REVIEW: MRS CARTER SHOW
The flickering lights of 80,000 people angled toward the stage perfectly illuminated the anticipation of her eager fans.
While Beyoncé Carter-Knowles seeks to control her image - fans were desperate to capture the opening moments of the Mrs Carter Show.
The Mrs Carter Show heralds Beyonce's thunderous return to the spotlight rejuvenated and hungrier than ever to stake her claim as the greatest female artist alive.
Kicking off the show with an ear-shattering performance of Run The World, dressed in an high-cut white body suit the stunningly beautiful singer showed off her trademark moves.
Anyone doubting whether she has still 'got it' following her transition to motherhood was quickly silenced as she burned up the stage and showcased her cast-iron lungs.
In comparison to the 2009 I Am... Sasha Fierce tour, the singer had splashed out not just on more designer costumes, but also on hi-tech video walls, and an additional stage - which even had seats for some lucky fans in the cavernous O2 Arena.
Her engagement with the crowd was enough to keep the cheers going, as was a succession of solo hits such as End of Time, If I Were a Boy
Get Me Bodied and Baby Boy and dip into the Destiny's Child back catalogue.
Hints of her newer works peppered the moments she ran off stage, along with contemporary dancers, solo spots from dancers Les Twins and some stunning video imagery.
Fans of the singer will have been sated in their desire to see the singer live, and there is no doubt that she is the consummate performer.
However, the inclusion of more new material would have shown that Mrs. Carter really has moved on from the Sasha Fierce days.
Donna McConnell
Beyoncé at the O2: Queen Bey didn't sing 'Bow Down bitches' – she didn't have to
The moment Beyoncé flew through the air in a bright purple glitter cat suit right in front of me was the moment I finally gave in and became a true fan. She had me hooked. Not only did she look A-MAZ-ING; she'd just been flaunting her stuff on top of a piano at the main stage, Queen Bey flew the trapeze to the b-stage in the middle of the crowd to sing my all-time favourite tune (along with 20,000 others, it seems) Irreplaceable. On the way back on the trapeze, she was belting out Survivor with her power fist in the air. Twenty thousand other fists punched the air. It was a golden pop moment.
The Single Ladies singer had me at "hello O2", actually. The minute she rose through the stage floor to start the show with Run The World (Girls), I realised I was a little bit in love. One look at those brilliant thighs working their magic on stage and I wondered why it had taken me so long to feel it. By the second song she had the entire arena eating out of the palm of her hands.
You see, I never really knew I was a proper Beyoncé fan until last night. You read so much about her in the press and hear her songs practically everywhere it's easy to take it for granted. I've always welcomed her superwoman-girls-can-do-anything music but never really stopped to think about it. Believe me, I've spent many a Saturday afternoon dancing out the Single Ladies track in my living room, which, as I sincerely cannot dance, involves me jiggling about rocking my left hand back and forth with a strange look on my face, but that's as far as my love affair with the singer went.
One year I even gave a brilliant friend of mine who was leaving England to go and live in Bermuda the track Irreplaceable thinking it was the perfect song to explain our friendship and our time together. I only found out years later that it actually said, "don't you ever for a second get to thinking, you're irreplaceable". Oops. You see I was a passing fan, one that sang along but didn't really listen to or care about the lyrics.
The recent furore about Beyoncé's latest track Bow Down was again, something I'd read about. Her departure from the independent woman the US President handpicks to play at his parties to someone telling her fans to bow down, bitches, was indeed fascinating. Why was this independent, sassy, powerful woman – who relied on Girl Power in its most modern form – talking down to her fans all of a sudden?
In case you missed it, in the song, Beyoncé sings to her female fans: "I know when you were little girls / You dreamed of being in my world / Don't forget it, don't forget it / Respect that, bow down, bitches", with the refrain “bow down, bitches”.
You don't want to read too much into it – it's just a song – but it was intriguing that last night at the O2 Arena, one of her first performances since the Bow Down backlash, Beyoncé did not sing Bow Down. But then again she really didn't have to. Pure and simple, 20,000 people bowed down last night the minute they clocked eyes on her. If Beyoncé is ever in any doubt about who is the Queen and who are her 'bitches' she only need remember that audience.
Only Bey didn't treat us like bitches. (I'm using 'us' cos I'm now a true fan, OK?) We were respected and loved. She told us so. She made that clear. There was this really touching moment during Irreplaceable where Beyoncé crouched down and starting singing the lyrics face-to-face with a diehard female fan. They clocked eyes, sang the words out and waved their hands in unison as if nobody else was there. Beyoncé grabbed her arm as if to say 'thank you' and then moved on down the stage, at which point the thrilled female fan screamed, leapt on her man and jumped up and down – so excited that that had just happened.
In between that and the fact that thousands of teenage girls lined the arena - each without a care in the world and loving their night - the overriding message of the Mrs Carter show was that girls really do run the world. And she's taking them with her.
http://www.telegraph...nt-have-to.html
