{"id":60256,"date":"2025-04-29T12:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/60256\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T12:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:59:08","slug":"beyonce-opens-cowboy-carter-tour-in-los-angeles-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/60256\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyonc\u00e9 Opens Cowboy Carter Tour in Los Angeles: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAt one point during Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s 36-song, western-themed Cowboy Carter<\/a> tour<\/a> opener, the words \u201cNever ask permission for something that already belongs to you\u201d were illuminated in red across the massive screen. In many ways, the unapologetic mantra defined Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s approach to what some have dismissed as her \u201ccountry foray. But instead of reclaiming anything, she celebrated the Black origins of country culture and its evolution.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyonc\u00e9\u2019s three-hour performance at SoFi Stadium on Monday night was a beast to digest. It also reminded her audience exactly how she\u2019s paved a lane of her own, packing the set with the country-tinged songs off Cowboy Carter<\/a> while calling back to its ballroom-inspired predecessor, Renaissance, multiple times.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI want to thank all of those who came before me,\u201d said Beyonc\u00e9, dressed in a gorgeous white leather ensemble by Mugler and a matching cowboy hat, as images of Linda Martell<\/a> and other Black country pioneers flashed onscreen. \u201cI want to thank my fans for letting me make this album. Thank you for giving me the creative liberty to challenge myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Cowboy Carter show is far more than a country spectacle, however. That was clear from the start as she shook off her cowboy hat during \u201cYa Ya\u201d to deliver quintessential Beyonc\u00e9-isms: the hair flips and classic dance moves. Yes, the banjos rang loudly during \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em,\u201d the fiddle carried renditions of \u201cII Most Wanted\u201d and \u201cBlackbiird,\u201d and she and her dancers rocked chaps, cowboy hats, and giant belt buckles throughout. But, ultimately, Beyonc\u00e9 delivered a Beyonc\u00e9-caliber stadium show devoid of genre limitations, and anchored by the stunning choreography of her more than 24 backup dancers.<\/p>\n

\n\tWoven throughout the performance were impressive visuals and interludes that placed Beyonc\u00e9 in a Wild West backdrop, portraying her as an \u201coutsider\u201d in a place she was never meant to belong. By the concert\u2019s end, she shattered that narrative \u2014 defeating an older, white cowboy in a stylized gun duel, bullets ricocheting off her body. The scene seemed to echo her exclusion from the Country Music Association Awards<\/a> and, more broadly, Nashville\u2019s white-dominated industry, which has long black-balled the singer. But during the performance Beyonc\u00e9 made it clear she doesn\u2019t need anyone\u2019s approval \u2014 she\u2019s bigger than that.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyonc\u00e9 layered Cowboy Carter\u2018s patriotic visual themes with more symbolic depth. She opened the show with \u201cAmerican Requiem,\u201d then shifted from a soft rendition of \u201cBlackbiird\u201d to a jarring take on the national anthem, set to Jimi Hendrix\u2019s haunting guitar <\/a>performance from Woodstock 1969. Hendrix\u2019s version, delivered a year after Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s assassination, stood as a protest amid a time of unrest. For Beyonc\u00e9, it became both a tribute and a reminder of America\u2019s turbulent past and present. Fittingly, she continued into \u201cFreedom,\u201d which served as the soundtrack for Kamala Harris\u2019 failed 2024 presidential campaign. She also delivered \u201cAmerica Has a Problem\u201d featuring Kendrick Lamar\u2019s verse with a press conference-style backdrop, and declared, \u201cbut they never take the country out me\u201d during a powerful rendition of \u201cFormation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the Lemonade standout, Beyonc\u00e9 sang proudly, \u201cI like my baby heir\/ with baby hair and afros,\u201d as Blue Ivy<\/a> joined her crew of backup dancers with seamless choreography. Blue Ivy was a consistent presence throughout the show, performing alongside her mother on several songs, including \u201cSweet Honey Buckin,\u201d \u201cYa Ya,\u201d and \u201cAmerica Has a Problem.\u201d Later, during a high-energy dance break, Blue Ivy strutted solo to Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s 2006 hit \u201cD\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu,\u201d before reviving the iconic choreography from the B\u2019Day era, which Rolling Stone ranked<\/a> as Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s best song of all time.