Oh gosh, so much to report! I will start with Friday night–Beyonce!!
Unfortunately I haven’t gotten my digital camera up and working yet and my cell phone camera doesn’t really work in the dark, so I don’t have any pictures of the actual performance. Jasmine took a few that turned out well–I’ll do my best to pilfer once she posts them to facebook. This is the only decent photo I have, which I took in the lobby before the show–it’s a backdrop that people were having their picture taken in front of. Jasmine and I snapped it immediately, but we were shooed off by the guy pictured, who was working there. “You have to pay!” he chided us.
Our seats were pretty decent. We were in the first level off of the floor, in the center, with a clear view of the stage. I’ll always stand in the pit if I have the chance, but my mom was in charge of buying tickets. I doubt she would’ve been happy sitting much closer. Plus, our seats cost about $100 each–I’m a little horrified to think what standing room cost. They were playing Michael Jackson on the PA when we arrived.
Then the show–oh, the show! We were late (CPT), so the lights dimmed not long after we settled in. This is the one photo I have of the action:
She started with Crazy In Love, and I was hoping that she may bring Jay out, but alas, he did not make a cameo that night. She did a great mix of all of her songs, including nearly every song on Sasha Fierce–the only one I don’t remember hearing was Disappear, a favorite of mine, but no show-stopper. I didn’t miss it.
I was surprised by the quality of her backing band. First of all, it was entirely female, which she pointed out at least twice during the show. I recognized her tattooed guitar player from the Irreplaceable video. B brought her out to the front of the stage for a solo during the song, and did some writhing dance moves in front of her. It was very sapphic.
The crowd was composed of women of all shapes and sizes, all decked out in their best. And I think that was the best part of the night: the tremendous feeling of pride and positivity. It came from everywhere, especially from the performer herself.
When she sang At Last, the screen behind her flashed images of the first couple during their first Inaugural Dance, where she serenaded them with that same song. She wore a ball gown similar to the one she wore that night–it was like she recreated that experience for all of us not fortunate enough to have been there. That was when the crowd’s cheering was the loudest.
And somewhere in the middle came this, her inevitable tribute to MJ. Anticipating it the day before, I thought that I would be almost too sad to enjoy it. It was bittersweet. It’s clearly emotional, but it’s tempered by this immense sense of joy and gratefulness for the music.
