I was surprised to see this 1 thing at Beyoncé’s latest concert

Whether you’re a fan or not, the name Beyoncé is one you’ve probably heard thrown around here and there. In fact, her hit single Crazy in Love feels like part of the fabric of British culture, and I can’t recall a wedding or milestone birthday I’ve attended where the DJ hasn’t reached for this song to get the crowd up and dancing. But her catalogue of music goes far beyond the R&B hit, with her most recent album a nod to Black history and artists that have influenced country music, as well as the likes of Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton and Nancy Sinatra.

While I’m by no means a huge country music fan, I am a massive Beyoncé fan, and although the Cowboy Carter album wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, I appreciated the significance of it. In my eyes, there’s nothing Beyoncé can’t do, and her becoming the first Black woman to have a number one album on the US country charts was purely testament to that. So while I admired from afar, when she announced plans for another world tour for Cowboy Carter, just two years after her last one, I didn’t jump to buy tickets.

News that she would once again be heading to London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the same venue she played at back in 2023 during the Renaissance world tour, seemingly failed to make the same headlines.

Instead, talk of sluggish ticket sales appeared to be the centre of attention, with The Standard reporting that none of her six performances at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had managed to sell out.

I wasn’t totally surprised by this — country music isn’t to everyone’s taste, even for Beyoncé’s legion of loyal fans. Accepting that I’d had my fun at the Renaissance world tour, I decided to give Cowboy Carter a miss.

That was until I saw a number of friends posting clips on Instagram from her first show in London last Sunday. Fast-forward to Tuesday evening, and I was making my way to Tottenham to attend the show.

A staggering 40-song setlist made up mostly of Cowboy Carter, along with some of her most-loved hits, including Irreplaceable and Single Ladies, but there was one thing that surprised me about this show.

It wasn’t her flying through the air in a pink Cadillac, her incredible outfits featuring floor-length fur coats and Western-style chaps, or the fact that the stadium actually did appear to be sold out that surprised me the most; it was families with their young children in attendance.

Less like a concert, the show felt like a tribute and a lesson on the genre, and it was touching to see how in awe and excitement the children and families around me appeared as the musician told a story of African American musical history, of which she is no doubt a huge part.