The Beyoncé Experience

Wikipedia:

The Beyoncé Experience was the second worldwide concert tour by American singer-songwriter Beyoncé in support to her second solo album B'Day.

Background

Early before the album was released, Beyoncé held a nationwide audition for female musicians which finally ended in Sony Music Studios. Rehearsals for the tour began in March 2007. Tickets went on sales on April 20, 2007. The shows include songs from both Knowles' B'Day/B'Day Deluxe Edition albums and Dangerously in Love album and at some shows she included songs from her Irremplazable EP. The conception and staging for the concert was done by Beyoncé Knowles, Kim Burse and Frank Gatson Jr. Gatson, Jonte Moaning, Ramone, Anthony Burrell, Danielle Polanco choreographed the dance routines. Tina Knowles, House of Deréon, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Elie Saab, Herve Leger shouldered the tour's wardrobe. The tour was managed by Alan Floyd.

The tour kicked off on April 10 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan with the first leg ending in Nagoya. The second leg was in Australia before moving on to the third leg in Europe, beginning in Frankfurt, Germany before going through countries such as Spain, Sweden and Portugal ending the leg with several shows in the UK in cities such as London, Cardiff and Manchester where she performed to her biggest crowd in Europe to 21,000 at the sold out MEN Arena. The third leg ended with two dates at The Point in Dublin.

The US leg of the tour began on July 6 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, as part of the 2007 New Orleans Essence Music Festival, where Beyoncé headlined. The tour also stops in Mexico (Monterrey City). She then embarked on a final leg of the tour in East Asia/Korea. The final concert of the tour took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on December 31, 2007. The tour, whose sponsors were Samsung and L'Oréal Paris. Beyoncé also did a free concert in Toronto on September 15, 2006.

A show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was canceled due to conflict in dress coding of the country. However, a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia replaced it. The show on October 24 in Istanbul, Turkey was cancelled by the organizer, the sports club Fenerbahçe, due to the attacks of PKK in Hakkâri on September 21, 2007.

Prior to the commencement of the tour, Knowles performed at the 2007 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; she coined the show a "sneak preview" of The Beyoncé Experience. Slim Thug, who features on "Check on It", appeared during the show.

Synopsis

The show opened in darkness with Knowles emerging through a hole in the stage admist smoke to perform "Crazy in Love"/"Crazy" in a sparkling silver gown, as fifteen disco balls hung from the ceiling. During "Freakum Dress" Knowles played an air guitar, while the stage's stairs were lit green during "Green Light". She wore a belly-dancing outfit, including harem pants, while singing "Baby Boy". During "Beautiful Liar" Knowles sang into a microphone that fell from the ceiling and performed a Shakira-styled dance similar to the song's music video; Shakira appeared on the video screen throughout the song. "Naughty Girl" was sung, to which she belly-danced. Portions of "Love to Love You Baby", and song which "Naughty Girl" interpolates, were also sung. "Me, Myself and I" was performed at a slower tempo than the original recording, after which Knowles sang "Dangerously in Love 2"/"He Loves Me". She cried during "Flaws and All" before being embraced by a dancer dressed as an angel. Knowles sang "Speechless" while seated on a sofa designed like a pair of lips. The intro to "Ring the Alarm" paid homage to the "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago, as women told of how they had been hurt by men. She donned a red overcoat for "Ring the Alarm", while during "Get Me Bodied" she removed her robot costume to reveal black and yellow costume to emulate a bee. "Check on It" was preceded by "The Pink Panther Theme" (instrumental), during which the stairs were colored pink. A Dreamgirls segment was performed, incorporating the title song and "Listen" from the 2006 musical film that Knowles starred in. The final song on the tour's setlist was "Irreplaceable"; it began with the audience singing the first verse to Knowles. Between segments of the show, Suga Mama performed instrumentals, with every member giving a solo.

Incident

During the performance of "Ring the Alarm" at the Orlando, Florida show on July 24, Knowles fell down a flight of stairs. After the song she asked the audience, not to post the footage on YouTube; however, several clips were posted on the video-sharing website, although on July 26 YouTube removed many of the clips as they were infringing copyright terms. After an initial removal spree, clips of the incident reappeared on YouTube, and were uploaded to other content-sharing websites such as Dailymotion and eBaum's World.

Asian relocation

Knowles intended to take the Beyoncé Experience to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 1, 2007, however the show was cancelled "due to a scheduling conflict" and relocated at Jakarta, Indonesia. It was speculated that Knowles shifted the show because of Malaysia's strict rules surrounding the clothing that female performers wear.

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly's Chris Willman awarded the show an A- rating, and commended Knowles' ability to sing and dance simultaneously. of The Washington Post praised the concert's fast pace and called it "pure pop spectacle", however he was disappointed in the show's ending. The Daily Mail's John Aizleman was impressed with the high energy Knowles showed during the performance, and lauded the dance choreography, particularly that of "Bills, Bills, Bills". However, Aizleman criticized the appearance of a dancer dressed as an angel at the end of "Flaws and All" as being awkward, and wrote that that moment was reminiscent of a "misguided school nativity play". Mat Brewster of Blogcritics, who made clear that he is not a fan of Knowles, wrote "the lady knows how to bring it and make even a naysayer like me have one crazy good time." The New York Times' Jon Pareles wrote, "She's the woman with everything: the voice, the moves, the songs, the ideas and the clothes", while the Herald Sun's Cameron Adams compared Knowles' performing ability to that of Prince, and stated, "Beyoncé is an old-fashioned, all- round entertainer."

Broadcasting

The Beyoncé Experience Live DVD was filmed on September 2 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California show because it was two days before Beyoncé's 26th birthday. During the show, Destiny's Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams appeared onstage to finish "Survivor"; boyfriend Jay-Z also contributed his verse to "Upgrade U". At the end of the show Rowland and Williams led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday to You" to Knowles, to mark her birthday two days later. It was released on November 20, 2007. The DVD was released in Spain on November 27, 2007. It was released under the title The Beyoncé Experience Live!.

The show in Milan, Italy was also recorded for promotional and archival use only.

Opening acts

Set list

Additional Notes

Personnel

Suga Mama:

The Mamas (Background Vocalists):

Dancers

Crew

Tour dates