Cowboy Beyoncé dazzles nearly sold-out stadium
Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter
Reporting from London
Beyoncé signed off the first night of her London residency by telling fans she was "blessed" to get to do what she loves by performing on stage.
She stormed through a seven-act set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, treating the audience to a spectacle that lasted just shy of three hours.
But despite this being the first opportunity for fans to enjoy the singer's country era in person, slow ticket sales and high prices have been the hot topic around the tour.
Promoters slashed some ticket prices in the run-up to shows in a bid to fill the stadium, prompting some of those who bought seats in advance to feel short-changed.
Beyoncé's rodeo rumbled into London, bringing with it every country cliché you could think of - cowboy hats, horseshoes, tassels and even a gold mechanical bull.
The 40-song setlist relied heavily on tracks from 2024's Cowboy Carter, which was met with critical acclaim, including taking the top album prize at this year's Grammy Awards.
Every element of the performance was flawless, from the 43-year-old superstar's stunning array of costume changes (each one featuring more rhinestones than the last) to the seamless transitions between songs and musical themes.
Much of the talk around the US leg of this tour, which took place in April and May, was the inclusion of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 13-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, who reportedly begged her parents to dance on the Renaissance tour in 2023, but was denied the opportunity.
She made several appearances throughout the show, earning thunderous applause whilst dancing to an instrumental performance of her mum's 2006 hit Deja Vu.
The teenager certainly seemed to enjoy her moment in the spotlight, unlike her younger sister, Rumi, who came on stage during Protector, shyly mouthing the words whilst being held by Beyoncé.
The show, which is called The Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour as a way of referencing black performers that were segregated from the country scene, often paid homage in its interludes to these artists.
Beyoncé herself previously hinted about being rejected from the country music world in the past and throughout the performance it felt like she was wrestling with this idea.
She blended some of her biggest hits into Cowboy Carter tracks, such as Freedom and Diva, almost to prove that she belonged in this space.
Thursday night's performance certainly showed she is more than qualified to be a country singer, but perhaps that a 60,000 seater stadium is not the best arena for it.
As the night drew darker, Beyoncé delivered an act comprised of tracks from her house-inspired album Renaissance, which immediately lifted the crowd into a party mood.
LED wristbands lit up in array of colours as she belted out Alien Superstar and I'm That Girl - which certainly got the best reaction from fans of the night.
Similarly a section of old classics such as Crazy In Love and Irreplaceable had the crowd singing every word, proving perhaps that a few more classics wouldn't have gone amiss.
'The pricing left a sour taste'
With crowds on their feet, it was difficult to see how sold out the stadium actually was, but with just hours to go until the show there were still thousands of tickets available for sale online.
Despite the tour only stopping in two European cities - London and Paris - the remaining eight dates are not sold out.
Beyoncé's tour has the highest top-priced ticket of any artist visiting the UK in 2025 at £950, with the cheapest costing £71.
Some seats that were sold in the Beyhive fan presale for £620 excluding fees are next to seats that were available this week for £141.60 without fees.
Zulkarnain Sadali flew from Singapore to London to watch Beyoncé perform live and bought a ticket in the pre-sale, which he said cost him "more than £700".
"A couple of weeks ago I checked my ticket and then curiosity got the best of me and I checked the same ticket, or same category, and the price was around £300," he told the BBC.
"I'm really excited for [the show] but I will say the dynamic pricing really left a sour taste in my mouth."
Another fan, Holly Whiteman, said she "panic bought" Beyoncé tickets in a fan pre-sale on Ticketmaster, which were "way up in the nosebleeds" and cost £170 each, when she had initially set a budget of £100.
"Fast forward a few days later, the tickets went on general sale through Tottenham Hotspur and I found tickets for the same show in both the same row and the same section for a much cheaper price," she told the BBC.
"I believe they were at least £50-£70 cheaper per ticket."
Sadali said that despite feeling short-changed, it had not dented his excitement for the tour.
"It's really about the Beyoncé experience, you're not gonna get it anywhere else and I know this sounds like a contradiction, it's worth every cent," he said.
Whiteman said the process had left her a bit "disappointed", but she was still looking forward to the tour.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson told the BBC they do "not use surge pricing or dynamic algorithms to adjust ticket prices", adding that event organisers are responsible for the pricing structures.
"Since tickets typically go on sale at least 3-6 months before the event, organisers may review prices at key points leading up to the show, but they make any adjustments, not an algorithm," they also added.
The BBC also contacted tour promoter Live Nation for comment.
Ticketing expert Reg Walker put the lack of sold-out shows down to several factors, including "overexposure" after her last UK stadium tour, which played five nights at the same venue in 2023.
And the ticket prices are "eye-watering", he told the BBC.
"You might be able to afford to go to one of her concerts where you're effectively paying, in some categories, the same amount of money as a small holiday, but you can't do that on consecutive years.
"The pricing strategy on tickets was clearly far too high," he added.
Walker said there were a lot of "affordably priced" tours coming up - but with so many artists visiting the UK this summer, fans may be picking and choosing who they pay to go and see.
Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Kendrick Lamar and SZA are all embarking on stadium tours over the coming months, with Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Chapell Roan and Drake headlining festivals.
