Beyoncé overwhelms, as usual, at MetLife Stadium (REVIEW, PHOTOS, VIDEOS, SETLIST)

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Beyoncé performs at the first of her five shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, May 22.

In a concert filled with striking visuals, May 22 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Beyoncé saved one of her most powerful ones for last. While she wore an outfit that was partially made from an American flag and sang the show-closing “Amen” — a song that includes lines such as “Say a prayer for what has been/We’ll be the ones that purify our fathers’ sins” — a huge statue appeared onstage, showing the head of the Statue of Liberty silenced (or protected?) by a mask, with the stone of the statue cracked, as if the whole thing were deteriorating. It remained there, glowering, after Beyoncé’s final exit of the night.

Beyoncé had, earlier, performed her songs “Ameriican Requiem” and “America Has a Problem,” and sang a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” with — in the Jimi Hendrix tradition — jarringly strident music as backing. But it was not a show that was, overall, focused on protest. (And certainly not on protest of specific political or social issues, which was a little disappointing, because there are so many specific issues worth protesting at the moment.) Beyoncé was, as always, more focused on empowerment than protest. And on exerting her prowess as an entertainer.

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Beyoncé at MetLife Stadium.

Like Taylor Swift’s three Eras Tour concerts at MetLife Stadium in 2023, this was an immaculately produced, visually stunning marathon show (about two hours and 45 minutes) that covered a big chunk of her recording history. And like Swift’s show, it made the stadium seem intimate, with Beyoncé and her large cast of backing dancers often performing on parts of the stage that stretched out and covered much of the stadium floor, and the video cameras frequently showing her in close-up.

It is a show with many moving parts, and everything worked perfectly. The best camera angles were painstakingly worked out beforehand. Imaginative videos and elaborate dance interludes kept the crowd entertained during Beyoncé’s costume changes. There were pyrotechnics, and special effects: Beyoncé flew around the stadium on a giant horseshoe and, later, a vintage convertible.

If you didn’t see it on the 22nd, you will have four more chances: Beyoncé will also perform at the stadium on May 24-25 and 28-29. This marks the first time that an artist has played at this stadium this many times on a single tour, since it opened in 2010.

One hopes that the weather will be better at the upcoming shows, though. It rained heavily before showtime on May 22, and lightly during the early portion of the show. It was also unseasonably chilly. “I’m going to try my best to keep y’all warm,” Beyoncé said, early on. And if she was disappointed by the weather conditions … she certainly didn’t show it.

This is, of course, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour, and it features most of the songs from her 2024 Cowboy Carter album, which won both Album of the Year and Best Country Album at this year’s Grammy Awards. Most of it doesn’t sound like country music to me, but that’s OK; much of what you hear on country radio these days doesn’t sound like country music to me, either.

This gave Beyoncé a good opportunity, though, to indulge her psychedelic cowboy fantasies in the costuming department — many of her outfits made novel use of cowboy hats, fringe, chaps and belt buckles — and to ride a mechanical bull during “Tyrant.”

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Beyoncé at MetLife Stadium.

The ever-ambitious Beyoncé obviously didn’t intend Cowboy Carter as a formulaic, traditional country album. Part of the point is that she is breaking down barriers between different forms of music, and giving credit to Black music pioneers of all kinds. (Images of Black entertainers, including rockers like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino, were shown on the show’s screens). It is almost as if she is defining “country” as any form of music made in this country, not as “country music,” the way we usually think of it.

Some of the Cowboy Carter songs that stood out the most at MetLife Stadium were the least twangiest. “Ya Ya” was a retro-R&B song that slammed so hard it made me think of early Tina Turner. “Thique” was futuristic hip-hop; “II Hands II Heaven” was airy, atmospheric art-pop; and “16 Carriages” — the concert’s down-to-earth climactic number (“It’s been 38 summers and I’m not in my bed/On the back of the bus and a bunk with the band/Goin’ so hard, now I miss my kids/Overworked and overwhelmed,” Beyoncé sang) — came off like confessional ’70s soft-rock.

Beyoncé included her Cowboy Carter covers of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” (which Paul McCartney has said was inspired by the Civil Rights movement) and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (reworked to emphasize the theme of defiance) in the setlist. And also, not from Cowboy Carter, “Before I Let Go,” a vintage R&B song by the late Frankie Beverly and his band Maze.

Beyoncé’s two daughters were involved in the show: 13-year-old Blue Ivy, with some impressive dancing, and 7-year-old Rumi just by huddling close to her mom as she sang the gentle “Protector.” (Beyoncé’s son Sir, who is Rumi’s twin, did not take the stage, though he was shown in home movies and family videos that were projected onto the screens.)

Some of Beyoncé’s biggest hits — including “Crazy in Love,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and “Irreplaceable” — were grouped together and sung only in shortened form, mid-show, with the setlist leaning heavily on Cowboy Carter and its predecessor, 2022’s Renaissance (the first two parts of a planned trilogy of albums).

Not surprisingly for an artist who is able to fill a stadium five times (I’m not sure if the May 22 show was officially a sell-out, but it sure looked like every seat was filled), Beyoncé’s strategy is to overwhelm you: With hit after hit, and a million things to look at, and constant motion. But even with the lights flashing, and the dancers swirling around her, she was able to sing with so much power — on a song like “II Most Wanted,” for instance — that she left no doubt that even without the visuals, she would be equally riveting.

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Beyoncé in the rain, at MetLife Stadium.

Here is the show’s setlist:

“Ameriican Requiem”
“Blackbird”
“The Star-Spangled Banner”
“Freedom”
“Ya Ya”/”Why Don’t You Love Me”
“America Has a Problem”
“Spaghettii”
“Formation”
“My House”
“Diva”
“Alliigator Tears”
“Just for Fun”
“Protector”
“Flamenco”
“Desert Eagle”
“Riiverdance”
“II Hands II Heaven”
“Tyrant”
“Thique”
“Levii’s Jeans”
“Sweet Honey Buckiin’/”Pure/Honey”/”Summer Renaissance”
“Texas Hold ‘Em”
“Crazy in Love”
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
“Love on Top”
“Irreplaceable”
“If I Were a Boy”
“Jolene”
“Daddy Lessons”
“Bodyguard”
“II Most Wanted”
“Cuff It”
“Heated”
“Before I Let Go”
“Daughter”
“I’m That Girl”
“Cozy”
“Alien Superstar”
“16 Carriages”
“Amen”

Beyoncé will perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, May 24-25 and 28-29 at 7 p.m.; visit ticketmaster.com.

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