Beyoncé kicked off her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit tour in Los Angeles on Monday, delivering a nearly three-hour performance that proved it certainly ain’t Queen Bey’s first rodeo.
The concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was a celebration of Southern Black culture, freedom of expression and Beyoncé’s own family, with appearances by her two daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi Carter.
Beyoncé’s approximately 35-song setlist spanned the Grammy-winner’s robust catalogue, as she performed songs from 2008’s “I Am… Sasha Fierce” to 2022’s “Renaissance” to, of course, last year’s “Cowboy Carter.”
Visuals projected on the giant LED screens on the stage showed, at one point, Beyoncé wearing a sash that read “Reclamation of America.” Other images included a scene of American flag-covered coffins with text that read “history can’t be erased.”
Pyrotechnics on each side of the stage went off for dramatic effect when Beyoncé first walked out, clad in an all-white fringed bodysuit, while opening the show with “American Requiem.”
She then paused to thank the audience for the support before singing her Beatles cover “Blackbiird.”
“I want to thank you, to my fans, for allowing me to make this album,” she said. “Thank you for giving me the creative liberty to challenge myself. Thank y’all for supporting it. It means so, so much.”
