Leslie Gray Streeter | Palm Beach Post

SUNRISE – The big productions of the past that Beyoncé’s Monday night event paid homage to were clearly in evidence — Tina Turner/Ann-Margret-style shorter-than-short shiny leotards and hordes of backup dancers, the Cher-esque costume changes and Barbra Streisand-like devotion to the singular diva.

Beyoncé knows well that while the hey-day of those divas might be fading from memory, our public desire for sparkle and shine, shirtless dancers and mind-blowing spectacle is not. And, based on her BankAtlantic Center show, it’s hard to imagine Beyoncé ever fading. In fact, she’s getting better. Shockingly better.

By the time huge curtains parted to reveal B. taking possession of the stage to the jazzy strains of Deja Vu, which morphed into Crazy In Love, the crowd was fairly freaked out. The hits came fast and furious, many cut into seamless montages (shades of Vegas!). Naughty Girl, Freakum Dress, Get Me Bodied and more were melded with the darndest things, including Sarah McLachlan’s Angel and Alanis Morissette’s thumpingly bitter You Oughta Know.

She also honored Michael Jackson with a snippet of Beat It, and recalled her BET Awards performance of Ave Maria, set to a backdrop of rolling waves and the ever-present wind machine that blew Beyoncé’s hair and wedding dress costume.

In between, the gracious hostess wasn’t too lofty to debate a marriage proposal and chat with a giddy fan named Antoine, who I suspect may have been a plant. Who cares? He channeled what everyone else was thinking.

The biggest numbers were the ones you’d expect — a surprisingly effective sing-along of Irreplaceable and the inevitable Single Ladies section, preceded by a YouTube buffet of amateur and professional interpretations of the dance that launched a million black leotards.

The effect was to acknowledge Beyoncé’s sense of humor — “Look at all these people imitating me! Funny!” — and her knowledge of her singular fabulousness — “Look at all these people who wanna be me and can’t!”

Her dancing? Flawless. Her voice? Flawless. Her stage presence? No words for it. It doesn’t matter that Beyoncé’s shtick isn’t original. She’s an observant student of the glittery teachers that have come before, and she’s been able to seamlessly weave them into her own brand of rock/r&b/Vegas-palooza. Makes you giddy wondering what’s next to come.

“The incomparable Michael Jackson has made a bigger impact on music than any other artist in the history of music,” the 27-year-old singer said. “He was magic. He was what we all strive to be. He will always be the King of Pop!

“Life is not about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments in life that take your breath away. For anyone who has ever seen, felt, or heard his art, we are all honored to have been alive in this generation to experience the magic of Michael Jackson. I love you Michael.”

Like that alter ego (who also graces her latest CD, “I Am … Sasha Fierce”), Beyoncé has always been sly, sexy, imposing and confident enough to make Kanye West seem like a recluse.

Never, however, has she distilled that character into something as focused, engaging and nuanced as now.
While past tours, either on her own or with Destiny’s Child, could be shrill exercises in preening, the new tour showed a huge upgrade in charm, humor and chops.

Right from the opening number, “Crazy in Love,” Beyoncé showed off pipes of steely power. As the song’s signature horn riff pumped away, she soared over the melody with athletic ease.

The way Beyoncé used her body intensified the sense of triumph. With her hair teased into Medusa-like tresses, a pelvis in perpetual churn and legs long enough to make Tina Turner proud, Beyoncé’s presence punctuated her singing like an exclamation point.

The show moved smoothly through its two-hour expanse. The costumes didn’t disappoint, including one getup that looked like Barbarella on a safari and another that depicted Beyoncé as an unlikely innocent in white.

The latter outfit appeared during the show’s most surprising stretch, a run of ballads early on that allowed Beyoncé to express something she rarely does: hurt.

Partly because her rise to fame paralleled that of hip hop, much of Beyoncé’s music has prized force over softer emotions. To this day, self-empowerment anthems almost entirely define her work.

Yet in songs like “Broken-Hearted Girl” and “Smash Into You,” Beyoncé showed us something more internal and deep.
In her pop rewrite of “Ave Maria,” Beyoncé hit notes with a new delicacy, then moved seamlessly into the final operatic crescendo. Such material, taken from the new album, helped provide a broader context for the star. It’s by far her most melodically sure, and musically diverse, work.