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tIn one of the most heartwarming moments of the evening, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s younger daughter, Rumi Carter, also took the stage during \u201cProtector,\u201d a track that features her vocals. The seven-year-old beamed with a charming smile and waved to the crowd as her mother serenaded her. Behind them, a tribute to Bey\u2019s babies quoting the young Carter\u2019s poet namesake appeared on screen: \u201cI once had a thousand desires \/ But in my one desire to know you\/ all else melted away.\u201d While rich with commentary on America and country\u2019s Black roots, the show was also a sweet celebration of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s own lineage.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe singer made it clear throughout the performance that the heart of Renaissance, the first act of her three-album trilogy, still beats on Cowboy Carter. Along with playing songs like \u201cCuff It,\u201d \u201cHeated,\u201d and \u201cThique\u201d in other parts of the show, she weaved in small nods to the metallic, silver era, including during \u201cTyrant,\u201d during which she rode a robotic mechanical bull. At other points, a robot poured her a glass of whiskey on a throne. She also reimagined Renaissance\u2018s beloved horse, Reneigh, now golden, and delivered the original choreography for songs \u201cI\u2019m That Girl,\u201d \u201cCozy,\u201d and \u201cAlien Superstar,\u201d featuring similar props that adapted to the more-golden country themes of the new album. \u201cWelcome back to the Renaissance, y\u2019all,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 declared onstage, as a ballroom-style dance party overtook the stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, some standout moments from the set included Bey\u2019s silly rendition of \u201cDiva,\u201d which saw her mirror a viral TikTok video of the singer pointing to an indistinct fan in the crowd and repeating the refrain \u201cShe ain\u2019t no divaaaaa.\u201d During \u201cThique,\u201d she blended in elements of Destiny\u2019s Child\u2019s \u201cBills, Bills, Bills,\u201d leading fans to think that maybe some DC3 bangers had snuck onto the setlist. (They didn\u2019t, although images of the group early in their career were shown onscreen during an interlude.) She later zipped around the stadium on a massive pink horseshoe while performing her initial country-foraying track \u201cDaddy Lessons,\u201d her first live performance of the song since 2016, during a section named after Dolly Parton\u2019s \u201cJoelne.\u201d The climax of the show came during the final act as she played a remix of \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em,\u201d keeping its country elements before seamlessly transitioning into her hit \u201cCrazy in Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three hours of Beyonc\u00e9 felt nonstop as she ran through almost the entirety of Cowboy Carter during the set. Everything from the show seemed calculated and measured to perfection, leaving little space for Beyonc\u00e9 to break from the plan. It was a theatrical spectacle that, once again, put Bey in a league of her own.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tTo close the show, Beyonc\u00e9 soared around the stadium in a flying classic car adorned with a single American flag, leading a massive sing-along to her Cowboy Carter track \u201c16 Carriages.\u201d For the encore, Beyonc\u00e9 draped herself in a gown printed with the U.S. flag as she sang \u201cAmen\u201d in front of a masked face of the Statue of Liberty, who notably had braided hair. Clearly, Beyonc\u00e9 thought deeply about the message she wanted to convey with the show (and the monumental album it celebrated). It hasn\u2019t even been a full two years since her Renaissance tour, yet Beyonc\u00e9 keeps proving why she\u2019s operating on a completely different level. The Cowboy Carter tour is one not to be missed.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyonc\u00e9 will continue the Cowboy Carter tour with four more shows in Los Angeles, with the next show on Thursday, May 1. She\u2019ll then head to Chicago and New Jersey before a run of shows in London and Paris, before returning stateside to Houston, D.C, Atlanta, and closing shows in Las Vegas this July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At one point during Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s 36-song, western-themed Cowboy Carter tour opener, the words \u201cNever ask permission for something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[27162,31263,4080,31264,77,31265,31266,31267,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-60256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-beyoncu00e9","9":"tag-blue-ivy","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-cowboy-carter","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-linda-martell","14":"tag-renaissance-tour","15":"tag-tour-announcement","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114421378133011264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}