Beyoncé has embarked upon her long-awaited Renaissance World Tour, and it’s as gloriously gay as we hoped it would be.
The tour kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden at the Friends Arena on Wednesday night, and was full of nods to queer culture. From the jump, there was a stage graphic that looked like an old-school TV test screen — but with a colorful twist. The colors, as one fan account pointed out, appear to be patterned off of the Progress Pride Flag, which was designed by artist Daniel Quasar in 2018. The flag incorporates the iconic rainbow while updating it with a chevron pattern consisting of black, brown, blue, pink, and white stripes; quite literally placing Black and brown LGBTQ+ people at the forefront of the flag. (Beyoncé also subtly shouted out the colors of the Progress Pride Flag in the lyrics of “Cozy,” lest we forget.)
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The visual is fitting for an album that serves as an extensive sampler of Black queer culture throughout the decades, especially ballroom. That theme stayed front and center during the live show as well, with legendary ball commentator Kevin JZ Prodigy serving as the commentator for the concert as a whole.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
In addition to incorporating a cute vogue arms moment into the “Alien Superstar” choreography, the Renaissance live show apparently includes a whole ass miniature ball, according to social media videos of the concert. Prodigy’s voice, of course, serves as the commentator for this portion of the show. And the ball once again proves that Beyoncé has done her homework: one of the competitors in the mini ball is Honey Balenciaga, a member of the House of Balenciaga and competitor on season two of HBO’s voguing reality competition show Legendary. Judging from her Twitter timeline, Honey Balenciaga appears to be joining Beyoncé for more tour dates.
X content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Even the bathrooms at the Sweden show were gender-neutral, as Metro Weekly reported. Overall, it looks like even though we still haven’t gotten those visuals, Beyoncé is making her near year of radio silence worth the wait for those who are lucky enough to witness the Renaissance tour in person. And as for the rest of us, we’ll always have Twitter clips and livestreams with all the picture quality of a 2005 YouTube video.
The Renaissance World Tour will make its way across Europe and Canada before landing in Philadelphia in July.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.