Beyoncé didn’t nail every reach. Her run at “At Last” still lacks the terrific sense of relief Etta James manages effortlessly.
But her take on “Listen” from “Dreamgirls” drew on both sides of her character, the pained and the potent. Mining those two emotions made this Beyoncé’s greatest live moment.

She’s perfected a character that cannot be denied – no matter what name it goes under.

Source: NYDailyNews

LINK FOR VIDEO

“Beyonce never had a contract with the club itself and no one in her camp dealt directly with the venue,” her label said in a statement. “The superstar was never scheduled to perform, but was to serve as a co-host and introduce singer/songwriter Solange’s performance. Patrons were falsely promised a performance by Beyonce.”

However, M2 owner Joey Morrissey told The New York Post he agreed to pay Beyonce $200,000 for the event, but was informed last Wednesday she wouldn’t be performing.

Morrissey said he is considering suing Beyonce’s camp because he spent $100,000 preparing for a show that didn’t happen.

“They said they were too busy with the launching of the tour and that they wouldn’t have time to do the kickoff party,” the club owner told the Post last week, adding the singer’s representatives offered to have her make an appearance at the party, but not sing at it. “I mean, we sold tables for thousands of dollars for the show, and spent $100,000 renting a soundboard and other equipment, as per their stipulations. What good does her showing up for an hour do me? They’ve been totally unwilling to agree to another show.”

According to TMZ, the 27-year-old noted that the unnamed assailants have peddled the CDs and other items bearing her likeness “in the vicinity of” her previous concerts around the world. Knowles is convinced that the piracy will continue and is asking the court to deem the sale of such products as illegal.

If all goes according to plan, this process will be completed before the kick-off of her North American tour at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden June 21 and 22.

Fans looking to get even more of Beyonce can check out her new CD/DVD, ‘Above and Beyonce.’ Available exclusively at Walmart, the collection includes the Kanye West assisted remix to her single ‘Ego,’ seven dance mixes and videos, plus other exclusive footage.

The ‘I Am Sasha Fierce’ tour will wrap August 2 in Las Vegas

- – TheBoomBox

The singers revenue comes from her hard work ethnic which includes the release of a double album, starring in two films, having a performance at the Oscars as well as the Presidential Inaugural Ball earlier this year, a 110-date international tour, a fashion collection and several endorsements. Beyonce Knowles’ endorsements include Nintendo, Crystal Geyser, General Mills, L’Oréal, Giorgio Armani and Samantha Thavasa handbags.

Other celebrities on the list include Angelina Jolie who took the number one spot due to her to being one of the most talked about celebrities. Although her earnings weren’t super high with a reported $27 million, being one of the most talked about is what made her push Oprah Winfrey, the media Queen, to the number two spot. Oprah Winfrey ranked number 2 with $275 million, Madonna is number 3 with $110 million, Tiger Woods ranks number 5 with $110 million, Bruce Springsteen ranks number 6 with $70 million, Steven Spielberg ranks number 7 with $150 million, Jennifer Aniston ranks number 8 with $25 million, Brad Pitt ranks number 9 with $28 million and Kobe Bryant ranks number 10 with $45 million.

Although Beyonce’s Hubby Jay-Z isn’t ranked very high on the overall Celebrity 100 list, he is ranked in at number 32 with $35 million, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs comes in at number 35 with $30 million, Kanye West at number 46 with $25 million and 50 Cent at number 50 with $20 million.

The ranking is calculated by using a number of metrics which include sources such as Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BookScan. Some of the metrics used were based on Web mentions on Google press clips compiled by LexisNexis; TV/radio mentions by Factiva; and number of times a celebrity’s face appeared on the cover of 25 major consumer magazines which are combined with their earnings.

+ 05.26.2009 – Leaving Harvey Nichols [HQ] x 4
+ 05.25.2009 - London, England [HQ] x 10
+ 05.25.2009 - London, England – After Party [HQ] x 5
+ 05.20.2009 - Barcelona, Spain [HQ] x 10