Fans brave rain as Chicago gets in formation for Beyoncé
Beyonce's "The Formation World Tour” sold out two shows in Chicago at Soldier Field. On the first night despite the heavy rain fall fans left Solider Field seeing Beyoncé at her best.
Back on tour for the first time since her ambitious “Mrs. Carter Show World Tour” in 2013. Beyoncé’s "The Formation World Tour” was announced following her appearance during Super Bowl 50. Receiving high acclaim for her latest album Lemonade, Beyoncé was praised for her boldest and craftiest work to date.
Beyoncé brought out Chicago’s and Roc Nation artist Vic Mensa for a surprise performance. Performing “U Mad” and “16 shots”, Mensa felt right at home. Mensa was well received for his notability and his authentic rap personal. Just performing two songs, fans missed out on some of Mensa’s best.
Opening for Beyoncé was Atlanta rap duo Rae Sremmurd with their energy filled favorites “No Flex Zone” and “Throw Some Mo”. These two easily are continuing to break the ‘one hit wonder’ chatter that has been following them since the beginning of their short career.
A 70-foot-tall rotating video screens were die center in the middle. Visually the stage was stunning, the video screens and THX sound system embodied everyone in the stadium. Video from Beyoncé’s Lemonade teased fans as it spun three times bringing out Beyoncé and her dancers.
Performing majority of her set from her hit Lemonade album. Beyoncé brought us back in time with songs “Baby Boy”, “Crazy in Love’, and Destiny Child’s “Survivor”. She also performed covers of Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself”. For the full set list view below.
The track history of hit records from Beyoncé was visited with songs that fans grew up on. A nice touch to that history was a video that showed a just turning 16 year-old Beyoncé explaining what she would do to someone who disrespects her.
Near the end of her performance Beyoncé paid tribute to the fallen legend Prince. Using the video screens, nothing but the color purple was on while Prince’s "Purple Rain" played. A tribute that felt even more touching as light rain was coming down at that time.
Literally singing in the rain, Beyoncé didn’t disappoint while setting the bar high for future shows. The term “rain or shine” will now be looked at differently as if Beyoncé could give this stellar showcase of her incredible talent so should everyone else.
It’s important to note Beyoncé’s status while on her "The Formation World Tour”. Hearing her last night was a pure pleasure for many reasons. The obvious one is the huge block party feeling that came with a community of fans dancing together singing word for word every song while in the rain. The underlining reason is the heavy meaning she brings in songs like ‘Formation’.
Beyoncé’s voice was one of the many highlights of the night. A typical backtrack was missing making Beyoncé the only things fans heard that night. This created a unique experience for music lovers especially when it came time for her acapella song “Love on Top” and her blues renditions of “Daddy Lessons”.
Fans who attended the sold out stadium show left feeling a sense of familiarity with the mega star. With that connection Beyoncé fans left the first night of her tour in Chicago with the feeling of knowing her on a personal intimate level through her stellar performance.
Beyoncé’s setlist Friday:
- Intro (with samples of 'No Angel' and 'Formation')
- Formation
- Sorry
- Kitty Kat
- Bow Down
- Run the World (Girls)
- Superpower
- Mine
- Baby Boy
- Hold Up
- Countdown
- Me, Myself and I
- Runnin' (Lose It All) (Naughty Boy cover)
- All Night
- 6 Inch / I Care / Ghost
- Don't Hurt Yourself
- Ring the Alarm
- Diva
- Flawless (remix)
- Feeling Myself (Nicki Minaj cover)
- Yoncé
- Drunk in Love
- Rocket
- Hip Hop Star / Freakum Dress
- Daddy Lessons
- 1+1
- Love on Top (Acapella)
- The Beautiful Ones (Prince cover)
- Purple Rain (Prince song)
- Crazy in Love
- Naughty Girl
- Party
- Blow
- Die with You / Blue
- Freedom
- Survivor (Destiny’s Child song)
- End of Time
- Halo
[Album] JAMLA: "JAMLA Is The Squad"
Years ago, while in college and attempting to make an initial name for myself in the writing game, I somehow found myself interviewing 9th Wonder from my tiny apartment bedroom in Iowa City, Iowa. Since then, 9th and his team, JAMLA, his record label/hip-hop team that has made a distinct effort to bring soul and knowledgeable lyricism back to hip-hop. Acting as a sort of sensei for the JAMLA family, 9th has been known to put new artists through what has been described as "hip-hop boot camp," helping rappers and signers work on writing while opening producers minds to new influences and ways of creating different sounds. Last night, 9th Wonder, Rapsody, Khrysis, Halo, Terrence Martin and the new addition of Add-2 come together on JAMLA Is The Squad, a compilation project of tracks from the label. Joining the squad on the release are the likes of Pete Rock, BJ The Chicago Kid, Blu and Talib Kweli who help craft a boom-bap-ish sound that pays attention to what 9th calls the "twenty year loop" in music. Check out the latest from the sample genius and his band of talented artists, streaming here below and check back to RH tomorrow for more from the JAMLA team!