The Dream Setlist for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour
If the reported millions of fans registered for ticket queues is any indication, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour is going to be one for the books.The Queen’s first solo all-stadium show since 2016’s Formation World Tour was announced Wednesday (Feb. 1) after several days of speculation and reported venue location leaks. She’ll hit up Europe first in May, and will perform in North America beginning in early July.
There have been so many changes in the world since the last time Beyoncé performed a headlining show — and in her own life and career. Her family with husband Jay-Z grew by two, while she became the most-nominated artist in Grammys history and also garnered an Academy Award nomination. Considering the magnitude of her artistic growth since 2016 — coupled with the deep musical layers informing the RENAISSANCE era of her career — there is absolutely no telling what songs might comprise this tour’s setlist.
Beyoncé has never been a one-trick performer, and she consistently keeps fans on their toes with innovative ideas, fresh choreography and endearing song mashups. Now that she’s long beyond icon status, she has earned the liberty of continuing to do whatever the heck she feels like doing.
Where do you even start when thinking of the ideal setlist for an act as significant as Beyoncé, during a tour as massive as this one is expected to be? Will she pull deep cuts out of the vault? Will she hit every album era? Well, you won’t have to think too hard about all of that, because we have you covered.
Below is our dream setlist for Bey’s Renaissance World Tour. The setlist covers Beyoncé’s discography, keeps her past tour tendencies in mind, and also hearkens back to the beginnings of dance and house music, as Renaissance (and much of modern music as we know it) would hardly exist without them. We’re hoping that the show runs for a reasonable two-and-a-half hours — which would be fair, considering it’s her first trek in nearly seven years!
Andrew Unterberger
Billboard