Beyoncé brought The Mrs Carter Show World Tour to Birmingham on Monday evening. Returning to the UK for its second leg and with a revamped set list, the singer put on an unforgettable show proving how she really is The Queen.
Despite an hour’s wait after support act Sam Bailey had performed, Beyoncé finally appeared on stage, opening the show with her girl power anthem ‘Run The World (Girls)’. She then carried on this high energy with the female empowering ‘Flawless’, which includes author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech ‘We Should All Be Feminists’. The song is taken from Beyoncé’s recently released self-titled visual album which sent fans into a frenzy and broke iTunes records when it was unveiled without any promotion in December.
But as well as performing these new tracks, which were done so effortlessly that it seemed like they had been part of her catalogue for years, Beyoncé also performed some of her older material that we all love, including ‘Naughty Girl’, ‘Get Me Bodied’ and ‘Baby Boy’, and let’s not forget the amazing medley of ‘Crazy In Love’ and ‘Single Ladies’. The set list was arranged to include the perfect mix between the upbeat dance tracks of ‘Love On Top’, and ‘Blow’, to the more slower paced ballads of ‘Haunted’ and ‘Heaven’, as well as her fabulous rendition of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’.
As expected, there were several stunning costume changes throughout the evening, but these were conducted quickly. There was also just the right balance between Beyoncé’s solo dance moves as well as intricately choreographed routines alongside her dancers. But even with her raunchy dancing on top of the piano for ‘1+1’, that sequence on the chair during ‘Partition’ and then another erotic chair dance during ‘Drunk In Love’, Beyoncé manages to pull it all off with class, something which I’m sure many pop stars could learn from.
She also has an impressive attitude, able to easily switch from her focused stage presence, to show a more sincere and humble side, where she happily interacted with her audience, and towards the end of the evening even serenaded one lucky fan with ‘Happy Birthday’ and a kiss on the hand. After an hour and a half set, the singer rounded off the night with ‘XO’, which she dedicated to her loyal fans, followed by the power ballad ‘Halo’.
Beyoncé seriously cannot be faulted. Her vocal range is incredible, her choreography is impressive and her charm and warmth towards her audience was remarkable. There’s no denying that she is a phenomenal all-round entertainer.
Overall a superb evening, if you’re seeing her at The O2 in London this week, then you’re in for a real treat. Beyoncé truly is Flawless.
