Beyoncé launches Cowboy Carter Tour with daughters, bold visuals, and country-pop power

Beyoncé began her Cowboy Carter Tour Friday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in a typically chic and choreographed performance.

She began her show with a cover of “Before I Let Go” by the Maze and the late Frankie Beverly, cameos from Blue Ivy and Rumi Carter, and multiple live debuts for Cowboy Carter songs. She was wearing a white, fringed leather outfit and a cowboy hat.

An American flag was displayed on an electronic screen next to a speaker tower bearing the letters “KNTRY,” which stands for Cowboy Carter’s fictional radio station, before Beyoncé and a group of red-robed dancers took the star-shaped stage. Beyoncé riding a mechanical horse was featured on merchandise designs over the phrase, “Never ask permission for something that already is yours.”

She began by honoring the Black women who pioneered rock, folk, and country music with “American Requiem” and “Blackbird,” before switching to a distorted version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that was based on Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Woodstock song.

Beyoncé sported dreadlocks and smoked a cigar in the “Freedom” video. The sash stated “the reclamation of America.” Blue Ivy took on the choreography for “Formation” and stayed on to sing with her mother on several tracks, including “America Has a Problem,” which was preceded by an interlude that sounded like a sample of “You Might Think He Loves You” by Death Grips. Later, during the dance routine, Rumi joined for “Protector,” seemingly going off-brief to wave enthusiastically. This caused Beyoncé to break character and chuckle while hugging her.

Cowboy Carter dominated the show in terms of the setlist and the themes, even if there were many Renaissance cuts and a few of her catalog staples, along with a lighthearted parody of the popular “she ain’t no diva” TikTok. To fit into a larger story that portrayed Beyoncé as a Wild West outlaw who overcame outsiderdom and alienation to establish her claim to the land, a mechanical bull was sighted backstage. A video of a firefight in which she took up arms against an older, white cowboy whose bullets pounded her body to pieces marked the culmination of the third act. In front of a Statue of Liberty with her hair braided, Beyoncé performed “Amen,” the last encore closer.

As the second installment of a planned trilogy, Beyoncé released Cowboy Carter, the sequel to 2022’s Renaissance, in March. The pop star became the first Black woman to debut at the top of the Top Country Albums list, and the album went on to earn her eighth No. 1. Additionally, it brought her three Grammy Awards in 2025, where she won Album of the Year for the first time, Best Country Album, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Beyoncé performed during the halftime show of one of the NFL’s inaugural Christmas games, which was streamed live on Netflix, in her hometown of Houston last December.

After the enormous Renaissance World Tour in 2023, Beyoncé’s seventh headline tour is the Cowboy Carter Tour. The latter, which included guest appearances by Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion and took place over 56 concerts worldwide, was documented in the highly successful documentary concert film Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.

On Thursday, May 1, the Cowboy Carter Tour will resume with a second night at Inglewood. She will then go to New Jersey, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., before making stops in London and Paris in Europe.