Beyoncé takes us to ‘Heaven’ with her concert

Donning Ray-Ban sunglasses and shirts with Beyoncé’s lyrics written in large letters, junior Mervi Tan, senior Emily Li and I strutted into Levi’s Stadium on Sept. 17 looking as flawless as we could manage.

As a zealous Beyoncé fan, I would admit that my expectations were pretty high. Paying $120 for her concert isn’t too overboard, but it isn’t chump change either.

In the end, saying that she met my expectations is a huge understatement.

As we sat on the red seats waiting for Beyoncé to come on stage, DJ Scratch played remixes of various songs by artists including Big Sean and DJ Snake. At 8:45 p.m., the sun began to set and a blackness surrounded the stadium.

Suddenly, the screen on stage faded from white to black, and as the lights dimmed, the iconic beats of “Formation” pierced through the air. Everyone excitedly looked for Beyoncé, and as she rose onto stage, the crowd began screaming and cheering.

As the first beats of “Formation” continued to play through the background, Beyoncé spread her fierceness by saying, “If you’re proud of who you are and where you come from, say: I slay.”

The crowd echoed “I slay” back, and her face broke out into a huge grin as she began to sing “Formation.” Jumping up and down with our hands in the air, we belted the lyrics at the top of our lungs.

After playing the most popular songs from her new album “Lemonade,” including “Formation” and “Sorry,” she moved onto her second set and toned the mood down by performing slower songs like “Mine” and “Baby Boy.” She then threw it all the way back to her first album with the track, “Me Myself and I.”

Beyoncé continued with songs from her self-titled album released in 2013, “Beyoncé,” with some of her most famous hits, “***Flawless”, “Drunk in Love” and “Partition.” After she finished an artistic rendition of “Freedom,” involving ballet in a shallow pool of water, she ended the grand finale with one of her most vocally powerful tracks, “Halo.”

It wasn’t just Beyoncé’s vocals that made this night one to remember. It was her stage presence. Each time she performed a song, she had a troupe of backup dancers who performed complicated choreographies.

Despite the fact that she danced to each song, Beyoncé never ran out of breath or went off tune. Her live performance sounded identical, if not better, than her studio recordings. It made us wonder whether Beyoncé is truly a goddess.

Even the interludes between each of the six sets was captivating and showcased Beyoncé’s artistic vision. From funny videos like “Bad B****,” in which a man talks about how much Beyoncé slays, to more serious interludes involving dramatic drum beats and a modern Picasso-esque artwork, there was always something new between acts.

My favorite was between the fifth and sixth acts, which played Prince’s “Purple Rain” while the audience turned on their phone flashlights and swayed. The night felt almost majestic, as the centerpiece illuminated a rich violet color and was surrounded by a million tiny lights, like fireflies in the dark sky.

As the night came to an end and Beyoncé vanished beyond the stage, we exited the Beyhive. We took one last look at the stage that Beyoncé had performed on, just a couple hundred feet away from where we were standing. Though the concert came to a close, our memories of the day will live on forever.