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Three songs into Beyonce’s concert at Molson Amphitheatre last night, I declared, “F*CK, THIS IS HOT.” Later, I shrieked like a 12-year-old girl. So I guess the lady’s show can be summed up with five words and a squeal: “Sasha Fierce is f*cking hot. *scream!*”

You know, I’m a casual Bey fan. I appreciate what she does for pop music, I know lots of her lyrics and I’ve been following her career since Destiny’s Child dropped the radio edit of “No, No, No”. HowEVER, I wasn’t clamoring to attend this show - but what last night taught me is that I should have been. Even as a casual Beyonce fan (examples: you hold solo dance parties to “Single Ladies”, you can’t stop yourself from singing “to the left, to the left” anytime someone says the word “left”), you should have been at the show. It was fierce. It was a good time. It was expertly crafted. The choreography was BLAZING.

One of my favourite things in life are badass bitches, and Beyonce’s stage was full of ‘em. For awhile now, she’s been backed by a full-female band, and last night we saw a talented drummer, guitarist, bassist, pianist, other percussionist, horn section and 3 back-up singers (The Mamas) workin’ that female power. PLUS she had at least 5 superhot lady dancers. The only males were 4 delicious dancers who played a VERY supporting role. Dancing played a huge part in this extravaganza, but the cool part was that she mostly stuck to the 3-person theme that has been pivotal in her recent videos. Sometimes it was 2 men, sometimes 2 ladies, and oftentimes they switched but the power of that dancing tripod is absolutely magnetic. Other moments all 9 dancers would work as a group while Beyonce did her own thing - but the whole show, choreography-wise, was amazing. So badass.

So, the ballad-y parts weren’t awesome (for me). A little over-the-top - maybe the angel-bride costume and lights from heaven aren’t completely necessary and sure, “Smash Into You” is from your surprise-spring-hit movie, but like, *yawn*. Replace that with “Dangerously In Love” and now we’re talkin’. Ok, so it was nice to hear her clear voice sing “Ave Maria”, leading into Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”… and no person can deny the strength of “At Last”. I’m just saying, when the dancers came out and the Sasha Fierce storm raised hell, that’s when the show killed.

Best moments? A brilliant crowd sing-a-long of “Irreplaceable” (she didn’t sing until the second verse) followed by a 5-minute ovation. “If I Were A Boy” leading into a pretty dope Alanis cover of “You Oughta Know”. Video screens showing DRAKE in the audience and me reacting like a pre-teen. Her homage to Michael Jackson during “Halo”. And of course, “Single Ladies”, which began with a fantastic video montage of YouTube imitators and ended with the full dance on stage - so killer to see live.

Setlist

Cazy in love
Naughty Girl
Freakum Dress
Get Me Bodied
Smash Into You
Ave Maria / Angel
Broken-Hearted Girl
If I Were A Boy / You Oughta Know
Sweet Dreams (video break)
Diva
Radio
Ego
Irreplaceable
Check On It
Destiny’s Child medley (tease): Bootylicious / Bugaboo / Jumpin, Jumpin
Upgrade U
Video Phone
Band intermission
At Last
Listen
Single Ladies
Encore: Halo

Tags: beyonce, concert reviews, concerts, reviews

Posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 5:09 pm by Wendy and is filed under Concert Reviews.

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