Beyoncé Rocks Stade de France: A Mega Concert Blending Entertainment with Activism

An immense screen, dynamic sets, a flying horseshoe on which Beyoncé perches twice (not that we’d trade our billions to be in her shoes, but she seems to thoroughly enjoy this circus-like stunt), and even a shiny red convertible used to wave at the audience from the air at the end of her performance. All the while, clad in outfits from Versace, Mugler, Levi’s, and Loewe, her voice remains spectacular. Her presence is unmistakable even from miles away. A piano catches fire during Ya Ya. In the audience sits Cardi B. No question, we are definitely at a Beyoncé supershow, dressed in white, complete with a Stetson and a fur train, her proud blonde curls flowing.

From the opening songs, she engages the crowd with what she aptly names the Cowboy Carter Tour, blending picturesque country with her gospel roots. As the dancers flow around her in graceful movements, one is reminded of Alvin Ailey and his 1960 ballet Revelations, exploring the horizontality of upper body limbs while embracing Southern folklore.

Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you

Beyoncé is no stranger to invoking the choreographer, a fellow Texan. Born in 1931, he founded a dance company in the late 1950s composed entirely of Black dancers aimed at dominating the stage—a bold move during the civil rights movement. Similarly, Beyoncé, who has dabbled in country music to the chagrin of conservative American media, released Cowboy Carter to remind us that the origins of this genre, mistakenly labeled as redneck, like jazz and rock’n’roll, trace back to cotton plantations.

We are moved to see on the big screen pioneers like Rosetta Tharpe, who invented rock’n’roll before any of these gentlemen, and Linda Martell, the first black singer to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, before she delivers her string-laden rendition of McCartney’s Black Bird. Singing the American anthem, Beyoncé claims it as her own even more so as the screens behind her proclaim, “Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you”. In the intro to America has a Problem, we hear the voice of Ras Baraka, son of the famous Amiri, reciting I Want To Hear An American Poem, followed by the ever-relevant Gil Scott-Heron: “You will not be able to stay home, brother/You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out/Because the revolution will not be televised”.

The Universal Power of Pop

Is this revolution truly fed by a crowd waving their fans in stadiums, particularly those packed to the brim with 80,000 people like the Stade de France tonight? Probably not, but Beyoncé’s multigenerational audience, representing all skin colors and social classes (despite high ticket prices), is itself proof of pop’s undeniable universal appeal.

The second act of the musical triptych announced by Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter arrives just two years after the Renaissance tour, which set the dancefloor ablaze with its disco vibes. This show is just as meticulously arranged and effective, with visual interludes by Nadia Lee Cohen, yet it carries a more melancholic tone. Perhaps the socio-political context of her homeland makes it all the more bitter? Regardless, despite few speeches from the singer, Beyoncé speaks volumes about the need to return to roots to better fulfill the duty of legacy.

A Setlist of About Forty Songs

On Protector, she is joined by her daughters Rumi and Blue Ivy (already an excellent dancer at 13, adept in both two-step and flamenco) and the female troupe Mayyas, led by Lebanese Nadim Cherfam, whose name means “proud stride of lionesses” in Arabic. And on Crazy in Love, where she cleverly revisits the tempo, she invites Mr. Carter, or Jay-Z – a collaboration not seen since 2018. In just three seconds, he turns the stadium ecstatic as he raps N***as in Paris. From there, the performance tension never drops, with Beyoncé peppering her setlist primarily drawn from Cowboy Carter with a few lines from hits like Single Ladies and Diva. Others are more thoroughly explored, such as the fabulous Texas Hold’Em, Cuff It (performed on a platform amid the audience), I’m That Girl, and a closing 16 Carriages, always just as stirring. In forty songs and nearly three hours of concert, Beyoncé affirms that she remains the Queen B of oversized American pop, owing as much to Madonna as to Diana Ross, while increasingly following in the footsteps of Aretha Franklin, who knew like no other how to blend entertainment and activism.