Queen Bey’s highly-anticipated Renaissance tour concert film premieres this Friday. The two-and-a-half-hour show, which will be released worldwide, invites fans to experience the magic of her sell-out world tour in cinemas.
Beyoncé's first major tour in seven years saw the Grammy-winning singer perform at 56 dates around the world over five months, concluding in Kansas on October 1.
She broke the internet back in July 2022 when she released her seventh studio album Renaissance. Tracks including Pure/Honey, Break My Soul and Alien Superstar became instant hits, and the bangers played out across the radio waves and in clubs all summer. She then became the most decorated artist in Grammys history, winning her 32nd Grammy Award, for Renaissance.
From headlining Glastonbury, to releasing an eye-boggling visual album, everything the 42-year-old singer ever does is major. We’ll have missed numerous gems off this list, but to celebrate Beyoncé’s film’s imminent release, here are some of her most iconic moments.
VMA pregnancy announcement
When Beyoncé shared the news that she was expecting her first child with Jay Z she did it with pizazz. Singing Love on Top at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and wearing a purple sequined tuxedo, Bey rounded off her awe-inspiring performance by throwing open her jacket and holding her stomach. The crowd – and the world – went mad; an unforgettable moment.
Performing with Prince at the 2004 Grammys
The simple fact of having these two giants on stage would be enough to make the 2004 Grammys go down in award ceremony history. But to top it off, the performance was incredible. The singers sang a medley of Purple Rain, Baby I’m A Star, Let’s Go Crazy, and Crazy In Love, which was, to put it mildly, pretty legendary.
Beyoncé stars in a Pepsi commercial
This has to be one of the most famous commercials of all time. Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Pink and, er, Enrique Iglesias pretending to be Gladiators while a crowd of Romans chant Queen’s We Will Rock You? Genius.
Single Ladies goes viral
It has, somehow, already been 14 years since BeyonceÌ released Single Ladies. The black and white video went viral: every club in the country (and the world?) that played the mega hit had a crowd copying the dance moves – flicking their hands backwards and forwards and shouting, “If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.”
Beyoncé performs at Barack Obama’s 2013 Presidential Inauguration
The Carters and the Obamas have enjoyed a long friendship, with Jay Z publicly backing Obama before his 2008 election win. BeyonceÌ showed her appreciation of America’s first Black president by singing Etta James’ At Last at Obama’s Inaugural Ball, and she performed again at his 2013 Presidential Inauguration.
Her 2011 Glastonbury performance
There was major backlash when BeyonceÌ was announced as the Somerset festival’s headliner, seen as being too much of a divergence from their usual acts. But of course, Michael and Emily Eavis knew what they’re doing and BeyonceÌ was amazing. Her set is now the stuff of legend, and over a decade later videos of it still rack up millions of views on YouTube.
Beyoncé’s 2013 Super Bowl Halftime Show
Sure, people are still talking about Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, but we’re still not over BeyonceÌ’s 2013 set. And we’re not alone: a YouTube video of the performance has a massive 43 million views, while 110 million people apparently tuned in on the day. Her Destiny’s Child co-stars Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams joined her on stage, and she performed mega hits including Crazy In Love, Independent Women, Run The World (Girls) and Halo – we couldn’t have asked for more.
Her 2014 Grammy performance
Surely this 2014 rendition of Drunk In Love is one of the best Grammy performances ever? When the show opened on BeyonceÌ’s fluorescent silhouette, audiences knew that they were in for a real treat. But then things got even better when Jay Z surprised everyone by joining to perform his verse, and, well, they could have ended that year’s Grammys after that.
Hold Up Music Video
BeyonceÌ was raging mad for the entirety of Lemonde, her sixth studio album which was released in 2016. Jay Z had cheated on her (you might remember the 2014 Met Gala after party elevator fight Solange had with Jay Z in 2014; and 2016 track Sorry’s ‘Becky with the good hair’ line). But no one moment showed her anger more clearly than the music video for Hold Up. In it, BeyonceÌ, dressed in a yellow dress, looking marvellous as usual and grinning from ear to ear, skipped around a town holding a basketball, smashing things up.
Beyonce’s 2017 Grammy performance
Beyoncé’s 2017 Grammy performance was another bobby-dazzler. This time it was all about motherhood: the show opened with a video clip of the pregnant Houston singer in a catsuit which showed her stomach, while Blue Ivy ran around her. Then there was a clip of her own mother, Tina Knowles, who was dressed in a similar yellow-gold ensemble. When the camera moved over to Bey on stage she was wearing a gold, jewelled dress with matching crown, looking like the actual Queen that she is.
