Sorry I’m a little behind on my posts. I got a seriously wild hair yesterday and talked RF into taking me to the Beyoncé Formation World Tour. That’s right – Befrickenyoncé!! Because, you know, that’s how we roll.
OK, not really. In all of our years as a couple, RF and I haven’t actually been to very many concerts together because, well, he hates concerts. Not the music, mind you – he loves music. It’s the crowds and the herd mentality and the general jackassery of tens of thousands of people gathering in one place that bother him. So, stadium concerts are especially not his thing. And, Beyoncé? Well, he admitted to knowing maybe two of her songs. But, he’s a stand-up guy, and when his girl wants to see Beyoncé, he gets on StubHub and makes it happen.
Honestly, I’m not 100% sure why I all of the sudden felt the pull. I used to be a much bigger concertgoer, but actually agree with many of RF’s sentiments about the whole experience. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been losing so many music greats lately. What a shame to know that we’ll never experience a live Prince performance. I’ve been planning to see Janet Jackson with my friend JP, but her show has been postponed twice now and who knows if it will ever happen. Not that I think she’s going to die! But it is pretty hard to imagine her heading straight back out on the road after starting a family at 50.
So, we can’t take the greats for granted – and Beyonce ranks right up there at the top of the reigning queens of female anthems. Let’s do this thang!!
But wait… I had my first moment of wtf have I done angst when we were driving to pick up dinner before the concert. It dawned on me that Century Link Field is an open air stadium…and insanely dark clouds were looming. Thankfully, they broke just as we were parking. Crisis averted…for now.
As we worked our way through the massive crowds and past security, I was impressed by how RF was holding up. Not a single person glared at, much less elbowed or punched. Whew.
It took us awhile to weave through the interior of the stadium and find our section. Thankfully, the people watching was on fleek and kept us completely entertained until we FINALLY walked through that tunnel.
This was our view from our seats. So yeah, we were early. I wasn’t going to risk missing anything! (I also thought it would take us a lot longer to find parking…but it turns out it’s not that hard when you’re willing to pony up for a good spot.)
DJ Khaled hit the stage around 8. This is when I broke the news to RF that Bey might not emerge until after 9. The thing about Seattle at this time of year is that it stays light…late. Officially, the sun sets at around 8:45 pm this week. Which, of course, means that there’s light in the sky a solid half hour after that, if not longer. Given the clouds, probably not much longer…but, still late. And, you know Beyoncé’s not hitting the stage without some drama…and that probably wasn’t going to happen until after dark.
So, we waited. This woman played MANY games of solitaire…after she brokered a genius deal with the girls in front of us to move into a better seat towards the center when they all wanted to sit together. She was taking none of their shit. Loved it.
During this long and boring hour, I tried to Instagram, text, check my email. Ha! Cell service in the stadium is crap!! Which is particularly funny because one of my projects this week has been renaming a major carrier’s program to create better cell connections in high-density indoor locations, like stadiums. They need to get on that!
The sun finally set, and skies began to darken. The smoke machines started up and the massive cube began to rotate. The crowd went in.sane.
The first of many filmed segments began. A wild mix of imagery paired with intense flashes and haunting sounds. I didn’t manage to capture it, but a hawk flashed on the screen several times. I thought it would be pretty awesome to snap that hawk in Seahawks stadium. Since I wasn’t confident that I could sneak in a dSLR (good call) my iPhone had to suffice…but fast focus is not its strength. Oh well. Here’s a shot of Bey with an orchid mouth instead.
Wait, I think I see something…is it her? Haha, nope! Dancers. So many dancers. So many hats. But, wait…is that her coming to the front? YES!!!!!
Let the dancing begin!
A costume change, and more dancing. Those legs. All of them, not just Bey’s. To die! Although, I will say that her dancers switched in and out of the lineup throughout the show, but Queen B danced every single note of that high intensity choreography. Sure, she had breaks…but if there was dancing, she was doing it.
Oh, btw…it’s settled. I am officially hiring someone to walk in front of me with a giant fan so that my hair can always be blowing in the wind. (Although, this crazy selfie stick is probably more in my budget.)
So, I have to call out a couple of insanely fierce musicians. There were solos from her drummer and guitarist – both just unreal women who rocked the effing house. Killed it. Seriously.
There were quite a few fun tricks with “the cube” – many of them involved bright light emanating from the center, which was hard to capture. At one point, there were dancers suspended inside, which was quite stunning. This one was just fun.
There were a couple of really beautiful moments where I stood and looked around in awe of being at the center of this wild experience. The first was the explosion of a million tons of confetti. We did end up getting a little bit of rain during the evening, and it shimmered beautifully in all the lights. But I didn’t know that I didn’t know shimmer until that confetti came flowing down. This pic does zero justice. The way the current inside the stadium would pick up the little pieces and toss them around created this sort of suspended animation feel. Gorgeous.
The other was during 1 + 1. Cell phone lights started popping up in a massive phosporescent wave. Even Bey was like, “That’s just beautiful, y’all.” Again, no justice from the picture…but I tried!
There’s no doubt, Beyoncé is the definition of fierce. Even RF admitted, “I get it.” Our only critique was that she needed to loosen the reigns of perfection. Every second felt so precisely choreographed and executed that there was not a single slice of room for error – not even for happy accidents, which are really some of the best moments in life.
Bey, you are a goddess! Look at you!! There is no world in which you are not extraordinarily exceptional – beyond compare. Loosen up a little and let the real fun begin.
Because RF is awesome (which you already knew because I told you how, like always, he jumped right on this madcap bandwagon with me!), he put together a little mix of video snippets we captured for you. Enjoy!!
Beyonce Formation from Ralph Fontaine on Vimeo.
year of months 