Beyoncé has announced the Renaissance world tour.
The 41-year-old pop superstar has not hit the road since The Formation World Tour in 2016 but will be back on stage with a run of 40 shows across the globe to celebrate the success of her comeback album Renaissance, which soared to the top of the charts when it was released in July 2022.
The notice came out on Instagram, as such notices tend to do. And now what fans have been hoping for is official, Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour kicks off in late spring or early summer of 2023.
That said, for months there were signs and we all knew something was bubbling there, ready to be announced. Beyoncé hinted at the idea of a world tour back in October 2022, months after Renaissance rocked the Billboard charts.
Then news agencies found out she was booking stadiums around the world, but nothing was confirmed. Then she performed a private show at a hotel in Dubai in January 2023 and super fans figured a tour was en route.
She didn’t perform a single song from Renaissance in Dubai, which offered further pre-confirmation that the end game was near.
So it is fitting that on the first day of Black History Month, Queen Bey herself announces a concert tour that kicks off in Europe, heads to the United States (with a July 12 kick off in Philadelphia) and then heads to Chicago, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans, amongst other cities.
This will be Beyoncé’s first world wide tour since 2018’s “On the Run II” with co-headliner Jay-Z on the heels of their collab album Everything Is Love. This will also be her first headlining concert series since 2016’s Formation World Tour.
Renaissance, which is critically acclaimed, has undergone a few changes since its original publish date. An interpolation of “Milkshake” by Kelis on the song “Energy” was removed after Kelis stated she was not told her music would be used in the new album. Also, some ableist lyrics were changed in “Heated.”
This announcement makes this year’s Grammy Awards even more special. Beyoncé is nominated in nine areas, including for 2023 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year; Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Song Written for Visual Media for “Be Alive,” Best Dance/Electronic Music album and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa.”
