They say competition in a marriage is a bad thing. But most married couples aren’t like Jay Z and Beyoncé.
On Friday night, they brought their dazzling personal and professional union to MetLife Stadium for the first of two consecutive nights of the “On The Run” tour. Together, they tagged-team their way through a thrilling show, egging each other on to be harder, stronger and faster, and the sold out crowd were the beneficiaries of this superb contest.
Thematically, the “On The Run” tour finds Hova and Bey casting themselves in their own noir getaway movie and so, their early duet “’03 Bonnie And Clyde” was a natural starting point. But from there, they went their separate ways with each performing mini-sets encrusted with hit after dizzying hit.
For his part, Jay is an old hand at this. The 44-year-old Brooklynite was the first to make rap a stadium-sized attraction and throughout the show, he looked supremely confident in what’s become one of his natural habits. Jay’s rhymes on “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” and “Public Service Announcement” sounded as clear as a bell and his confidence could be felt on the top tiers of the venue. On record, the young guns of hip-hop have caught up with him but on stage, there aren’t many who can even get close.
But if this is the house that Jay built, then Beyoncé is the one who now owns it. Her segments and dance sequences were worth the entry fee alone and brought the loudest cheers of the night by far. A scintillating blur of limbs and hair in front of brilliant white background accompanied “Baby Boy,” she turned MetLife into a classy strip club for “Naughty Girl” and even a silly centurion headpiece wasn’t enough to distract anyone from her routine during “Run The World.”
Dancing with such force is one thing, but the fact that Bey carries it off without missing a note, a cue or even a smile is astounding. It doesn’t matter how many times you see her, every one of the 32-year-old’s performances forces you to watch with renewed wonder.
Although Bey and Jay furrowed their own very different paths during the night, the songs where they intersected were notable and often touching. Chiefly, “Drunk In Love” captured their relationship in the most genuine way. As Bey delivered the last lines, Jay crept up on her from behind and embraced her with obvious warmth. For the briefest of moments, Queen Bey steely dominance melted away and she was reduced to a giggling schoolgirl.
After two-and-half draining hours, “On The Run” came to an end with the competition trailing in the duo’s wake. If Jay and Bey do everything in their lives with this level of intensity then it’s probably a good idea to politely decline their invitation to game night. You wouldn’t want to get in the way of these two playing Trivial Pursuit.