On Apr. 28, Beyoncé debuted her Cowboy Carter tour at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Following her performances in LA, she will travel to Chicago, Houston, London, Paris, and many other notable cities across the world, ending her tour in Las Vegas on July 26th.
Her setlist for this tour includes not only popular tracks from Cowboy Carter (2024), such as “YAYA” and “Texas Hold ‘Em,” but also some of her hits from past albums, including “Pure/Honey” from Renaissance (2022), and “Diva” from I am… Sasha Fierce (2008).
Beyoncé’s first tour was her Dangerously in Love tour in 2003. It paid homage to her recently broken-up girl group, “Destiny’s Child”, and was mainly performed in Europe. Since then, she has been on nine other solo tours, with Cowboy Carter being her tenth.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” was her most successful song from Cowboy Carter, reaching No.1 on the Billboard Top 100 for two weeks. It also made history as the first song by a black woman to reach No.1 on the “Hot Country Songs” chart.
This is Beyoncé’s eighth stadium tour, with her first two being arena tours. Even though some fans were in the standing room only section, all the way in the back, Beyonce’s stage presence was apparent from wherever one was sitting. The Cowboy Carter tour hasn’t sold quite as well as her past tours and is currently 94% sold out. Some fans have been hesitant to buy tickets to this particular tour since Cowboy Carter is a country album, and a handful of her original pop and soul fans didn’t love this genre shift.
There were reports that Beyoncé didn’t feel welcomed into the country community. Being the ultra successful pop diva that she is, there were many people who felt that she didn’t know the history of country music, and shouldn’t get to dominate yet another genre. When she released the second part of the Cowboy Carter album, titled “Act II”, she put out a statement on Instagram explaining that she had seen the negative feedback, but was using it as motivation to push forward and continue doing what she loves.
There was even more backlash when she won the Grammy for Best Country Album. The 2025 Grammys marked Beyoncé’s 35th Grammy win and 99th nomination. When Cowboy Carter won Best Country Album of the year, many country fans felt that other, more “authentic” country artists’ albums were snubbed—such as Deeper Well by Kacey Musgraves or Higher by Chris Stapleton.
On the other hand, lots of diehard Beyonce fans were excited to see something new from her, and felt that her music style must mature as she does. Beyonce has been making pop albums for 22 years, and there is nothing wrong with her wanting to branch out.
Nonetheless, many of her adoring fans still happily showed up at her tour, and posted pictures and videos on Instagram with the hashtag #CowboyCarter2025. Lots of fans wore denim jackets and cowboy hats to the show, in support of Beyoncé’s country era. This energy at this concert was electrifying, and those lucky enough to attend even got to see 13 year old Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce’s daughter, right up on stage with her. Beyonce, Blue Ivy, and her 25 backup dancers will tour to 9 cities and perform 32 shows over the next 3 months.
Leave a Reply