MIAMI (AP) – Whether scorned woman or confident seductress, Beyonce moved seamlessly between the two on the opening night of her Formation World Tour in Miami, offering no insight into the rumors of marital infidelity fueled by her latest album.
Queen B came out swinging Wednesday in an oversized black western hat and bodysuit, trading her normal stilettos for military-style combat boots. She opened the show with “Formation” and had the crowd in a frenzy as she moved to her latest anthem “Sorry,” noticeable scorn in her tone as she sang, “Tonight, I regret the night I put that ring on.”
Both songs were from “Lemonade,” which she released days earlier in an HBO special with full visuals. Much of the album appeared to tie into Beyonce’s life, and lines like “Are you cheating on me?” raised questions of whether her husband, Jay Z, had been unfaithful.
Her opening anthems were fueled by red lights and hot fireballs shooting into the night sky to punctuate her rage – and the angrier she got, the more excited the crowd grew. At one point, Beyonce donned a sequined bodysuit studded with red flames as she sang about her plans to “smack that trick” as a tempestuous lightning storm raged on a screen behind her and later a red, she-devil-esque number.
Just when you thought she was in full-on fury, she switched to the overtly sexual “Rocket” and “Drunk in Love,” a song seemingly about her once hot and heavy marriage. She drew from an older song, “Me, Myself and I,” to remind the crowd “I’m going to be my own best friend,” and brought two girls from the audience who had perfected the choreography to the much-mimicked “Single Ladies.”