FEATURE:
#BlackHistoryMonth 2023
IMAGE CREDIT: Parkwood Entertainment
The Upcoming Documentary Concert Film, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
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AS I have written before…
IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé performing during her Renaissance World Tour in London on 30th June, 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment
there are a couple of very big concert films coming out. Taylor Swift releases her concert film, TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR, today (14th October). One of the biggest and most successful tours in history, the concert film already broke records before it was released. For those who did not go to see her on tour – or cannot do whilst it is on at the moment -, this concert film gives you an insight into the preparation and spectacle of a tour from one of the world’s most important artists. Tomorrow (15th), Madonna is at the 02 Arena in London to start her delayed Celebration Tour. Coming back from serious illness, she is starting an epic tour that arrives forty years after her debut album and her breakthrough hit, Holiday. You know there will be a concert film from that. Maybe one that will outdo Taylor Swift’s in terms of its impact and popularity. It is a time when amazing women are mounting these extraordinary tours. I will talk more about that for another feature. As it is #BlackHistoryMonth, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to look at another epic concert film that is about to be released. The iconic Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE was one of the biggest albums of last year – and one of the very best of her career.
An early Christmas treat comes in the form of Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. It is distributed by AMC Theatres. It is scheduled to premiere on 1st December, 2023. It will reportedly be an amalgamation of the creation of RENAISSANCE (2022), Beyoncé's seventh studio album; the record's accompanying visual album; the recorded footage from the Renaissance World Tour and its development. Like concert films from Taylor Swift – and a presumed one from Madonna – it shines a light on how much involvement artists like Beyoncé have in their tours. From the choreography and production through the visuals, there is so much work put in by the artist! A visionary artists who is a queen and Black icon, this film is going to empower so many people. Someone who is a source of strength for the Black community and her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans, I wanted to spend some time with the tour and concert film. I will come to a recent article from NPR announcing details of the film. It is the sheer size and scale of these tours that amazes me. So much that could possibly go wrong. Instead, they are flawless and memorable. By all accounts, this is the pinnacle of Beyoncé’s live career. The Renaissance World Tour ended on 1st October, though it will go down in history! Even if there seems to be more media attention on Taylor Swift’s achievements this year and her tour, it seems like the Renaissance Tour is on another level. Maybe one of the finest and most captivating live experiences in history. As Esquire’s Bria McNeal wrote in August when she caught the show, the feats of athleticism, visual excellence and production is outstanding to behold:
“Forbes predicts that the Renaissance Tour could earn around $2.1 billion by the time it wraps in September. If Beyoncé pulls it off, that will make her the highest-grossing female act of all time. That title currently belongs to Madonna, who—in July 2022—had earned $1.4 billion from her shows. Taylor Swift is next in line with a projected $1.9 billion in sales from her currently-running Eras Tour. According to Billboard, Beyoncé is well on her way to nabbing the top spot, earning more than $154 million from her European tour dates alone.
You know that moment at a family party, when you see someone you don’t recognize, but feel an intrinsic connection to them? That’s what attending Renaissance is like.
Like everyone else in the crowd, I attended the Renaissance Tour as a fan. But I was a fan on a nearly 20-year-long mission. We all know Beyoncé is Beyoncé (you don’t earn $154 million on a whim), but I wondered what I'd learn from seeing her live—dancing and singing along with her, plus, of course, mingling with the Beyhivee.
One of the first people I run into is Zahir, who is proudly donning a sequined top. I simply ask why he loves Beyoncé. He says, “Her Blackness. She’s so in tune with her womanhood and voice.” The next person I talk to is Rickey Mile, a self-proclaimed superfan. He gives a dumbfounded look, as if any questions about Beyoncé's greatness go without asking. “She’s timeless,” he explains. According to Mile, it doesn’t matter when you see Beyoncé, what’s going on in her personal life, or which era of her career she’s in—the woman always puts on a good show.
After seeing the Renaissance Tour, I have to agree. The concert (and the album) is a homage to Beyoncé’s uncle, Johnny—a gay man who introduced her to house music. To say Renaissance would make him proud is an understatement. It’s one giant, queer party, filled with references to drag icons Kevin Aviance and Moi Renee, along with a cameo from viral ballroom dancer Honey Balenciaga. The stadium shook for three straight hours, with fans bouncing and rocking along to each song.
Given Beyoncé’s expansive catalog, there is a smattering of oldies woven throughout the show. But don’t be fooled. This isn't anything like Swift's Eras Tour. Instead of selecting songs chronologically, Beyoncé presents a mix of her favorite hits. The show opens with a powerful rendition of “Dangerously in Love,” which bleeds into the yearning ballad “1+1.” Then, just when you’re ready to profess your love to someone in the crowd, Beyoncé switches gears, performing the self-assured Renaissance track, “I’m That Girl.” The whole thing exudes rich aunt energy. Pure fun. No rules. And the atmosphere? Well, it’s like a reunion. After all, the last time the Beyhive convened was during 2016's Formation Tour.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment
You know that moment at a family party, when you see someone you don’t recognize, but feel an intrinsic connection to? That’s what attending Renaissance is like. Everyone is a stranger, yet also a cousin. I suppose that makes Beyoncé our matriarch. Just ask the troves of fans yelling “Mother!” during her set.
Perhaps that maternal energy stems from Beyoncé’s dedication to lifting others up. Along with the references to the aforementioned queer icons, Beyoncé uses Renaissance to celebrate Black women. During the show, she sings, “Break My Soul (The Queen's Version), featuring Madonna. The remix praises every Black performer who inspired them: Bessie Smith, Lauryn Hill, and Nina Simone, among many others. Later on, Beyoncé brings her daughter, Blue Ivy, on stage to celebrate their heritage, with the songs “My Power” and “Black Parade.” The Renaissance Tour feels like one giant love letter to Beyoncé's community—and because of that, every moment has a purpose.
Though the Renaissance Tour is art, and even a pseudo-communion, it's also an athletic feat. Any time you think Beyoncé has reached her peak, she surprises you with something else. At one point, she’s singing riffs you’ve never heard. In the next moment, she’s dancing in stilettos. If you look away for a second, you'll miss a surprise costume change or an exciting set design. It’s magic.
After the concert, I see a teenage girl dab her eyes with her sleeve. “‘Formation’ broke me for some reason,” she tells her friend. “I continued to cry for the rest of the show”.
It is hard for her fans to see her show. With unparalleled demand and fairly expensive ticket prices, many couldn’t afford or seize that chance to see their idol. That is why the concert film coming in December is so important. It will be a cinematic experience that will unite Queen Bey fans around the globe. I will come to that NPR feature soon. First, I want to bring another perspective in regarding the wonder of her Renaissance World Tour. There is the divine, human and otherworldly in this live extravaganza. The New York Times’ Lindsay Zoladz provided her take when she saw Beyoncé conquer Toronto, Canada:
“The show’s look — as projected in diamond-sharp definition onto a panoramic screen — conjured Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” by way of the 1990 drag ball documentary “Paris Is Burning.” After a lengthy video introduction, Beyoncé emerged from a chrome cocoon and vamped through a thrilling stretch of the first suite of “Renaissance” songs; during “Cozy,” most strikingly, a pair of hydraulic robotic arms centered her body in industrial picture frames, like a post-human Mona Lisa.
In May, when Beyoncé began the European leg of the Renaissance World Tour, rumors swirled that she may have been recovering from a foot injury, since her choreography was a bit more static and less stomp-heavy than usual. The Toronto show did nothing to dispel that chatter, but it also showed that it doesn’t matter much. Perhaps because of some constraints, Beyoncé has embraced new means of bodily expression. She brought the flavor of ball movements into the show and served face all night, curling her lip like a hungry predator, widening her eyes in mock surprise, scrunching her features in exaggerated disgust.
PHOTO CREDIT: The New York Times
Few seats in the stadium provided a legible view of Beyoncé’s face, of course, though the screen took care of that. She played expertly to the cameras that followed her every choreographed move, aware of how she’d appear to the majority of the audience and — perhaps just as crucially — in FOMO-inducing social media videos. The stage itself was breathtaking, featuring an arced cutout section of the screen that made for playful visuals, but its full grandeur was not visible from many of the side seats, making the band and sometimes the dancers difficult to see.
The screen, though, was the point. Beyoncé’s two solo releases before “Renaissance” — her 2013 self-titled album and “Lemonade,” from 2016 — were billed as “visual albums,” featuring a fully realized music video for each track. Again toying with her fans’ anticipation, she has still not released any videos from “Renaissance,” giving the previously unseen graphics that filled her expansive backdrop an added impact, and making them feel more weighty than a convenient way to pass time between costume changes.
Many of the tour’s outfits struck a balance between Beyoncé’s signature styles — megawatt sparkles, high-cut bodysuits — and the futuristic bent of “Renaissance.” She played haute couture bee in custom Mugler by Casey Cadwallader and glimmered in a Gucci corset draped with crystals. But the night’s most memorable look — so instantly iconic that a few fans had already tried to replicate it, from photos of the European shows — was a flesh-tone catsuit by the Spanish label Loewe, embellished with a few suggestively placed, red-fingernailed hands.
Throughout the set, Beyoncé wove interpolations of her predecessors’ songs throughout her own, as if to place her music in a larger continuum. The grandiose “I Care” segued into a bit of “River Deep, Mountain High,” in honor of Tina Turner, who died in May. The cheery throwback “Love on Top” contained elements of the Jackson 5’s “Want You Back.” Most effective was the “Queens Remix” she performed of “Break My Soul,” which mashes up the “Renaissance” leadoff single with Madonna’s “Vogue,” paying homage to the mainstream pop star who brought queer ball culture to the masses before her. (The merch on sale at a Renaissance Tour pop-up shop in the days before the show included a hand-held fan emblazoned with the song title “Heated” for $40. It sold out.)
The show contained moments that sometimes felt conceptually cluttered and at odds with the “Renaissance” album’s sharp vision, like dorm-room-poster quotes from Albert Einstein and Jim Morrison that filled the screen during video montages. The middle stretch, arriving with a lively “Formation,” featured Beyoncé and her dancers clad in camo print, riding and occasionally writhing atop a prop military vehicle. There was a wordless, gestural power in the moment she and her entourage held their fists in the air, referencing a salute that had rankled some easily rankle-able viewers of the 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Show. But if Beyoncé was calling for any more specific forms of protest or political awareness — especially in a moment when drag culture and queer expression are being threatened at home and throughout the world — those went unarticulated.
PHOTO CREDIT: The New York Times
Beyoncé’s endurance as a world-class performer remained the show’s raison d’être; she is the rare major pop star who prizes live vocal prowess. By the end of the long night — and especially during the striking closing number, the disco reverie “Summer Renaissance,” when she floated above the crowd like a deity on a glittering horse — she extended the microphone to lend out some of the high notes to her eager and adoring fans. “Until next time,” she said, keeping the stage banter relatively minimal and pat. “Drive home safe!”
Even when Beyoncé embraces styles and cultures known for their improvisational looseness, she still seems to be striving toward perfection — a pageant smile always threatens to break through the stank face. Commanding a stadium-sized audience, she was an introvert wearing an extrovert’s armor. That tension is part of both her boundless charm and her occasional limitations as a performer. And it makes moments of genuine spontaneity all the more prized.
