Ten minutes pass after 8:00 p.m., the PA sounds to the actress, but nothing else happens. After a few minutes, the suppressed joy of the 53,000 people who packed the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona tonight to feel Beyoncé’s house exploded. Suddenly a covered golf cart approaches the stage from behind. The rectangular screen that occupies the entire floor is immeasurably large and shows a blue sky with clouds. Scream. The name of the star appears. It is 8:28 p.m. His image forms on the canvas, a pestle that Goya would have enjoyed. And in daylight, a piano sounds with overwhelming certainty and Beyoncé says she loves Barcelona. The show begins. Beyoncé in her gravy, at the center of the universe.
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Thunderous but nuanced sound in a gigantic disco. Dozens of voices are heard, eventually seen, for in the center of the stage is a door, Stargate-esque but cyclopean, which, once opened, reveals the group. Everything is silver and glittering. Beyoncé, lamé pants suit, blond and straight hair, earrings that can buy dozens of VIP tickets for 3,000 euros, queen. As with her 2016 tour, she is everything, the image, the icon, now doubled on either side of the huge circular door. A Babylonian spectacle to idolize them. A montage to show body and voice.
These keys are kept overnight. If Coldplay told us you can be happy with little lights and Springsteen with vest and fenders, then Beyoncé is luxury, party, house, funk and hip hop, gender diversity. Seven acts, just as many clothes, almost all silver and shiny like those worn by a large part of the audience, all by designers whose name alone costs 25 euros. Glamor and luxury, dance and ballads that opened the night in stadiums with an unusual gesture, like the “1 + 1” that the audience chanted like crazy. It is not in vain, the star is imposed by presence alone. And that look telling her husband Jay Z to put the trash away should be final. If it’s in a stadium… lots of power.
The show, almost a musical based on his new album, only partially interrupted by costume changes, was lavish. A very large dance group, between a troupe and a peloton, a powerful band and choirs, to build a sound that, despite the fact that it seemed natural and luxurious, was hand-stitched, despite its digitization. And that huge screen that endured half a concert’s daylight, the choreographies, some on a circular track leading off the stage, a lunar-like craft in “Black parade” (with an appearance by his daughter Blue Ivy), that memory of Botticellis Birth of Venus in “Plastic off the Sofa”, the madness unleashed with “Break my soul” and “Crazy in love”, those silver hats – yes, the concert appeared to be sponsored by an aluminum foil brand – the she deflected the lights in “Formation” and the also silver horse in “Summer Renaissance” shone as it flew around the track in a cape with silver sparkles. The sophistication of the queen of R&B appears to her faithful, those who last night spent their big night with the goddess who became flesh and lived there for two and a half hours. All hoarse today. Less them. A night for the greater glory of black music.
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