As the Renaissance World Tour recently came to an end earlier this month, it’s the perfect time to recap some of the most iconic moments, especially for fans who could not make the shows. Beyoncé has been a household name for over a decade, but this album truly solidified her status as one of the most successful and influential artists of our generation, adding four more Grammys to her roster.
The tour officially kicked off on May 10th in Stockholm, Sweden. NPR described the experience as “unlike any other Beyoncé experience, a truly communal and social media-hyped dance party” (NPR). Beyoncé did not disappoint with her performers. On stage alongside the singer were some of the most popular dancers of our generation. Viral ballroom dancer Honey Balenciaga, World of Dance’s Les Twins, and up-and-coming performer Amari Marshall brought insane energy to the stage, hyping up the crowd. Beyoncé also brought out her daughter, Blue Ivy, to perform MY POWER, a once-in-a-lifetime mother-daughter bonding opportunity.
In addition to Blue Ivy’s popularity, the tour choreography has blown up on TikTok and invaded local studios, sparking many dancers to post their own takes on the moves. In addition to choreography flooding TikTok, videos from the Mute challenge (fails and successes), a portion of the show where the audience goes silent during ENERGY, have also garnered attention of Beyoncé and non-Beyoncé fans alike. The Houston and Atlanta crowds received praise by Beyoncé for their collective effort to remain silent after “Look around everybody on mute”, however, the final winner of the Mute challenge went to the final stop on the tour, Kansas City.
For many of the tour attendees, one of the most memorable parts of the event were the outfits. Silver, black, and chrome were the “uniform” colors for the concert. These outfits reflected the singer’s request to wear silver in honor of her birthday in September, just in time for Virgo season. It also happened to match the overall vibe the cover of the album gave. Some of the best outfits from the tour were worn by some very famous fans: Tracee Ellen Ross, Zendaya, Kamala Harris, and Oprah, were all sighted at various stops on the tour.
Alongside these celebs, some of our own students at WY attended the tour. I asked these students which songs were their favorite to see live. Popular responses included ENERGY, HEATED, and CUFF IT (Mr. Harris’ personal favorite). I spoke to Gavin Baker, a senior here at WY, about her time at the Chicago concert. She told me her favorite song to see live was Break My Soul and described the experience almost like a fashion show. “You could tell that there was a real community that she was creating with her music”, which indeed is an atmosphere the BeyHive can create. Beyoncé closed out the tour on a high note at October 1st’s concert in Kansas City. The widely successful tour grossed a whopping “$579 million, making it the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in history, and the seventh-highest-grossing tour overall” according to Entertainment Weekly. Fans who missed out on seeing Bey in person, listen up. If this article wasn’t enough to bring to life the highlight of the summer, you’re in luck: the tour will be brought to your local theater on December 1st. Until then, we can keep streaming the album on repeat. Be sure to have those outfits ready!
