Beyoncé’s Renaissance – live: Inside the London premiere of her record-breaking world tour
US star premiered the concert film about her record-breaking 2023 tour
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Beyoncé unveiled the concert film for her record-breaking Renaissance tour in London tonight (Thursday 30 November), with Taylor Swift among the high-profile guests.
The Lemonade artist turned up to support Swift’s own concert film for her Eras tour when it premiered in Hollywood in October. Swift later paid moving tribute to Beyoncé, praising her as a “guiding light” who had taught her to “break rules and defy industry norms”.
Renaissance, A Film by Beyoncé will chart the huge undertaking of the US artist’s tour supporting her Grammy-winning 2022 album, Renaissance. Produced, written and directed by the singer, it will intersperse footage of concerts taking place around the world with backstage scenes and intimate moments between Beyoncé and her family.
Around 2.7 million concertgoers are estimated to have attended the Renaissance tour over the course of five months, while Billboard reports that the shows have grossed close to half a billion dollars worldwide.
The film’s description reads: “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.”
How Blue Ivy responded to criticisms of her dancing on tour
Of course, Beyoncé was the star of the Renaissance tour – but if there’s anyone who could’ve taken her shine, it’s her 11-year-old daughter Blue.
Blue popped up at several of her mother’s shows, performing some of the dance routine to Beyoncé’s Black is King track, “My Power”.
In the film, Beyoncé discusses how Blue responded when critics were harsh about her dancing skills on some of the earlier dates on the tour... and apparently, she used the criticisms as fuel to get better.
The New York Times reported that after the concert, Beyoncé was apparently “dismayed” to discover that Blue Ivy had read negative social media comments about her supposed “lacklustre” moves.
However, she was thrilled when her daughter decided to “put in the work” to improve.
Blue Ivy used Renaissance backlash as motivation, Beyoncé reveals
‘Renaissance’ artist was joined by her daughter, 11, for a number of shows on her record-breaking world tour this year
A peek at Leicester Square...
The countdown until Beyoncé and several other celebs take the red carpet is well and truly on. Here’s another peek at how things are taking shape...
Beyoncé’s mum Tina Knowles defends her from skin-lightening accusations
Tina Knowles, the mother of Beyoncé and Solange, is no stranger to speaking out for her family when the time calls for it.
Earlier this week, she responded to a video that alleged that the “Alien Superstar” singer had lightened her skin in order to appear like a white woman, declaring she was “sick of you losers”.
“Came across this today and decided to post it after seeing all of the stupid, ignorant, self-hating racist statements about her lightening her skin and wearing platinum hair wanting to be white,” the fashion designer wrote.
“She does a film, called the Renaissance, where the whole theme is silver with silver hair, a silver carpet, and suggested silver attire and you bozos decide that she’s trying to be a white woman and is bleaching her skin? How sad is it that some of her own people continue the stupid narrative with hate and jealousy.”
Tina Knowles responds to ‘ignorant’ claims Beyoncé ‘lightened her skin’
‘I am sick of you losers,’ Knowles says
Will Taylor Swift turn up to the London premiere?
Back in October, Taylor Swift launched her concert film, tracking the dates of her North American leg of the Eras tour.
The Beyhive and the Swifties were united in their joy as Beyoncé made an unexpected appearance at the Los Angeles premiere, as the two music titans posed together for pictures.
Rumour has it that the “Anti-Hero” singer will return the favour in London, making Christmas come early for members of both fandoms.
Here’s what happened when Bey met Tay...
Taylor Swift hails Beyoncé as ‘guiding light through my career’
Swift paid tribute to Beyonce after singer attended her Eras Tour movie premiere
Renaissance – the album review
Back when the album Renaissance was released in July 2022, fans were thrilled with Beyoncé’s embracing of more of a club, house-infused sound.
In his four-star review, Mark Beaumont noted how politics gives way to post-pandemic pleasure in the record, with the singer embracing joy, sexiness and the euphoria of movement.
He wrote: “It’s more dancefloor-friendly than Lemonade but still ensconced in its experimental cocoon. It represents the light at the end of a dark emotional tunnel for Bey.”
Here’s the album review in full:
On Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’, politics gives way to post-pandemic pleasure – review
In a catch-all spirit of musical modernism, trap, house, glitchtronica, disco, ragga, South African gqom and future funk are all lobbed into a heady mix, with songs blending into each other and shifting course mid-flow
A sneak peek...
The setup for tonight’s premiere started bright and early in London’s Leicester Square – here’s a peek at how things were looking at around 9am this morning:
What happened when the Renaissance tour came to the UK?
Hello readers – The Independent’s unofficial Beyoncé correspondent, Nicole Vassell here!
Even though I was lucky enough to watch Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour twice this summer, I definitely will be in the cinema tomorrow to experience it all over again...
If you missed it, and simply can’t wait to see the footage of the concert in the film, here’s my review from her first UK date in Cardiff – a fabulous four stars!
Full-out dance moves or not, Beyoncé rides her disco horse into megastardom – review
Beyoncé brings the party of ‘Renaissance’ to life in extraordinary and unexpected fashion with deep cuts galore
Beyoncé to premiere her Renaissance concert film tonight in London
Hello and welcome to our liveblog for tonight’s premiere of Renaissance, A Film by Beyoncé in London. I’ll be heading down to the event itself shortly, but will leave you in the capable hands of my colleague and Beyoncé aficionado, Nicole.
The documentary chronicling Beyoncé’s just-concluded 39-city Renaissance World Tour will be released in cinemas around the UK and North America on 1 December.
Like Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which debuted on 13 October, Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is being released directly in the US by AMC, the movie theatre chain, without studio involvement.
Beyoncé’s previous films include the acclaimed 2019 Netflix film Homecoming, which captured her Coachella performance in 2018.
In the deals with AMC, Beyoncé and Swift are both reported to be receiving at least 50 per cent of ticket sales.
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