Six years after her On the Run II Tour in 2018, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour marks the prominent singer’s long-awaited return to stages around the world. From Sept. 1 to 4, the global superstar lit up SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Pepperdine students and faculty shared their experiences attending the star-studded concert as a final summer hurrah.
Bradley Griffin, Fine Arts professor and divisional dean, attended the Sept. 2 show at SoFi alongside his wife Linn Griffin, their son Wright Towles-Griffin and daughter, senior Ann Towles-Griffin. When Ann Towles-Griffin’s presale lottery entry was selected earlier last year, the family of four was pleased to purchase “Renaissance” tickets for one of the Los Angeles shows.
“[Ann] is like, the biggest Beyoncé fan in our family,” Bradley Griffin said. “She was rallying the troops for us to get to this concert.”
Ann Towles-Griffin agreed with Bradley Griffin’s statements and said she couldn’t believe she would attend the concert until the week leading up to the performance.
“I was in shock that it was going to happen, because I was like ‘Wow, I’ve loved Beyoncé for a really long time’ so it didn’t feel real,” Ann Towles-Griffin said.
The Los Angeles shows proved to be noteworthy as the performances took place around and on the singer’s birthday, Sept. 4. Though the Griffins attended the show two days prior to her 42nd birthday, that didn’t stop fans from celebrating the special occasion. When the star asked concertgoers to dress in silver for shows during Virgo season, the Griffins did their best to deliver.
“I tried my best to get my family into silver,” Ann Towles-Griffin said. “The fans are just very intimate, and I love that atmosphere of just everyone being so excited and felt the same way I did, like ‘Oh my gosh, we’re about to see Beyoncé live.’ It’s crazy.”
Senior and former Graphic staff writer Ivan Manríquez said he was lucky enough to secure tickets to Beyoncé’s birthday Sept. 4 show at SoFi.
“I regarded the show as a pilgrimage because I’ve loved Beyoncé since I was literally a kindergartener,” Manríquez said. “She’s known for really celebrating her birthday so for her to do this great big show as one of the last performances on tour, it was a pretty big deal.”
In preparation for their nights, Manríquez and the Griffin family decked themselves out in silver attire. While Manríquez donned a black boa with silver accents, the Griffins paired their outfits with homemade hats donning titles and lyrics from the “Renaissance” album like “Alien Superstar” and “Church Girl.”
The night proved to be energetic, with fans tuned in to every lyric, Ann Towles-Griffin said. In true fan-fashion, the emergence of the “mute challenge” inspired audience goers to remain quiet during a part of the performance for the song “Energy.” The singer has a line “Look around everybody on mute,” and at shows across the nation, there was a crowd phenomenon where everyone is supposed to be quiet.
“Everyone in the entire SoFi stadium is supposed to go quiet and if you can all stay quiet, and the song starts back up, people go crazy,” Ann Towles-Griffin said.
The tour’s Los Angeles shows proved to be star-studded events, as Manríquez said he sighted celebrities in attendance like Vanessa Hudgens and Bretman Rock, alongside Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson.
Alongside fun fan interactions with songs, the Griffin family of four deemed their experience an overall success. Likewise, both Bradley Griffin and Ann Towles-Griffin appreciated the singer’s extravagant costume designs and said each outfit contributed positively to the overall performance.
“Her costumes are so incredible, and they’re not even costumes because they’re like high fashion original designs,” Bradley Griffin said.
With each set switch and costume change, Towles-Griffin said the show went on seamlessly.
“Her album is very sequential and cohesive since every song sort of flows into the other,” Towles-Griffin said. “When she did have breaks to do outfit changes, she filled those well and the concert still totally flowed.”
With an outpouring of support for “Renaissance,“ resulting in sold-out stadium shows around the world, Beyoncé’s admirers still feel drawn to the mega-star’s commendable qualities that make her relatable.
“Beyoncé, to me, means perseverance,” Manríquez said. “I feel like she has really worked so hard to be the icon, queen and legend she is now. You really see that when she performs. She’s a mother, she’s a sister but above all she’s a performer and seeing that in person is amazing.”
When asked to describe the singer, Ann Towles-Griffin said she was left at a loss for words.
“I don’t even know if I can try, but Beyoncé is beautiful, and I think she’s very empowering to a lot of people,” Ann Towles-Griffin said. “She is just such a great performer, which I think that was the biggest thing, it was just incredible to see. Honestly, it’s such an overused word but she’s iconic. Such an icon.”
Bradley Griffin agreed with his daughter’s appreciation for the artist, and said Beyoncé is an inspiring performer who speaks powerfully to many people across a wide spectrum.
“I see her as someone who shapes the culture instead of follows the culture,” Bradley Griffin said. “The way she, as a woman, as a Black woman, has really embraced the significance of her own role and the power of her role, I feel like she uses that to claim ownership over her identity and her body and her presence.”
The Renaissance Tour has stops in cities such as New Orleans and Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston, and runs in the United States until Oct. 1.
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Email Emma Ibarra: emma.ibarra@pepperdine.edu
