Beyoncé shines in Toronto | The star

Beyoncé was incredibly enchanting.

For two and a half hours at the Rogers Center on Saturday night – the official kick-off of the North American leg of her “Renaissance” tour and the first of two consecutive nights in Toronto – the glamorous singer and songwriter spared no expense to create a . employing an armada of dancers, musicians and state-of-the-art technology to achieve the sexy sci-fi vision that encompasses her latest album.

And boy, there was a lot to unpack.

Using a stage that spanned a stadium with a giant screen with what appeared to be a stargate in the center, completed with a circular platform within a circular stage that was filled with Beyhive devotees who dished out four figures for the privilege, Mrs. Knowles — she also answers Ms. Carter, as hip-hop magnate Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s wife — paid tribute to everyone from “Metropolis” filmmaker Fritz Lang and material girl Madonna to the late disco queen Donna Summer and Italian painter Sandro Botticelli.

It was all done with a panache that was no-nonsense, powerful, challenging and lyrically graphic.

With her latest album, “Renaissance — Act 1” as the centerpiece of the show — and yes, she performed the entire record using just a few excerpts from her previous catalog — Beyoncé used some chic and state-of-the-art costumes to convey themes of love and lust. to bring (usually lust.)

The show started demure enough: draped in a dress that seemed to consist only of strands of diamonds – it was an outfit designed by Tiffany & Co. and styled by Shiona Turini – Beyoncé told the audience she loved them and launched into the vintage Destiny Child’s pop/R&B ballad, “Dangerously In Love” (which also appeared as the title track on her debut solo album.)

The only problem was that you could barely hear her singing through the overwhelming screams and jeers of an over-enthusiastic audience that had been waiting for their heroine.

Just before taking a seat on a grand piano for a soulful version of “1+1,” the dazzling 41-year-old expressed her gratitude for the nearly three decades of support from her fans.

“I’ve been doing what I love since I was 15 when I starred in Destiny’s Child,” she told them. “The only reason I’m standing here is because of your love and loyalty.”

She ended her short six-song set – essentially performing as her own opening act – by paying tribute to one of her biggest inspirations – Tina Turner – with a short snippet of “River Deep, Mountain High” – then disappeared for a costume change . so the Real performance could begin.

Over the next two hours, a bombardment of the senses was unleashed that was, truthfully, at times overwhelmed by the sheer volume of activity taking place on the various stages.

Dissected into sections subtitled “Welcome To The Renaissance,” “Motherboard,” “Opulence,” etc., things quickly got busy as Beyoncé — clad in a space-age metal corset — picked up the pace with “I’m That Girl” and the pulsating dance beats never really gave in from then on, whether it was the house feel of “Break My Soul,” the soulful funky “Cuff It,” the dance hall flavor of “Partition,” or the battery of the marching band. “Master the world girls).”

Surrounded at times by 22 dancers, Beyoncé made it all look so easy, barely breaking a sweat during some of the more expansive numbers, her voice full and strong, while her entourage offered countless displays of body-starting choreography that repeatedly uttered screams of encouragement from the admiring audience.

And the toys! Fan-wielding robots and an armored land rover of sorts were just a few of the high-tech visual treats she pulled from her bag of tricks, including plenty of futuristic animations and symbolic sequences, such as the singer’s embryonic emergence from a sensory-deprivation tank.

At one point, one of the maxims flashing on screen was “Imagination is more important to man than knowledge,” and Beyoncé delved into countless examples of sci-fi culture to deliver that eye candy.

But as profound and provocative as the on-screen images were, the message on stage was one of a confident woman coming to terms with her needs and desires. She is a force to be reckoned with, knows what she wants (“Cozy” talks about being comfortable in her own skin), needs her space (“Move”), is unashamedly independent (“Thique”) and horny (“ Heated.” )

Considering there’s reportedly a “Renaissance Act 2” in the can, it’ll be interesting to see where she gets it from.

But for the rest of her followers, “Queen B” raised the bar in terms of spectacle, though there were two drawbacks: The stargate leading to the inner sanctum where her 10-piece band performed was tilted so as to obstruct views of the musicians , depending on one’s seat in the venue – and the domed roof of the Rogers Centre, closed due to rain forecasts – made the sound a bit cavernous, not that it mattered to the thousands singing passionately at the top of their lungs.

For them, Beyoncé is the bomb and the concert left them breathless.

PART: