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| Review: On ‘Formation’ World Tour, Beyoncé Through ‘Lemonade’-Tinted Glasses | Review: On ‘Formation’ World Tour, Beyoncé Through ‘Lemonade’-Tinted Glasses |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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” (Parkwood Entertainment), 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. | 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” (Parkwood Entertainment), 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-wracked 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. | On “Lemonade” — and perhaps in real life, though no one’s telling — Beyoncé is a love-wracked 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 all of 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. | 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. | 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. | 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.” | 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. | 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 a couple of inches of 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. | At the end of the show, that platform was covered in a couple of inches of 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. | 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.” | “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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |