The Formation World Tour

The Formation World Tour
Tour by Beyoncé

Promotional poster for the tour
Associated album Lemonade
Start date April 27, 2016 (2016-04-27)
End date October 2, 2016 (2016-10-02)
Legs 2
Number of shows
  • 31 in North America
  • 17 in Europe
  • 48 total
Beyoncé concert chronology

The Formation World Tour[1] is the seventh concert tour by American singer Beyoncé in support of her sixth studio album, Lemonade. The all-stadium tour was announced following her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The tour started April 27 in Miami, Florida and concludes in Nashville, Tennessee. The tour's title is in reference to Beyoncé's 2016 song "Formation."

Background

The tour was announced following Beyoncé's guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show.

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released "Formation" for free on the music streaming service TIDAL and its accompanying music video on her official YouTube.[2] The following day on February 7, 2016, Beyoncé performed "Formation" during her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show.[3] Immediately after the performance, a commercial aired announcing The Formation World Tour, which kicks off in Miami on April 27, with the first pre-sales going on sale just two days after the announcement on February 9, 2016.[4]

Leading up to the tour announcement, Beyoncé was praised and criticized over her new song and Black Panther-influenced costume for the Super Bowl halftime performance. As a result of this, the hashtags "#BoycottBeyonce" and "#IStandWithBeyonce" begun trending on social media platforms such as Twitter. A group of protesters also planned to stage an "anti-Beyoncé" rally outside of the NFL's headquarters in New York City on the day general sale of tickets went for sale.[5] However, the planned rally was met with zero protesters and instead dozens of Beyoncé supporters who held a counter-protest.[6] The tour's associated album Lemonade was released four days prior to the start of the tour.[7]

Development

In a press release by Live Nation Entertainment following the tours announcement, it was revealed that The Formation World Tour would be supporting local United Way of America programs, as well as the Flint water crisis. In the same press release, Beyoncé's partnership with THX was announced, with the purpose of providing the highest level of audio quality at concerts for the duration of the tour.[8] Following on from the aforementioned controversy over "Formation", The Miami Fraternal Order of Police were reported to be pushing for a national boycott of police officers working the security for the concert, ahead of the tour's opening night in Miami.[9] Other police departments reportedly pushing to avoid the concert included Tampa, Nashville and Tennessee, however a Tampa police spokesperson stated that these 'boycotts' had been blown "way out of proportion".[10]

Rehearsals for the tour took place at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, which was rented by Live Nation for $745,000. TSA board member Thomas Scott spoke on the large-scale production of the tour after seeing the stage during rehearsals, stating "that's one of the largest stages they ever put up, I don't think I've seen a stage that size". During the same rehearsal period, members of Beyoncé's team met with more than 20 Tampa leaders, including the Tampa Police Chief, for a private luncheon in Ybor City, in which they discussed ways to make Tampa a better city, resulting in Beyoncé making multiple financial pledges to certain initiatives.[11]

Critical reception

The opening night of the tour received rave reviews from critics. Hermione Hoby of The Guardian awarded the concert 5 stars, stating "She sounds, moves and looks like a goddess and most of us 'bow down' accordingly".[12] Kelli Kennedy writing for the Associated Press noted that Beyoncé "slays at tour opening" and further commented "her commanding performance of "Freedom" served as reminder to the world that she 'breaks chains all by myself. I'm gonna keep running because a runner don't quit on herself'".[13] Becky Randel of Billboard felt that emotion guided the mood for the evening and stated that "Bey was overcome when the audience knew all the lyrics to her new song, "Hold Up" and she often stopped to smile or nod at her exuberant BeyHive.[14] Writing for Rolling Stone, Kat Bein said Beyoncé was "a prime example of entertainment and a vision of an artist at her apex" and later commented "the show was a visual feast as well as an emotional tour de force, packed with fireworks, confetti, rearranging stage designs and aerial dancers".[15]

Other reviews from the North American leg of the tour included Melissa Ruggierie writing for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution online blog. Ruggierie praised Beyoncé's performance, particularly the strong vocals demonstrated in "1+1" and concluded "watching her command a stadium stage for two hours was another reminder of her limitless ambition". However, it was noted that Beyoncé did not speak to the crowd very often.[16]

Commercial performance

Following the announcement of the tour, Beyoncé's website temporarily crashed, as a result of the post-Super Bowl advertisement.[17] After the first round of North American ticket pre-sales, a second show at New York City's Citi Field was added to the itinerary, due to the high demand.[18] During the first round of the European general sale, Beyoncé's performance at Amsterdam ArenA sold out within 20 minutes, prompting a waiting list to be opened and promoters attempting to organise a second show.[19] Some Swedish fans were left unhappy due to the speed tickets sold out for the Friends Arena date of the tour, with complaints being made about the queueing system implemented by Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster apologised and stated "unfortunately, there were more who wanted tickets than what was available."[20] The UK shows were met with huge commercial success, with all tickets being sold in under 30 minutes, including 90,000 tickets at London's Wembley Stadium. Many fans shared their displeasure online with not being able to secure tickets, and, as is usual with in-demand concert tours, many tickets found their way onto the secondary market place with a large markup on the original price.[21] As a result of this, a second London show was added to the schedule, set for July 3, 2016.[22] After the first round of dates for the North American general sale opened to the public, an additional show was added at Chicago's Soldier Field, due to the "overwhelming demand".[23] Jesse Lawrence of Forbes reported that on the secondary market, tickets for The Formation World Tour were averaging at $432 before the tickets hit the general public.[24] On May 5, 2016, a second wave of US dates were announced, including 7 new shows and a rescheduled date for the previously postponed Nashville show.[25]

On February 17, 2016, Live Nation gave a press release announcing that nearly 1 million tickets had already been sold for the tour in 48 hours, including sell-outs in Miami, Arlington, Pasadena, Toronto, Chicago, Foxborough, Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, Sunderland, London, Manchester, Dublin, Amsterdam and Stockholm.[26] Chairman of Live Nation Global Touring Arthur Fogel confirmed in an article with Billboard that The Formation World Tour had already exceeded $100 million in gross revenue, as well as stating that Nashville's Nissan Stadium date of the tour, which had gone on sale the day of the article, had already sold 33,000 tickets and grossed $4 million.[27]

Setlist

This set list is representative of the first performance in Miami, Florida. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.[28]

  1. "Formation"
  2. "Sorry"
  3. "Bow Down" / "Tom Ford"
  4. "Run the World (Girls)"
  5. "Superpower" (Interlude)
  6. "Mine"
  7. "Baby Boy" / "Standing On the Sun"
  8. "Hold Up"
  9. "Countdown"
  10. "Me, Myself & I"
  11. "Runnin' (Lose It All)"
  12. "All Night"
  13. "6 Inch" (Interlude)
  14. "Don't Hurt Yourself" (Contains elements of "Freakum Dress")
  15. "Ring the Alarm" (Contains elements of "Lost Yo Mind", "I Been On", "Independent Women" and "Naughty Girl")
  16. "Diva"
  17. "Flawless (Remix)"
  18. "Feeling Myself"
  19. "Yoncé"
  20. "7/11"
  21. "Drunk in Love" (Contains samples of "Swimming Pools (Drank)")
  22. "Rocket"
  23. "Hip Hop Star" (Interlude)
  24. "Daddy Lessons"
  25. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"
  26. "Purple Rain" (Prince tribute) (Original recording)
  27. "Crazy In Love (2014 Remix)" (Contains elements of "Bootylicious")
  28. "Naughty Girl"
  29. "Party"
  30. "Blow"
  31. "Sweet Dreams"
  32. "Die With You" (Interlude)
  33. "Freedom"
  34. "Survivor"
  35. "End of Time" / "Grown Woman"
  36. "Halo"

Shows

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, opening act, tickets sold, amount of available tickets, and gross revenue
Date City Country Venue Opening act Attendance Revenue
North America[1][34]
April 27, 2016 Miami United States Marlins Park DJ Khaled — —
April 29, 2016 Tampa Raymond James Stadium — —
May 1, 2016 Atlanta Georgia Dome — —
May 3, 2016 Raleigh Carter–Finley Stadium — —
May 7, 2016 Houston NRG Stadium — —
May 9, 2016 Arlington AT&T Stadium — —
May 12, 2016 San Diego Qualcomm Stadium — —
May 14, 2016 Pasadena Rose Bowl — —
May 16, 2016 Santa Clara Levi's Stadium — —
May 18, 2016 Seattle CenturyLink Field — —
May 20, 2016 Edmonton Canada Commonwealth Stadium — — —
May 23, 2016 Minneapolis United States TCF Bank Stadium — — —
May 25, 2016 Toronto Canada Rogers Centre — — —
May 27, 2016 Chicago United States Soldier Field — — —
May 28, 2016
May 31, 2016 Pittsburgh Heinz Field — — —
June 3, 2016 Foxborough Gillette Stadium DJ Khaled — —
June 5, 2016 Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field — —
June 7, 2016 New York City Citi Field — —
June 8, 2016
June 10, 2016 Baltimore M&T Bank Stadium — —
June 12, 2016 Hershey Hersheypark Stadium — —
June 14, 2016[lower-alpha 1] Detroit Ford Field — —
Europe[1][36][34]
June 28, 2016 Sunderland England Stadium of Light — — —
June 30, 2016 Cardiff Wales Principality Stadium — — —
July 2, 2016 London England Wembley Stadium — — —
July 3, 2016
July 5, 2016 Manchester Emirates Old Trafford — — —
July 7, 2016 Glasgow Scotland Hampden Park — — —
July 9, 2016 Dublin Ireland Croke Park — — —
July 12, 2016 Düsseldorf Germany Esprit Arena — — —
July 14, 2016 Zürich Switzerland Letzigrund — — —
July 16, 2016 Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam Arena — — —
July 18, 2016 Milan Italy San Siro — — —
July 21, 2016 Paris France Stade de France — — —
July 24, 2016 Copenhagen Denmark Parken Stadium — — —
July 26, 2016 Stockholm Sweden Friends Arena — — —
July 29, 2016 Frankfurt Germany Commerzbank-Arena — — —
July 31, 2016 Brussels Belgium King Baudouin Stadium — — —
August 3, 2016 Barcelona Spain Estadi Olímpic — — —
North America[25]
September 7, 2016 East Rutherford United States MetLife Stadium — — —
September 14, 2016 Los Angeles Dodger Stadium — — —
September 17, 2016 Santa Clara Levi's Stadium — — —
September 22, 2016 Houston NRG Stadium — — —
September 24, 2016 New Orleans Mercedes-Benz Superdome — — —
September 26, 2016 Atlanta Georgia Dome — — —
September 29, 2016 Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field — — —
October 2, 2016[lower-alpha 2] Nashville Nissan Stadium — — —
Total — —

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The June 14, 2016, concert in Detroit was originally scheduled to take place on May 29, 2016, but was rescheduled due to "scheduling changes".[35]
  2. ↑ The October 3, 2016, concert in Nashville was originally scheduled to take place on May 5, 2016, but was rescheduled for unknown reasons.[37]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 "The Formation World Tour". beyonce.com. February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ Bartleet, Larry (February 6, 2016). "Listen to Beyoncé's new surprise single 'Formation'". NME. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Beyoncé unleashes Black Panthers homage at Super Bowl 50". The Guardian. February 8, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ Scott, Ellen (February 8, 2016). "Beyoncé announced a new world tour after her Super Bowl halftime performance". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Anger: Anti-Beyonce Rally Planned For Next Week At NFL Headquarters". CBS New York. February 9, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ France, Lisa Respers (February 16, 2016). "Only fans in 'Formation' at planned anti-Beyonce rally". CNN Entertainment. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  7. ↑ Spanos, Brittany (April 23, 2016). "Beyonce Releases New Album 'Lemonade' on Tidal". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ "BEYONCÉ ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION WORLD TOUR". Live Nation Entertainment. February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ Carma, Hassan (February 21, 2016). "Police union calls for law enforcement labor to boycott Beyonce's world tour". CNN. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  10. ↑ Associated Press (February 19, 2016). "More Police Unions Call for Beyoncé Boycott". Billboard. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  11. ↑ Cridlin, Jay (April 22, 2016). "Beyoncé preps for her Formation Tour with rehearsals in Tampa". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  12. ↑ Hoby, Hermione (April 28, 2016). "Beyoncé: Formation tour review – defiant, victorious and glorious". The Guardian. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ Kennedy, Kelli (April 28, 2016). "Beyonce Slays at Tour Opening, Offers No Insight Into Album". Associated Press via ABC News. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  14. ↑ Randel, Becky (April 27, 2016). "Beyonce Pays Tribute to Prince, Dedicates 'Halo' to Jay Z as 'Formation World Tour' Kicks Off in Miami". Billboard. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  15. ↑ Bein, Kat (April 28, 2016). "Beyonce Stuns With 'Lemonade' Debuts, Rousing Hits at Tour Kickoff". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  16. ↑ Ruggierie, Melissa (May 2, 2016). "Concert review: Beyonce commands Georgia Dome at third date of ‘Formation’ tour". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (blog). Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ Nelson Jr., Keith (February 7, 2016). "Beyoncé’s world tour announcement crashed her website during Super Bowl". Digital Trends. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  18. ↑ Calcaterra, Craig (February 10, 2016). "Some Mets fans are not happy that Beyonce is playing at Citi Field". NBC Sports. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Tickets for Beyoncé in the Arena rapidly away". Het Parool (in Dutch). February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Ticket Chaos to Beyonce - fans are now furious". Expressen (in Swedish). February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Beyoncé Formation UK tickets sell out in less than 30 minutes". The Telegraph. February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  22. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (February 16, 2016). "BEYONCE'S FORMATION UK TOUR JUST GOT A LITTLE BIGGER - TICKETS". Gigwise. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Beyonce Adds 2nd Chicago Show". NBC Chicago. February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  24. ↑ Lawrence, Jesse (February 16, 2016). "As Beyoncé Tickets Go On Sale, Secondary Market Prices Averaging Over $400". Forbes. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Waddle, Ray (May 5, 2016). "Beyoncé Adds Dates to Formation World Tour". Billboard. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  26. ↑ "THE FORMATION WORLD TOUR BEYONCÉ 2016 SELLS OUT MULTIPLE STADIUM DATES; NEARLY 1 MILLION TICKETS SOLD; ALREADY ANNOUNCES NEW SHOWS" (Press release). PR Newswire. February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  27. ↑ Waddell, Ray (February 22, 2016). "Beyonce, Blowing Up Box Offices Before Formation Stadium Tour, Looks to Be the Queen of Touring". Billboard. New York City, New York. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  28. ↑ Levin, Jordan (April 28, 2016). "Review: Beyoncé slays on Formation tour’s opening night in Miami". miami.com. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  29. ↑ LaCroix, Emy (April 27, 2016). "Lil Wayne, Future & More Huge Stars Open For Beyonce On 1st Night Of Formation Tour". Hollywood Life. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  30. ↑ Cridin, Jay (April 30, 2016). "Review: Beyoncé overwhelms the senses at Formation Tour spectacle at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  31. ↑ Ruggieri, Melissa (May 2, 2016). "Beyonce rocks a celebrity-filled Georgia Dome". WSB-TV. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  32. ↑ Iyengar, Rishi (May 3, 2016). "Beyoncé Fans In Raleigh Can Relax: She’s Coming Back On Stage". Time Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  33. ↑ "The Formation World Tour". beyonce.com. February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  34. 1 2 "DJ Khaled Joins Beyonce's Formation Tour". Billboard. April 19, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  35. ↑ McCollum, Brian (February 12, 2016). "Beyoncé show at Ford Field bumped to June 14". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  36. ↑ "BEYONCÉ ANNOUNCES ‘THE FORMATION WORLD TOUR’". Rap-Up. February 7, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  37. ↑ "Beyoncé's new Nashville date: October 2". The Tennessean. May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
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