Beychella: black excellence at its finest
Beyoncé slayed Coachella’s main stage for two weekends as the first black woman to headline the festival. Although her comments about this feat may have gone unheard by those mesmerized by Queen B’s electric performance, she did not take this enormous milestone with a grain of salt.
Beyoncé is undeniably one of the greatest performers on the planet, and as a black woman who is a prominent figure in pop culture she made her performance memorable paying tribute to popular aspects of black culture.
On April 14 and April 21, Beyoncé opened her set strutting along a catwalk dressed in an ode to Egyptian monarch Nefertiti, fully embracing the title of Queen B. As geometric lights lifted above the main stage, a full marching band with majorette dancers lined a pyramid which would remain a permanent fixture throughout her performance. Beyoncé’s first outfit (out of four total) included a yellow sweatshirt with greek letters “BΔK” or “Beta Delta Kappa”. These letters spell out “back” signaling Beyoncé’s homecoming, her return to the stage.
Accompanied by the marching band whose horns echoed throughout her hit tracks like “Crazy in Love” and “Formation”, and the majorettes who fiercely danced behind their line leader, Beyoncé brought an HBCU homecoming to Indio, California. Over 100 black musicians, dancers, and singers graced the stage as Beyoncé gave us a drum line, probate, and step show all in two hours time.
Despite her mother’s hesitations at the majority white Coachella audience not being receptive to this performance, Beyoncé decided to put on a show she felt was important for the world to see.
As a young black woman I was proud to see so many aspects of black culture paraded on the main stage, as Beyoncé made us ignore the fact that we were screaming to some songs that are almost 20 years old (including Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name”) With new choreography intertwined with old moves I’ve danced since I was a child, and dance breaks I’ve been thinking about for the past two weeks, Beyoncé reminded everyone that black culture is beautiful and deserves to be celebrated. She even sang songs from her second studio album “B’Day,” which has been heavily neglected during her many world tours.
One part of her performance that may have gone unnoticed was her acapella rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, often referred to as the Black National Anthem. This powerful moment featured in between “Freedom” and “Formation” songs with powerful messages and visuals to match, places her performance as one of the most important to ever happen on the Coachella main stage.
Before she performed her verse in “Top Off,” her recent collaboration with DJ Khaled, Jay-Z and Future, Khaled’s voice rang over the crowd as he exclaimed, “Coachella gotta rename Coachella to Beychella.”
Beychella will no doubt remain the highlight of Coachella 2018, as well as the most talked about performance of this festival season, and even those to come. Each and every time Beyoncé graces the stage she outdoes herself, reminding us that anyone who dares doubt the Queen will always be proven wrong.