Well, this much-awaited concert had actually come and gone last night! Definitely this was a more crowded affair, compared to the Christina Aguilera concert held in the same venue. You would know this fact starting in the parking conditions. My wife and I had to park quite a distance away, then had to walk a long round-about route into the audience entrance. When we entered the area past 8pm, there was nary any space left in the grounds. Every conceivable standing room was occupied. The atmosphere was electric with anticipation.
The concert did not really start with a big bang. The Beyonce Experience logo appeared on the screen and everybody went wild! Then the Bootylicious One simply walked out onto the stage dressed in a glittering silver gown, greeted everyone simply, then launched into her opening number, (and my personal favorite) "Crazy In Love." Beyonce had a truly beautiful face, and her figure was full (not skinny at all). This woman had her curves in all the right places, yet her abdominals are visibly firm and taut. She sexy dance moves (especially her belly dancing) are unparalleled by her other contemporaries.
She had two unfamiliar (to me at least), though catchy songs "Freakum Dress" and "Green Light". These were followed by more familiar songs, all with very energetic, belly-grinding and booty -shaking choreography: "Baby Boy," "Beautiful Liar," "Naughty Girl."
The standout in that series of dance numbers for me was "Beautiful Liar", where one of her dancers took the Shakira role as they recreated the scenario of the music video, and danced mirror images of each other. This was amazing to watch live as they slinked across the stage together to the interesting beat of this song.
After showing us her athleticism in her dance moves, Beyonce then regaled us with her vocal prowess as she sang her ballads "Me, Myself and I" and "Dangerously In Love". Both of these numbers were infused with so much soul and passion. Beautiful and powerful, as only Beyonce can deliver them.
What followed would be what I would consider my favorite part of the program, being a veritable senior citizen there: the Destiny's Child retrospective. I did not expect these songs to be performed last night, but I am very happy that she did them. Once the words "Good morning, Angels!" blared out of the sound system, I knew what was coming up and I was not disappointed. The hits came one after the other: "Independent Women", "Bootylicious", "No No No", "Bug a Boo", "Bills Bills Bills", "Cater 2 U", "Say My Name", "Jumpin' Jumpin", "Soldier" and finally "Survivor".
Beyonce then went back to her own catalog of solo hits: "Ring the Alarm," "Upgrade U", "Check On It", "Deja Vu". This frenetic series of dance songs really shows the unique mark of Beyonce songs, you cannot really sing along along with them, but their beats are really very catchy and it was impossible not to move your body along with them. (As a side note, there was this boy beside me who was singing everything word for word as he seemed to have memorized the entire "Beyonce Experience" DVD, which amazed me. LOL.)
"Dreamgirls" was up next. This was followed by her power ballad from the same movie "Listen" (video) where she once again displays her considerable vocal acrobatics.
As you can feel the concert winding up, there can only be one song left, her undeniable world-wide smash hit: "Irreplaceable." (video) She starts up the song as a sing-a-long session with the audience, as she lets everyone sing the ubiquitous refrain "to the left, to the left". Then of course, she sings the whole song. Strangely, it was only during this song that I really felt Beyonce connect personally with the audience. The song was simply so catchy, and Beyonce was smiling throughout, this was when I felt her warmth as a performer.
How the whole concert ended was very strange. I have never seen anything like it. I don't think I even like it. I guess she was referring to her latest album B'Day when she began asking who were celebrating their birthday that night. Then she sang "Happy Birthday To You", rephasing it as "Happy B-Day" toward the end. I felt this was anti-climactic, and even tacky! (sorry fans!)
Then she said her final goodbyes. She thanked her dancers and all-female band. Then the credits rolled on the screens. And that was it, no encore anymore.
Overall comments: The concert was very well-staged, very bright lights and exciting lighting effects. The sound quality was not very good where I was standing. It may already be midway in the song before I can recognize some of them because the sound was a bit muffled. The videoscreen in our area was rather dim. I hope they can improve this further in the future. I don't know, but I also felt her instrumental interludes featuring her female band individually were too many and too long at times. I felt some of these dragged out and killed the momentum of the concert. Of these, the best was the bass player.
As for the performance of the star herself. I have already mentioned the fact that unlike most concerts where you can sing along with hits, Beyonce was an artist whose songs were not really easy to sing along with. While her dance songs maybe familiar, the lyrics may not be, as the delivery is really uniquely staccato and rapid, very stylized. On the other hand, her ballads are also generally not accessible for singing along as well, as they are very bluesy and heavy on soul. Only the star herself can perform them well.
That is why I discovered the contrast only at the end when she sang "Irreplaceable". That was when I felt how cold and impersonal the rest of the concert was, up to that point. It was only during that song that I felt how much warmer and more personal Beyonce could be. However, unfortunately, it was already the end of the concert when this magic happened.
This is not too say though that the Beyonce Experience was a bad concert. Not at all! It is just that I feel it could have been so much better. Or maybe again, I'm getting too old for these kinds of concerts.
