Ecstatic Beyoncé fans sang and danced in feverish excitement in Stockholm Wednesday as the superstar kicked off her first solo tour in seven years with a futuristic spectacle featuring a lunar rover, an airborne horse, and wall-to-wall rhinestones.
Hours before the doors opened hundreds of people were thronging outside the stadium, including some who had traveled halfway around the world to catch the show, anxious to see the global music icon – one of the world’s best-selling artists.
Once the concert was about to begin, the tens of thousands of fans in the 60,000-capacity Friends Arena – filled to the brim – erupted in cheers as their “queen” emerged on stage.
“I see familiar faces, people that flew from very, very far to come see the first show tonight,” she told the audience at the outset of the three-hour space and science fiction-themed show.
The show features Beyonce performing atop a lunar vehicle, playing the role of a news anchor while dressed as a queen bee, and suspended above the crowd as she sits on a model horse completely covered in sparkling rhinestones.
Beyonce, who has a record 32 Grammy awards; is in the top 10 biggest grossing female artists. She is also a fashion icon, with designers queueing up for her attention.
Many of the fans in Stockholm sported cowboy hats and rhinestones, mimicking the look of the performer’s outfit in the ads announcing the 57-stop European and North American tour.
The Renaissance World Tour, announced in February after being teased last autumn, is the star’s first solo tour since 2016.
Tickets sold out so quickly for the opening show that tour organizers added a second concert at the same venue for Thursday. From there, she goes to Brussels this weekend.
The tour, which continues until September, is expected to earn the international artist nearly $2.1 billion, according to business magazine Forbes.
