Music Blog - Beyoncé in the House

She is Sasha Fierce and I am… totally in awe! Beyoncé Knowles reminds us what a true superstar should be.You'll be back for more.

Prepare to be amazed
You roll up to a Beyoncé concert expecting to be entertained, hoping you'll get your money's worth and maybe ready to rock out your independent-lady streak. You walk away from it speechless… or, in my case, not able to shut up. Now I'm an avid concert-goer and I've seen most of the big pop acts live over the last few years (Britney, Kylie, the girlbands, the boybands) but Beyoncé is in a different league to anyone I've seen before. I'd happily pay to see her again tonight, having only watched her performance last night… if it wasn't a recession and I was rich, of course! ;)

Definition of superstar
We've all seen the pictures in the magazines and watched the rare interviews on television but Beyoncé is far more stunning in the flesh (even if you're watching her from the back of the arena). She has a presence that is somehow mesmerising. You can't explain it but you just can't take your eyes off her for the whole show. There were no trips to the toilets, no trips to bar - you were even afraid to move your eyes from the stage to the big screen in case you'd miss something. What's more she's ridiculously talented, and gracious into the bargain. You'd hate her except that she seems so nice. Her vocals were second to none and yes, she sang live - you'd expect no less. There was a stunned, almost reverent, silence for her renditions of Ave Maria and Sarah McLachlan's Angel at Dublin's O2.

Knowing your audience
Another thing about Beyoncé is that she knows her audience. People go to concerts to be entertained, maybe to escape from their lives for a couple of hours, to have a bit of a dance and participate in the experience. The Beyoncé show has everything - the recent chart-toppers, the older hits, the trip down memory lane for some Destiny's Child classics, visual and soundtrack snippets from her movie career to date and even some cute home videos of baby Beyoncé and a YouTube homage to the star.

Back for more
If you're not sure of anything else when you're leaving Beyoncé's concert then you will be sure of one thing, that you'll be coming back for more as soon as you can. I watched Beyoncé on 'The X Factor' last year and decided that I had to go see her. As well as being an amazing performer she was so good with crumbling Alexandra (I must say I was guilty of being one of the people who looked at the winner of the show and thought 'pull yourself together woman' but after seeing last night's show I completely understand how she must have felt and I wasn't even remotely within touching distance of her!). And on that note of being brilliant with people, Beyoncé really made the effort to interact with the audience, she ran around grabbing fans hands and throwing her towels to them - she even sang Happy Birthday to one lucky fan, who also got a peck on the cheek. I'm guessing he is now the most popular guy in his town or village. I know I was jealous!

Linda McGee