On June 19, 2025, Beyoncé electrified the Stade de France with her Cowboy Carter Tour. She presented an ambitious show based on her album Cowboy Carter, released in March 2024. This performance is more than just a concert. It is part of a deliberate artistic and political strategy. Beyoncé explores musical genres historically dominated by a conservative white culture. Thus, she questions the codes of American popular music.
The concert merges country, folk, bluegrass, R’n’B, gospel, and soul sounds. Thus, it becomes a manifesto. Through this approach, Beyoncé asserts her place in a musical tradition long denied to black artists by institutions. The Stade de France then becomes the stage for a performance that is both intimate and spectacular. Thus, it oscillates between identity introspection and collective communion.
An Album-Manifesto: Cowboy Carter
The album Cowboy Carter is not a trivial foray into country music. It is a mature, structured, and resolutely political project. The title refers to cowboy imagery, an emblem of a mythified but also distorted American West. Beyoncé appropriates this figure to deconstruct it. She claims the heritage of black cowboys, often erased from the collective imagination. Thus, she restores their place to these forgotten figures of history.
On the album tracks, she dialogues with legendary figures like Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, or Willie Nelson. Thus, she blends voices and generations. She also offers a reinterpretation of iconic songs like Jolene or the Beatles’ Blackbird, which she performs in memory of the civil rights struggle. The presence of Martell, the first black country singer to achieve recording success, is a historic gesture. Thus, the album weaves an alternative memory.
Immersive Scenography and Engaged Staging
The concert at the Stade de France unfolds like a stage work in several tableaux. Thus, the scenography uses the most advanced means: monumental LED screens, mobile sets, digital cavalcades, and cinematic transitions. The aesthetic borrows from the western but subverts its symbols: horses become futuristic, natural settings are digitally redesigned.
Costumes play a central role. Beyoncé dons pieces by Burberry, Mugler, Roberto Cavalli, Moschino, in a mix of denim, leather, rhinestones, and embroidery. Thus, each tableau becomes a visual episode. Fashion is both adornment, claim, and narration. The brief appearance of her daughter Blue Ivy, already present on the Renaissance tour, adds a familial and symbolic touch to this assumed musical heritage.
Revisited Patriotism: A Critique Through Music
By appropriating the symbols of deep America, Beyoncé does not offer a nostalgic reading. Thus, she critiques conservatism, structural racism, and political polarization. The American flag is displayed on stage but is fragmented, distorted, stylized. The national anthem is reinterpreted a cappella, before being mixed with gospel excerpts. Thus, the show invites meditation on the complexity of national sentiment.
The presence on stage of black musicians and powerful-voiced choristers reinforces this inclusive approach. Moreover, dancers with Afro-diasporic aesthetics also contribute to this effect. Thus, she claims a patriotism that includes all American identities. This stance echoes contemporary debates on representation, social justice, and historical memory in the United States.
Critical Reception and Public Mobilization
The international press praised the performance. Rolling Stone sees it as “a cultural takeover.” The Guardian speaks of a “radical convergence between aesthetics, politics, and lineage.” In France, Télérama highlights the visual power of the show. Thus, the critical impact accompanies massive popular enthusiasm.
Spectators come from all over Europe. Among the 240,000 expected over several dates, many come from Italy. Additionally, some have traveled from Germany or the Netherlands. Thus, the Cowboy Carter Tour illustrates the global reach of an artist who transcends traditional markets. On social media, images of the concert go viral, amplifying the political message of the show.
The Lasting Bond Between Beyoncé and France
Beyoncé maintains a unique relationship with France. Since her first solo tours, she regularly includes Paris in her stage choices. Moreover, she collaborates with artists like Jay-Z at the Louvre. The Stade de France has become a symbol of consecration for her. Thus, this return to the grand French stage is a reciprocal tribute between the artist and her European audience.
The choice of Paris is not trivial. It is also a mixed-race capital, a place of cultural convergence. Thus, Beyoncé embeds her approach in a global geography of the struggle for the recognition of black cultures. This universal vision echoes the work of intellectuals like Margo Jefferson or Saidiya Hartman, who analyze Afro-diasporic memories in the arts.
A Star Between Art, Politics, and Cultural Strategy
With the Cowboy Carter Tour, Beyoncé achieves much more than a tour. Thus, she orchestrates a global cultural strategy. Her work combines artistic commitment, political critique, and commercial mastery. The concert does not seek only to move. Thus, it provokes, questions, and shifts boundaries.
In an era where music is too often depoliticized, Beyoncé restores an intellectual role to the popular artist. Thus, she transforms country music into a tool of reappropriation and debate. And if today’s America were seeking a new voice, it might well resonate from Paris. Indeed, this powerful black voice would express itself on the chords of a folk guitar.