Dangerously In Love Beyonce Experience
Luisa Rodocker
The Beyonc Experience Live is the third live and fourth video album by American singer-songwriter Beyonc. It was released through Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment on November 16, 2007. It was filmed at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on September 2, 2007 during her world tour The Beyonc Experience. It features guest appearances from rapper Jay-Z on "Upgrade U" and former Destiny's Child bandmates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland on "Survivor". The show featured on the album was broadcast on different channels; for one night only on November 19, 2007, the film was shown in ninety-six theaters across the United States, while Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired an edited version of the concert on Thanksgiving Day, with AEG Network and 3sat also airing the concert.
The album features performances of songs from Beyonc's first two solo studio albums Dangerously in Love (2003) and B'Day (2006) as well as songs which she recorded with Destiny's Child. Upon its release, The Beyonc Experience Live received mostly positive reviews from music critics who praised Beyonc's live performances of the songs. The album was also commercially successful, peaking at number two on the US Top Music Videos, and being certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The live version of "Me, Myself and I" (2003) from the album gained a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards (2009). The show was re-enacted by American performer Neal Medlyn during his performance at the New Museum in New York City, New York in April 2008.
The Beyonc Experience Live was filmed at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on September 2, 2007, during Beyonc's world tour The Beyonc Experience, in promotion of her second studio album B'Day (2006).[1] The film features guest appearances from rapper Jay-Z on "Upgrade U" and former Destiny's Child bandmates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland on "Survivor".[2] At the end of the show Rowland and Williams led the audience in singing "Happy Birthday to You" to Beyonc, to mark her birthday two days later.[3] The film also features a twenty-seven-song jukebox feature which was achieved by the use of advanced "bitwise" programming. The DVD was authored by Neil Matthews at Ascent Media in New York City.[4]
Onstage, Beyonc had an all-female band Suga Mama, and the show used men only as dancers for the female audience as noted by Pareles of The New York Times.[5] The show included many references such as to James Brown and Donna Summer[5] as well as routines inspired by Sweet Charity[6] and Marilyn Monroe.[7] It opened in darkness with Beyonc emerging through a hole in the stage amidst smoke, sparkles and pyrotechnics to perform "Crazy in Love" and a snippet of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" in a sparkling silver gown and walked to the front of the stage,[8][9][10] as fifteen disco balls hung from the ceiling.[8] Her background band started playing the music to the funk song[5] and while singing, Beyonc walked up a huge staircase which moved forward in two places where her all-female band and three backup singers were positioned. At the top of the staircase/mini-stage, she tore off the bottom of her dress and walked back down to the main stage.[9] Her three backup singers came down as well and did the "uh-oh" dance from the song with her.[9]
During "Freakum Dress" Beyonc played an air guitar,[11] while the stage's stairs were lit green during "Green Light" which she performed with six female dancers.[9][12] She wore a belly-dancing outfit, including harem pants,[7] while singing "Baby Boy". She descended the staircase holding an umbrella and was met by three guys wearing fatigues. A short section of the reggae classic "Murder She Wrote" was incorporated into "Baby Boy".[9] During "Beautiful Liar", Beyonc sang into a microphone that fell from the ceiling and performed a Shakira-styled dance similar to the song's music video; Shakira appeared on the video screen throughout the song.[13] "Naughty Girl" was also sung with Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" being incorporated and while performing she belly-danced on the song's beat.[6][9] "Me, Myself and I" was performed at a slower tempo than the original recording, after which Beyonc sang "Dangerously in Love 2" with a snippet of "He Loves Me".[9] She cried during "Flaws and All" and showed her "imperfections" before being embraced by a dancer dressed as an angel.[8][14] During the performance of the song, she sang wide-eyed in a video close-up.[5] Beyonc sang "Speechless" while seated on a sofa designed like a pair of lips.[15]
