
Review: After weather clears, Beyoncé kicks up joyous ‘Cowboy Carter' storm
The National Weather Service announced a tornado watch through 10 p.m. for the Chicago area. A little before 6 p.m., Soldier Field announced on social media that the concert would be delayed. 'The COWBOY CARTER TOUR show at Soldier Field tonight will not begin before 9pm,' the venue posted in part on X. 'We're monitoring the weather and will continue to share updates here.'
Ticketholders sheltered in concourses and adjacent areas. Attendees with floor access waited in a separate zone. No updates were delivered, though, and despite local weather seemingly clearing by 8:30 p.m., concert-goers weren't permitted into sections until shortly after 9 p.m. Beyoncé took the stage at 10:15, more than three hours after the originally expected 7 p.m. start. The festivities ended at 1 a.m. the next morning.
Fortunately, that was the only hiccup associated with the marathon 165-minute show. At just the second city of her 'Cowboy Carter Tour' after opening outside of Los Angeles, Beyoncé in Chicago proved a maverick who refused to be limited by a single definition, style or expectation.
She packed the spectacle with big props, big routines and bigger concepts. Outwardly, the eight-act event came across as a largely joyous celebration — the unique vision of a 43-year-old singer-songwriter armed with a boundless imagination, a spectacular voice and the tireless work ethic to make everything, from complex choreography to sleek transitions, appear naturally fit into a seamless whole.
Akin to the way her 2023 'Renaissance Tour' contained deep truths about Black positivity and experience, the country and western motifs of her current outing represented far more than a casual foray into her Texas and Louisiana roots. Beyoncé challenged assumptions about identity, heritage and music. She fearlessly tackled meanings, symbolism and narratives surrounding America. Though she never uttered a political remark during the concert, the subtext of her messages were abundantly clear. Ditto her desire to force people to think, question and, ultimately, feel comfortable with who they are as human beings.
Leading with 'Ameriican Requiem,' she said more in the first half hour of the concert than many artists manage in a career. Beyoncé immediately picked a hill to stand on, and stand tall and for something she did, issuing potent statements about courage, sacrifice and repossession.
'Blackbiird,' a silky cover of The Beatles song dedicated to Black innovators who helped pave the path she trod, preceded a bracing rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' Her acrobatic voice mirrored the dive-bomb guitar patterns Jimi Hendrix famously generated for his live version at Woodstock in 1969. With a resistant vibe firmly established, Beyoncé and company launched into 'Freedom,' the desperate snarl of her voice and the punctuating slam of the marching drums bordering on mosh-pit intensity.
The reclamation of America, and the revenge of Beyoncé, reached fever pitch with the subsequent 'Ya Ya.' Savage and fierce, melodic and contagious, the song's architecture suggested genre is little else than a construct while its words smartly addressed the nation's sordid past. 'History can't be erased,' Beyoncé sang, the line bearing extraordinary significance amid the past few months of government overreach and censorship. The insistent piece ended with a piano on fire and Beyoncé yodeling, because why not?
Beyoncé supported the most barbed material with evocative footage projected on a massive video wall. A woman with her face concealed by a veil, positioned in front of a ripped American flag. Black-and-white clips of Black Americans toiling in the military and dead-end jobs. Reels of legends like Chuck Berry, Big Maybelle, James Brown, Tina Turner, Frankie Beverly and Nina Simone. Provocative text declarations such as 'Never Ask Permission for Something That Already Belongs to You.'
That advice extended to Beyoncé's ambitious approach to musical styles. R&B, country, surf, pop, rock 'n' roll, blues, gospel, folk, boogie-woogie, funk, Creole: All on display, their DNA closely matched in songs that stitched together different threads into colorful quilts linked by acoustic guitars, peppy horns, silvery fiddles, warm harmonies and watertight rhythms. In probing what the term 'country' illustrates from a multitude of perspectives, Beyoncé created what should be considered a New Americana.
She even convincingly reconceptualized several club-ready 'Renaissance' tracks with down-home accents that updated the original arrangements with finer textures and jazz dynamics. And she played at minimum a segment of every full track from 'Cowboy Carter.' A brilliant nine-piece band, vocal trio and sizeable dance ensemble adorned in all sorts of Western wear aided her on a cracking assembly of rootsy ballads, clip-clopping hoedowns, juke-joint jigs and Southern-flavored do-si-dos that bettered their studio counterparts.
