variety.com
13.07.2023 / 19:33
Beyoncé Regally Resets Her Renaissance World Tour With a U.S. Premiere in Philadelphia: Concert Review
A.D. Amorosi From a private show in Dubai and its official opening in Stockholm to its Canadian dates last week, most of the globe has gotten at least a glimpse, from afar, of Beyoncé on the Renaissance World Tour — her first in nearly five years. Last night, the United States got its first in-person peek at the vibrancy of Club Renaissance with an opening show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Center. Four words immediately come to mind in trying to do justice to the show: Daring. Elastic. Silvery. Very. With the wealth of knock-off mirror-ball cowboy hats and barely-there sequined outfits in the crowd to the wide staging of Club Renaissance and its accoutrements — flying horses, group costumes, pianos for Bey to sit on — nearly everything was reflectively silver. Everything. From its epic concept videos between changeovers and its athletic dancers to a sound system that pulsated crisply with each deep house reverberation, Club Renaissance never missed a beat. Over-the-top, yet still elegantly refined, pretty much everything surrounding the show’s vocal and visual centerpiece was exquisitely executed and bolder for it.The only thing more very than all of the technology and vigorous dance moves of Club Renaissance was Beyoncé herself. As a singer, she proved to be righteously elastic with trills to thrill and vocal runs that ran fluidly atop every different musical interlude (and there were many sharp turns and frantic rhythms in which to contend). As a performer and as a curator-producer, her sonic choices and visual cues were often daring. Ballsy even.