The Beyonc Experience Live was released in the United States on November 20, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on November 26.[16] The album was also released on the iTunes Store on November 19, 2007, in an audio edition titled The Beyonc Experience: Live Audio.[17] The Blu-ray was released on November 18, 2008 simultaneously with Beyonc's third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce.[18] In some countries, the live DVD was packed with Irreemplazable as a bonus disc.[19] Some of the concerts live version instrumentations were made available for digital download on March 25, 2008, and included the songs from "Speechless" onward. Although it is credited as various artists, technically the album is performed by Beyonc's tour band Suga Mama.[20][21] The Beyonc Experience Live was shown at ninety-six cinemas across the United States on November 19, 2007, one day before its DVD release.[22] Black Entertainment Television (BET) broadcast the show on Thanksgiving Day on November 22, 2007[23] and later on December 18 the same year.[24]On December 31, 2007 The Beyonc Experience Live was broadcast to members of the United States Army serving in the Iraq War through AEG Network.[25] On December 31, 2008, European network 3sat aired the concert in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[26]
Mark Deming of the website AllMusic commented that the album "captures her dazzling live act as she shines in a performance."[27] A writer of MTV News commented that the album contained "more than two hours' worth of content in total".[28] Kurt Orzeck of the same publication commented that the DVD showcases a "huge" tour.[29] Scott Kara of Time Out also praised the "thrilling, booty-shaking pizzazz" of the DVD adding that fans would feel "just like being there [on the concert]".[30] An editor of the website Jam! graded the album with four out of five stars, calling it a spectacle. The editor further noted: "[It] has the giant stage, the massive lights, the troupe of dancers, the kickass all-girl band, the costume changes, the VIPs and more. But all of it can't pull focus from the incredible Ms. Knowles, who works it for two-plus hours, wailing and gyrating through a sweat-soaked show with nary a hair out of place."[31] Grading the album with three out of four stars, Chuck Arnold and Ivory Jeff Clinton from People magazine wrote: "The elaborate production gets a bit overblown at times, but in this concert... the tireless diva is a veritable force of nature on high-energy numbers such as 'Crazy in Love' and 'Dj Vu.'"[32]
On the chart issue dated March 1, 2008, The Beyonc Experience Live peaked at number two on the US Top Music Videos chart and it also stayed on the same position the next week,[34] behind Celine Dion's Live in Las Vegas: A New Day... at number one.[35] On December 8, 2007, the album debuted and peaked at number twenty-three on the US Digital Albums.[36] It has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[37] The album appeared at numbers four, eight and thirty-one on the US Top Music Videos year-end chart for 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.[38][39][40]
For the week ending November 26, 2007, The Beyonc Experience Live peaked at number two on the Spanish Music DVD Chart.[41] On December 1, 2007 the album debuted and peaked at number six on the Belgian Music DVD Chart,[42] and stayed at that position for the following two weeks,[43][44] and its last position was at number nine on December 22, 2007 before it fell out of the chart.[45] On the Dutch Music DVD Chart, The Beyonc Experience Live debuted at number three on December 1, 2007 and after almost a year of ascending and descending the chart, it became its peak position.[46] It appeared on the Dutch Music DVD year-end charts in 2008 and 2009 at numbers twenty-two and forty-eight, respectively.[47][48] On November 14, 2009, The Beyonc Experience Live peaked at number twenty-five on the UK Music DVD Chart.[49] On September 21, 2009, the album peaked at number eight on the Australian Music DVD Chart and was later certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[50]
American performer Neal Medlyn re-enacted the film during his performance at the New Museum in April 2008 together with dancers Will Rawls and Erick Montes. His performance was an hour long and titled The Neal Medlyn Experience Live. He sang along to the DVD audio track, complete with word-for-word between-song patter and band introductions.[51] Booth Newspapers' Roger LeLeivre reviewed the re-enactment positively writing: "The event... was a hoot, and the audience loved every second of it. Medlyn has Beyonc's signature, often spastic, moves down pat, down to each minute hand gesture and facial expression... Unlike a drag show, Medlyn does not try to convince anyone they are seeing Beyonc. There wasn't much in the way of costumes (well, he did enter in a black wig, tube top and hot pants, but those bit the dust rather quickly), and why bother?".[51] He concluded that the length of the show was "perfect" as it "ended before the shtick wore out its welcome".[51] LeLeivre finished his review by writing, "It was a delicious pop-culture skewering, right down to the back-up dancers, with their over-the-top moves and expressions... Clearly it enhanced the 'experience,' if you had a passing acquaintance with Beyonc's songs... but such knowledge was not a prerequisite to enjoying this homage".[51] Claudia La Rocco of The New York Times described his re-enactment as "absurdly faithful" and added that it wouldn't have been nearly as "smart or touching" without the dancing of Rawls and Montes.[52] She further put the performance in her list of the "richest" moments of 2008 and noted: "These astounding performers slipped between genders and among genres, enveloping Mr. Medlyn in utter fabulousness and proving just how sophisticated pop culture can be. Backup dancers everywhere should feel proud."[52]
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