Naturally, #RenaissanceWorldTour was trending on Twitter long after the show, but one of the clips that went viral was unplanned. During a rousing performance of her early hit “Diva,” Beyoncé accidentally dropped her sunglasses. She fumbled them for a second, mouthed an expletive as they fell to the ground, and gave a sincere, shrugging grin before snapping back into the choreography’s formation. For a fleeting moment, she seemed human after all”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé accepts the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for RENAISSANCE during the 65th Grammy Awards/PHOTO CREDIT: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
With the reviews in and it being clear that the Renaissance World Tour has taken live performance to new heights, the cinematic released is going to be something else. This is what NPR wrote about the upcoming documentary concert film:
“Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé is an upcoming American documentary concert film by American singer Beyoncé. It is distributed by AMC Theatres, scheduled to premiere on December 1, 2023.[2] The film will reportedly be an amalgamation of the creation of Renaissance (2022), Beyoncé's seventh studio album; the record's accompanying visual album; and the recorded footage from the Renaissance World Tour and its development.
“The Beyhive will be getting in formation once again, as a concert film of Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour is coming to theaters.
Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé will be in theaters on Dec. 1 in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. More international dates will be listed later, according to the film's distributor, AMC Theatres Distribution.
It "accentuates the journey of RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR, from its inception to the opening show in Stockholm, Sweden, to the grand finale in Kansas City, Missouri," AMC said in a Monday release. "It is about Beyoncé's intention, hard work, involvement in every aspect of the production, her creative mind and purpose to create her legacy, and master her craft."
The trailer shows moments from her performances, as well as documentary-style footage of the singer with her dancers, husband Jay-Z, and children — including her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, who joined her onstage for a dance number during several dates of the tour.
Reaction to news of the movie was quick and enthusiastic, as fans have been asking for yet-to-be-released music videos to accompany the album, after Beyoncé released a teaser with her in different looks shortly after the album came out in July 2022.
She posted the trailer for the film to her Instagram with the caption, "Be careful what you ask for, 'cause I just might comply," a lyric from one of the album's songs, "ALL
Beyoncé performed 56 times in 39 cities for the tour, which sold more than 2.7 million tickets. In total, it earned $579 million, which has made history as the highest-grossing tour by a female artist and the seventh highest-grossing tour of all time.
Tickets start at $22 and have already gone on sale, AMC said. The movie will also show at Cinemark, Regal, Cinepolis and Cineplex locations across North America.
Back in August, AMC also announced a concert film of Taylor Swift's Eras tour. Presale revenues have surpassed $100 million for that movie, the company said.
It has not publicly released presale amounts for the Renaissance film, an AMC spokesperson told NPR”.
There is no doubting the influence of Beyoncé. One of the most important and inspiring Black artists ever, I wanted to mention her Renaissance World Tour and approaching concert film in the context of #BlackHistoryMonth. I hope that the sheer wave of love and respect for her live feat means there is more appreciation from some corners of the industry. It was a shock that her RENAISSANCE album was overlooked by the Grammys earlier this year:
“If you tuned into the Grammys last night without realizing what you were watching, you might have mistaken the program for a three-and-a-half hour Beyoncé tribute. Seemingly every celebrity in the Crypto.com Arena basked in her presence, fawned over her, and thanked her for being the artist of their lifetime in their speeches. But the Recording Academy has long ignored Beyoncé when it comes to the Big Four Categories—Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year. She’s only won once in these categories—in 2010, for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”—and has lost all four times she was nominated for the coveted Album of the Year trophy, including last night.
At Sunday night’s ceremony, Beyoncé was expected by many to win with her incredible sonic masterpiece Renaissance, her 2022 album that topped many a best-of-year list. Earlier in the night, she had broken a major record, becoming the artist with the most Grammy awards ever after bringing her total up to 32 trophies with four new wins. There was a noticeable hush in the room right after host Trevor Noah announced the nominees for the night’s biggest award. When Harry Styles was announced as the winner, there was what appeared to be a brief pause before the room erupted into applause. Over on Twitter, meanwhile, things immediately devolved into chaos as critics and fans expressed a range of reactions to the perceived snub for Beyoncé and Renaissance”.
As cultural figures and iconic artists, there are few like Beyoncé. One of the most important and respected Black artists in history, the songwriter, producer, businesswoman, philanthropist and filmmaker is also this incredible pillar of strength for her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans. Out on 1st December, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé is going to be…
SOMETHING unforgettable.