Beyoncé Brings 'The Mrs. Carter Tour' Home As She Takes To Izod Center Stage

A brisk military beat signaled Beyoncé’s arrival at the Izod Center at the Meadowlands Wednesday.
Timpani pounded as the superstar strode onto the stage with a soldier’s rigor.

As the alert beats of “Run the World (Girls)” filled the air, Beyoncé delivered its title line in the only way the song allows: as a proclamation.

The choreography in “Girls,” and its bracing chaser, “End of Time,” had the precision of a march, comprised entirely of sharp turns and crisp stomps.

Given such a pageant of dominance, it came as no small surprise that Bey followed it with her wounded ballad “Flaws and All.”

Apparently, she thinks she has some.

If so, she’s keeping them well hidden on what she has demurely called “The Mrs. Carter Tour” (a reference, of course, to her hubby Shawn, “Jay-Z” Carter). The show brings to a dizzying peak the mighty declarations which have long defined Beyoncé’s career.

It is one long audio-visual exclamation point, a brightly lit, briskly paced presentation of contemporary “diva-pop” at its most thrilling — and self-glorifying.

It is a testament to the easily missed nuances of Beyoncé’s work, however, that, amid all this chest-beating, she still comes off as likeable and emotionally present, if not exactly vulnerable.

In “I Care” Bey leaned into the title phrase with angry need, while “If I Were a Boy” tipped off that heart lies behind the war paint. The latter number also benefitted from a fresh arrangement, with a more deliberate beat, a chunky new guitar riff, and rich strings nicked from The Verve’s ’90s hit “Bittersweet Symphony.”

The flashiness of the show never upstaged the sheer muscle of Beyoncé’s voice. She delivered sexually charged numbers like “Get Me Bodied” and the island-flavored “Baby Boy” with just the right aggression and focus.

“I’ve done this show 56 times,” she said. “But I’ve been waiting to perform in my home town.”

Songs from her most recent album, “4,” dominated the night, though she also included older hits like “Crazy in Love” and the Destiny’s Child smash “Survivor.” She also performed an undulating rendition of “Grown Woman,” from her new album coming out this fall.

Naturally, the visuals throughout were state-of-the-art. The LED lighting had a dimensionality, and a vividness, that mirrored the songs’ punch. Bey also benefitted from the power of an 11 piece, all-female band, three back-up singers and ten dancers.

Even so, there’s no avoiding the fact that Beyoncé herself remains the show’s ultimate special effect. She has a force-of-nature assertiveness that suggests a mash-up of Tina Turner, Madonna and Attila the Hun.

She is aspiration incarnate, emphasizing a deeply American character. Bey’s steely embrace of that role at the Izod Center demonstrated a clear desire to declare herself as pop’s ultimate queen of the hour.

In terms of sheer entertainment value, and dynamism, this show made it hard to deny her the title.

Beyonce plays the Barclays Center Saturday, Sunday and Monday.









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