Acts ii and iii of Beyoncé’s Renaissance are coming

Shortly before Beyoncé dropped her latest, chart-topping record Renaissance, she said the following: “My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration. I hope you find joy in this music. I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. Ha! And to feel as unique, strong, and sexy as you are.”

Months of experiencing that space through Spotify, it seems Beyoncé is finally ready to take the Renaissance show on the road: her tour for summer 2023 has been covertly announced. A full season change later, we are still bereft of the glossy accompanying visuals we were promised. Bey dropped a preview of what’s to come back in August, but we’ve not received a crumb since: however, new evidence has social media sleuths hopeful that a spectacular second coming, in cinematic form, is just on the horizon.

A recent tweet from New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan gave us our best idea yet of what the album’s forthcoming parts – remember, the existing album is just ‘act i’ of Renaissance – might sound like. While fans may have been greedily hoping for a full two records worth of new booty-popping material (particularly in a climate where Rihanna has verbally destroyed any illusion of her own long-awaited pop comeback happening anytime soon) it looks like act ii will be an acoustic showcase, perhaps of some or all of the songs in act i, and act iii will be a collaborative effort by the Carters, maybe in the style of 2018’s Everything Is Love. Some may be expressing their concern, but we trust you queen!

Okay, but is a Beyoncé movie really imminent? And what can we expect from the live show? When do tickets go on sale? How much will they set us back financially? What the hell will that setlist look like? Here’s everything we know.

Is Beyonce touring Renaissance?

Short answer: yes! Beyoncé has toured pretty much every album she’s released thus far, and Renaissance will be no different. But while we were waiting with bated breath for an official announcement, it seems details have now leaked prematurely.

A charity auction was held at the 2022 Wearable Art Gala, an event organised by Richard and Tina Knowles Lawson (aka Bey’s parents), at which one of the prizes was a luxury ticket package to attend the forthcoming Renaissance tour in summer 2023.

Attendees snapped a photo of the package, which read: “Valued at a total of $20,000, United x WACO offers you a chance to see Beyoncé on her Renaissance tour starting in the summer of 2023 at any of United’s national and international destinations around the world.” United, of course, referring to the American airline. It continued: “This prize is complete with 2 first-class international United Airlines Polaris tickets to select cities with 3-night hotel accommodations at a Marriott property. And, to one of the most sought-after musical performances of all time, 2 concert tickets to Beyoncé’s Renaissance 2023 tour with a guided backstage tour with Miss Tina!”

The package is rumoured to have sold for around $45-50,000.

So when is Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour?

Like pretty much all stadium tours, which rely on good weather to run, Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour seems due to hit the road in summer 2023. It’s not yet known when it will kick off exactly, but if swirling rumours are to be believed, she’ll need to avoid clashing with Taylor Swift, who’s apparently touring her latest record Midnights around the same time, and Rihanna, who may or may not be making her musical return post-Super Bowl.

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What cities will Beyonce tour Renaissance in?

It goes without saying that a pretty substantial tour of US stadiums is a given, much like she did with Jay-Z for the On The Run II tour. The United auction also signals a few tantalising options of where she might end up: they fly to pretty much every continent and major city on Earth. The OTR II tour was restricted to just Europe and North America last time, but it would be great to see her hit up Africa, considering the record’s influences, and South America, Asia and Australia too.

What will the Renaissance tour setlist be like?

This is interesting, particularly when you consider the record itself was produced to be pretty much seamless. The album is an hour long, which would make for a short but punchy setlist, and we’d be intrigued to see how she’d pull of a creative coup like that. Right now though, everything’s mere speculation.

How much will tickets be?

We imagine the person who bought two tickets for $50,000 was pushing the upper limits of the price range. Tickets for OTR II ranged from $54 to $2000 for VIP packages. We could probably expect it’ll be similar for the Renaissance tour.

When will tickets go on sale?

This hasn’t been announced yet.

So what’s all this about a movie?

What we’ve seen of the Renaissance visuals has been nothing short of cinematic — the teaser sees Bey in no less than 21 separate looks and settings. When we’ll be able to feast our eyes, however, is anyone’s guess. A press release from her production company, Parkwood Entertainment, said it would be scheduled “for a later date”. And that was in August.

A recent, compelling development in our search for Bey to #dropthevisuals is a now-deleted Instagram story from Odd Future musician Syd featuring a thank-you bouquet of white flowers. In it, a note from Beyoncé is legible: “Thank you for contributing so much to the film.”