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The Renaissance World Tour might as well be called The Attack of the 50-Foot Diva. A giant Beyoncé on stratospheric screens overwhelmed her Barcelona audience with retrofuturistic visuals, powerful choreography, declarations of love and, of course, the songs with which she has already passed to posterity. Decades from now, when you can look back without fear of rushing, you will refer to her as the Aretha Franklin of her generation.

It is the first solo tour that the artist gives in seven years. He has compensated for the wait for his followers – the beyhive collective, as it calls itself – with a show divided into segments, each with its corresponding interlude, changes of atmosphere and clothes, of course. It would be a terrible mistake to detract from the work of Shiona Turini, the person in charge of all the costumes of the tour, because she has been as key to reaching the tremendous level of spectacularity of the show as the visuals.

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With the first notes that warned the start of the show, an image of the semi-naked artist was appearing on the megascreen until she personally entered the scene with Dangerously in Love, the title song of her debut album in 2003. That first soul segment and review of the beginning of his career was the warm-up prior to an intense dance session. And also ademonstration of the power of his voice, which can go from the heartbreaking to the sumptuous without losing an iota of strength. Even in his version of the mythical River Deep - Mountain High in homage to the recently deceased Tina Turner (what is the expiration date of the musical obituaries?) he managed to lower the rock character of the song with his artistic personality and turned it into a monumental ballad that gave goosebumps.

Once that nostalgic journey was over, it was time to give way to the 'renaissance' that is his latest album. And finally the price of the ticket for the Renaissance Club made sense, the area of the circular stage in which the spectators with more desire to dance were concentrated. With retrofuturistic visuals and his army of dancers, he performed the reggaeton I'm That Girl which was followed by Cozy o 7/11. The block closed with a dance sample from the choreographer duo Les Twins, who are accompanying Queen Bey on her tour.

Renaissance is a tribute to the great disco divas of the 70s and 80s such as Grace Jones or Donna Summer and also to the feeling of freedom caused by disco dancing under a ball of mirrors. There is, for example and emphatically, Break My Soul, a bomb that makes even the blandest go out on the track.

But despite the hedonism of this stage, Beyoncé has not abandoned her vindictive facet. In this show there was no lack of Formation, Run the World or Black Parade because feminism, the rights of the African-American population and the LGTBI + community are still its spearhead. But for her – in the manner of Emma Goldman – activism cannot be at odds with partying. At that point in the concert, when he pronounced "Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation!", the audience would have started whatever revolution it was. In fact, the tank was available on stage.

Nor did he leave his fandom without his big, excessive, hyperbolic hits. Love on Top mixed with the I Want You Back by Jackson Five led to a karaoke encouraged by herself and the madness unleashed exploded completely with Crazy In Love. To forget such hits would have been an act of almost cruelty. You don't see Beyoncé live every day and maybe not even twice in a lifetime.

Before reaching her more than shocking goodbye, she emerged on stage inside a clam as in a reinterpretation of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus from where she sang Plastic Off the Sofa before dressing as a bee news anchor and explaining that America Has a Problem. You need to be very diva to say goodbye as she did: first on the back of a brilliant horse – in reference to the mythical image of Bianca Jagger in Studio 54 – and then crossing the sky like an angel or, rather, a heroine with a blinding cape to the rhythm of Summer Renaissance. His superpower? Elevate music to the level of mystical experience to hit hits with an imperturbable smile.

  • music
  • Pop
  • Barcelona
  • Electronic music

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