Riding a mechanical bull during the slinky, double-entendre 'Tyrant.' Climbing in a mock convertible and soaring above the crowd for '16 Carriages.' Materializing atop a semi-truck decorated with metal steer horns during the swing-your-partner-round energy of 'Texas Hold 'Em.' Getting carried off by a cotillion of denim-clad men toward the conclusion of the lusty 'Levii's Jeans.' Beyoncé had a blast, and included two of her daughters in the commotion. Blue Ivy participated in the dance crew. The younger Rumi joined Mom and gave her an adorable bear hug during the tender 'Protector.'
True to form, Beyoncé slayed in all seven of her outfits, impressing with her range of chaps and a pair of white cowboy boots emblazoned with a reference to Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin.'' No detail was too small. A pop-up beauty salon, an illuminated horseshoe, robotic drink server and lip-shaped sofa added to the sensory bonanza. Similarly, when she reprised the dance-party disco and ballroom culture of her preceding 'Renaissance' tour on three bounce-laden songs, the vocalist repurposed a few futuristic-leaning devices.
That stretch, and a brief run through snippets of earlier hits — the step-to-the-left instructions of 'Irreplaceable' sounded particularly apropos on this evening — aside, Beyoncé focused on her most recent material. She dug her proverbial heels into all the roles.
Quick-draw shooter ('Spaghettii'). Sexual advocate ('Desert Eagle'). Steadfast protector ('Bodyguard'). Devoted mate ('Alliigator Tears'). Drifter who sees God as a woman ('Just for Fun'). Further dissolving restrictions, she transformed into a self-described 400 Foot Cowboy, cigar-smoking desperado and horseback-riding avenger in video interludes that blended humor and self-empowerment. As well as a knowledge of classic Westerns and oater tropes.
Beyoncé is in town for 3 shows at Chicago's Soldier Field for her Cowboy Carter tour. Here's what to know.Beyoncé's use of her elegant mezzo-soprano and mile-wide smile indicated otherwise, yet her turns as an admonishing, vengeant rebel placed her in a whole other universe. Her threatening interpretation of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' and theatrical, blood-chilling performance of the icy murder ballad 'Daughter' — replete with an interpolation of 'Caro mio ben' — displayed impeccable confidence, control and cinematic breadth. Beyoncé as an opera singer? Believe it.
She was that girl, all right, both the fighter who pledged in a cappella 'they'll never take the country out of me' and, on the venomous latter part of 'Sweet Honey Buckiin,'' the once spurned-now-stronger woman eager to remind everyone the consequences of crossing her. Or underestimating her steel-trap memory and grasp on history.
Wearing American flags fastened above her knees as her ensemble danced with the same flags, Beyoncé concluded on a hushed note. The church overtones of 'Amen' calmly addressed who really built America and who received the credit. As Beyoncé summoned better angels and called for a removal of ancestors' misdeeds, the face of the Statue of Liberty looked on, its mouth covered with a bandana.
Call it a long-overdue reckoning, repossession or purification. True country in every sense, it served as an unforgettable merger of sound and vision. Have mercy on us all, indeed.Setlist from Soldier Field on May 15:
'Ameriican Requiem'
'Blackbiird' (Beatles cover)
'The Star-Spangled Banner'
'Freedom'
'Ya Ya' into 'Why Don't You Love Me'
'America Has a Problem'
'Spaghettii'
'Formation'
'My House'
'Diva'
'Alliigator Tears'
'Just for Fun'
'Protector'
'Flamenco'
'Desert Eagle'
'Riiverdance'
'II Hands II Heaven'
'Tyrant'
'Thique'
'Levii's Jeans'
'Sweet Honey Buckiin'' into 'Pure/Honey' into 'Summer Renaissance'
'Texas Hold 'Em'
'Crazy in Love'
'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)'
'Love on Top'
'Irreplaceable'
'If I Were a Boy'
'Jolene' (Dolly Parton cover)
'Daddy Lessons'
'Bodyguard'
'II Most Wanted'
'Cuff It'
'Heated'
'Before I Let Go' (Maze cover)
'Daughter'
'I'm That Girl'
'Cozy'
'Alien Superstar'
'16 Carriages'
'Amen'
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2 hours ago
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Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Northwestern basketball coach shot and killed by white supremacist
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