Courtney GI don’t think it hit me that I was going to see a legend perform until the week of the concert. A legend by the name of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter would be gracing the city of Atlanta.
When I was blessed enough to get tickets back in February for the first show in my (for a retail price: $272), of course I was excited. I mean, it’s Beyoncé! The concert was so far off at the time it started to feel like just a fun event.
I’m not going to lie and say I’m a part of the BeyHive, but Beyoncé was an artist I had to see live at least once and this would be my chance. She is a legend!
I went with my sister who is a Beyoncé fanatic. She’d seen Beyoncé before when she toured with Jay-Z but she was even more excited to see her this time.
The venue was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We decided to drive into the city and park at her job. From there, we did a ride share to the Stadium.
Tip: You can also use Marta to get to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to avoid traffic and paying for parking.
As we drove in, we could tell fellow concert goers just based on their outfits. I should gotten a picture of everyone’s outfits because when I tell you the LOOKS were everything, they were e-very-thing.
Getting Merchandise
We got there about 2.5 hours before the concert, mainly to get merch. I really wanted a fan and I wanted to make sure they didn’t sell out.
I ran into a former co-worker who was getting merch that day (Friday) but seeing Beyoncé on Monday; she also wanted to make sure nothing sold out.
We were in line outside for close to an hour but we got we wanted. I got my fan ($35) and an exclusive Atlanta shirt ($55) for the tour. I wanted the “Thique” shorts ($55) too but I had to control my spending for other obligations I had that weekend.
By the time we got our merch, the stadium started letting people in so there was no line. We scanned our tickets and were in to see Beyoncé!!!
Pre-Concert
We soon saw we could’ve just gotten merch inside but I thought of it as we only waited in one line instead of two.
They had different things to do like take pictures with the tour backdrop and do karaoke in a booth. It was already a good time before the concert got started.
One thing I was happy about was the food and drink spots were all opened in the stadium in case you didn’t eat before you came. I normally prefer smaller venues for concerts because it feels more intimate but the food upped my liking of the bigger venues. I didn’t get any food. Only something to drink to prevent what happened at my last concert, but I appreciate the option.
When we got to our seats in sections 117 we still had an hour before the show start time at 8. However, Beyoncé didn’t go on until 9.
Time for Beyoncé
The concert started off with slow songs which normally I would be surprised by but I had already peeked at the set list so I knew. I’d like to think she wanted to get the slow songs out of the way first since she’d be dancing throughout the rest of the concert.
During this part of the set she was tying in her older music or music from other legendary black women artists.
She sang “River Deep – Mountain High” as tribute to Tina Turner. Unsure if that was in the set list prior to her passing. I know Tina Turner was one of her inspirations and icons so that would’ve hit her hard.
She also tied in Mary J. Blige’s “I’m Going Down” with “I Care”.
She looked and sounded absolutely gorgeous. She had about 8 costume changes if I counted correctly. Each costume set of songs had a vibe and I loved it.
“All my pretty girls to the floor!”
It started of slow, then we got hyped with the Renaissance album. I was dancing non-stop! Even between costume changes there was some hyped moments. The band got a chance to do different solos. The background singers, which I believe were called Pure Honey, had a number. Then, there was the ballroom runway segment where the dancers had their own things to show off and they absolutely ATE. If you’ve seen the show Pose, it’s like that but mainly focused on the dance. The entire concert was so fun and full of “Energy”.
Speaking of energy, there was a “Mute Challenge” going on with the US cities in the tour. In the song “Energy” she says, “Look around everybody on mute.” When she says that everybody is supposed to remain quite until she continues the song. In some cities people would keep singing or cheer. However, that first night in Atlanta, we were silent. You could hear a pin drop. Beyoncé herself declared us the winner, saying, “Y’all won, y’all won, y’all won!”
Not going to lie, I didn’t even hear her say it when I was there because I was too busy cheering that everybody stayed quiet (for the most part). It was only until I watched a Tiktok of it that I realized.
This night was definitely worth the money and worth the wait. When Queen Bey puts on a show, she puts on a show! I’m so glad I went!
“Move, move, move!”
Now at the end, we ended up walking back because the ride share was 6 times the price it was to get there. I ended up having to take off my shoes during the walk because my feet were killing me.
Tip: Even if the shoes feel comfortable, walk around in them or stand in them for a long time because that comfortable feeling might change.
If you get a chance to Beyoncé, definitely do it!!!
You can find my videos from the concert on the Overthinker Guide Instagram.
