Tuesday, May 2, Beyonce and DJ Khaled performed at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh in support of her sixth studio album, “Lemonade”, that dropped 5 days before the Formation World Tour started.
The process of just getting into Carter Finley Stadium took hours. Some fans abandoned their cars on I-540 to try to make it to the introduction, but others may not have even made it to the concert. Fortunately, DJ Khaled didn’t come on stage until 8:00 p.m. when the original starting time was 7:30 p.m.
Before the concert, I wasn’t a huge fan of Beyonce. The tickets were expensive, and I only knew a handful of her songs, but I still wanted to see the singer. Beyonce has only performed in Raleigh twice throughout her career, the last time being in 2007 for the Beyonce Experience Tour.
At every concert I attend, I buy a T-shirt as a memorabilia, but the least expensive t-shirt for sale was $45. I’ve been to nearly 30 concerts and Beyonce had the most expensive merchandise available at a concert that I’ve seen. Including the infamous ‘Boycott Beyonce’ T-shirts referencing to an earlier controversy over her Super Bowl performance. Other merchandise available were hats, bags, and accessories.
However, Beyonce really does know how to put on a good show. Most of her setlist was from “Lemonade”, but she did sing snippets of her older songs, including a few from Destiny’s Child. The graphics were striking and dramatic with a combination of fireworks, fire, strobe lights, and water.
Throughout the concert there were multiple outfit changes. Each costume had the same style, but with different colors and designs. In between outfit changes, a collection of Beyonce’s home videos were played, some even dating back to when she was only 16 and even fan made videos. The choreography between Beyonce and her backup dancers were astonishing and a huge component of what made the concert as spectacular as it was.
Although the dancing was remarkable, I will always remember the announcement midway through Beyonce’s setlist that said “the concert is suspended due to dangerous lightning and everyone must evacuate Carter Finley Stadium into the PNC Arena or their cars.” At first I was skeptical if I should stay or not; I wasn’t sure if Beyonce would actually come back on or if the lightening would stop. I decided to wait in the PNC Arena to get out of the pouring rain. Luckily, I made the right decision of staying because Beyonce came back on stage around 11:30 p.m.
After the concert, there were rumors on social media saying Beyonce paid a hefty fine of $60,000 for continuing her show after curfew. However, the rumors were false.
Both the fans and Beyonce continued to sing and dance through the pouring rain, while she gave the show that fans had paid for. It was a concert that fans will remember and hopefully Beyonce will, too.
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