Beyonce's Coachella show was mind-blowingly beautiful

Thank you, Netflix. There's no way my wife and I would have seen Beyonce's astounding  2018 "Homecoming" show at Coachella without streaming it the past two nights, courtesy of our Netflix subscription.

For one thing, the many shots of the crowd showed that if anyone our 70'ish age saw the two live performances (over two weekends), they sure weren't in the front rows. For another, our willingness to travel long distances and put up with large crowds to see a concert are long behind us.

So it was a gift to be able to sit at home and stare with rapt attention at our big screen TV displaying one of the most amazing performances we'd ever seen.

If  you haven't watched the Netflix film, Homecoming, make this a top priority.  

Most of the two hours and seventeen minutes is a masterfully edited view of the two live shows. Yes, two. It took our senior citizen minds a while to figure out that the seemingly miraculous instant costume changes actually were the result of virtually seamless editing of footage from the two Coachella performances of Homecoming.

The scenes of how the performance came to be also were fascinating. I was especially impressed by how Beyonce was able to handle the rehearsals and other preparations for Coachella so soon after giving birth to twins.

There's a reason evolution has females reproducing us humans: men wouldn't be capable of doing this.

I found Homecoming to be an amazing piece of performance art. Anyone who doubts that a lavish outdoor music show doesn't deserve to be in the same artistic category as a symphony, opera, or whatever needs to fire up their Netflix subscription and watch Homecoming start to finish.

Rarely do I stare at the screen of our TV all the way through the closing credits. I did with this film, though, because I wanted it to never end.

I don't believe in reincarnation. However, if there's a Rebirth God out there, here's a request: next time around fashion me into a black person who can sing, dance, and have a rollicking good time like the performers in Homecoming.

By and large, I don't believe there are big differences between blacks and whites. Still, this thought kept going through my head as I watched Homecoming: Maybe it would have been possible for Beyonce to populate the stage with equally talented white performers, but this would have been really tough.

This show, and the film, was a tribute to black culture -- especially the amazing marching bands at black universities. The energy, enthusiasm, and joy of the performers, led by Beyonce herself, was beyond belief. I wanted to bottle the good feelings I had while watching Homecoming so I could take sips when I felt down and uninspired.

I got exhausted just watching the Coachella performances. How Beyonce was able to do all that singing and dancing without seeming to break a sweat astounded me.

(Well, she did appear to have a wind machine follow her on stage to blow her hair, so maybe that helped.)

From my male perspective, I found it fascinating, but really not all that surprising, that Beyonce and her crew of female dancers, singers, and musicians could be both sexually sensual and womanly empowered. Somehow Beyonce and the other artistic directors were able to make shaking one's booty into a feminist statement (much to my delight).

It also was great to see the two French dancers, Larry and Laurent Nicolas Bourgeois, a.k.a. Les Twins, prominently featured in Homecoming. They competed on World of Dance and blew me away with their unique appealing dance style.

Here's the official trailer for Homecoming. There are homemade videos on You Tube showing the performances,  but they're nowhere near as good as the Netflix film.

 

Comments

[Helo]

Another hit concert by Beyonce. Kudos to her and the team behind that ensures the audience will enjoy the events to the fullest.

[aos tv]

I always love Beyonces movies and this one too.