperado under the wide, eye-skimming brim of her now trademark Barons hat—nay, sombrero—we knew a visual spectacle was about to be served cold.

In the same shape-shifting mode as Lemonade ’s costumes , Bey stalked the 3-D stage all night, morphing into new personas with the help of her seven showstopping looks, all styled by Marni Senofonte. A compendium of references from the Wild Wild West to the antebellum South to the shorelines of Africa—even BDSM dungeons—the high-octane looks were as explosive as her pyrotechnics show. Slithering about in a red latex bodysuit and matching platform over-the-knee boots, Bey was simply combustible, at once demure and a complete vixen, as her husband, Jay Z , looked on. Line dancing in zebra-print boots and a sequined army-inspired leotard, her blonde curls blowing in the wind, Bey appeared like a high-fashion buffalo soldier.

She fell into formation with her squad of backup dancers, slaying in a long-sleeve Balmain French lace bodysuit, embroidered with pearls and stones, and matching gray suede boots. And after chucking her platform footwear all together, Bey began dancing barefoot in puddles of water while wearing a sequined bodice. And if her costumes weren’t enough, the outspoken provocateur sold “Boycott Beyoncé” T-shirts as official tour merch, a cheeky challenge to the backlash she received for her pro–Black Lives Matter message. While her costumes will likely change even more as her tour gets further underway, we know the message will only grow stronger.