If there were any doubts about Beyoncé’s status as a generational talent, they were laid to rest at the NFL’s first Christmas Day halftime show seven months ago.
The global superstar made her grand entrance into NRG Stadium in Houston on horseback, wearing a feathered coat and chaps, a snow-white Lipizzaner serving as her trusty steed. As she opened with a chilling performance of “16 Carriages,” Queen Bey rode past raised Cadillacs and a semi truck bearing the name Cowboy Carter, a surprise country album that needed little introduction.
For the next 13 minutes, we were thrust into the world of a performer whose stagecraft and storytelling have moved the needle of the music industry in an irreversible way. With unflappable grace, Beyoncé breezed through a cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” joined by country collaborators Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts and Brittney Spencer. But in the very next breath, she unholstered her vivacity for “Ya Ya,” firing off the hip with a jubilant procession of Black joy and theatricality as the Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul marching band provided the soundtrack to Bey’s lively, stadium-sized hoedown.
Shaboozey and Post Malone bridged the gap next with their southern soul ties, and Beyoncé, conqueror of pop and R&B, appeared right at home with them. You can take the girl out of the country, but as she reminds us on her Cowboy Carter tour, “You can’t take the country out of me.”
Netflix reported that Christmas Day football game remains among the most streamed NFL events in history.Cowboy Carter, in front of a large live audience—and in her hometown. It was a night for the books, one many now refer to as the Beyoncé Bowl. It also marked the first time Beyoncé had performed songs from her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, in front of a large live audience—and in her hometown.
That incredible country spectacle will soon take Las Vegas by storm when Beyoncé brings the final shows of the tour to Allegiant Stadium July 25 and 26. Vegas became one of the last additions to the tour, but there’s no way Beyoncé could leave us out—not with the history we share.
For years, rumors of a Las Vegas residency for this superstar have swirled, but it sorta already happened. In 2009, Encore Theater at Wynn hosted Beyoncé’s special four-night engagement, I Am … Yours. At the time, she had just married hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and released I Am … Sasha Fierce, an album that unleashed the cultural phenomenons of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and “Diva.” Already a seven-time Grammy winner, Beyoncé performed in the 1,500-seat venue with an 18-member all-female band.
“My whole objective here is for people to see what they don’t get to see,” Beyoncé told ABC News in a 2009 interview. “Just give me my band, give me a stage, some cool smoke and lights and you see the sweat, you see the pain, you see the love, you see the soul and it’s about music.”
The Wynn engagement might pale in comparison to the pageantry of Beyoncé’s current performances, but the fact that Vegas got to see her in such an intimate way speaks volumes. It takes a special kind of star to settle on the Strip for a residency. Beyoncé’s musical legacy and peerless performance reputation go beyond the qualifications.
Will it happen? Estevan Daniel Velasco-Romero, a Las Vegas performer who stars in Dita Von Teese’s show at Voltaire, Rouge at the Strat and at Gipsy’s Glitz: The Showkids Show, thinks so.
“She definitely should. I heard a rumor about the Sphere, and that would be incredible. But I think it would also be really great for Vegas. I think we’re ready. The biggest thing that she could ever do could be there,” he says.
As an entertainer, Velasco-Romero can’t sing Bey’s praises enough. Onstage, he transforms into his alter ego, Estee, a feisty and very physical performer—just like Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce.
“When I started coming into my own as a person I guess, that was the B’Day era, so it was ‘Deja Vu’ and ‘Ring the Alarm’ that period,” he says. “I’ve always been super inspired by her ever since.”
Velasco-Romero also reveres Beyoncé for her connection to the LGBTQ+ community. From drag bars to ballroom, she’s bolstered the visibility of both in her music.
“The Renaissance album was definitely a reflection of that, because she was inspired by her uncle, who was gay, and I think he passed away. She dedicated it to him and his culture, the ballroom culture, the Black culture,” he says. “What I have noticed is the confidence that people have, especially gay people and people of color and minorities, I think, in just the state of our world right now politically. I feel like now more than ever, minorities need to be able to use their voices and feel confident in using their voices. I know that she’s definitely made me feel that way.”
Beyoncé’s historic sweep at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where she won her long-awaited first Album of the Year trophy for Cowboy Carter and became the first Black woman to win Best Country Album, also amplified that confidence for various communities.
That night stands out in many fans’ minds, including Los Angeles-based DJ Rosegawd, who has spearheaded the highly publicized Beyoncé fan parties Club Renaissance and Club Cowboy Carter since those album releases, gaining public recognition from the Bey Hive and even Beyoncé’s own mother. In celebration of those wins, she and event producer Ed Wynn threw a party.
“Ed Wynn brought a fake Grammy for people to hold up. I feel like that’s still probably one of the best nights we had, and it wasn’t even our biggest night as far as capacity,” says Rosegawd. “Everyone in the room was just really proud that she was able to conquer something that she had been trying to do. She always wanted [Album] of the Year, but just by breaking the rules completely. The energy that night was something else.”
Rosegawd, a fan since Destiny’s Child’s 1999 album The Writing’s on the Wall, essentially grew up with her icon.
“We do have an age gap, but there are some artists I used to love that I followed from the beginning, and their music didn’t grow with me. With Beyoncé, you’re growing,” says Rosegawd. “I appreciate that aspect of her being one of those artists who have constantly evolved, and it inspires me to do the same.”
For the Cowboy Carter tour, Wynn, Rosegawd and her event company Ladera Hearts have taken Club Cowboy Carter on the road, following Beyoncé to every city, including Paris and London. Rosegawd spins Cowboy Carter the album from top to bottom for these traveling parties, splicing in deeper cuts as a warmup. Vegas audiences can get a taste when the parties land at the Space just west of the Strip—and close to Allegiant Stadium—for two concert afterparties.
Las Vegas singer-songwriter Natalie Kalei was exposed to all of Beyoncé’s eras early, having hailed from a musician-filled family. But one Beyoncé album came during a formative time in her life.
“I really locked in for the Lemonade album, because at that point I had graduated, I was getting into music on my own. And I vividly remember my mom telling me to listen to this album,” Kalei says. “At the time, I was going through my first breakup and experiencing that kind of pain. I feel like that album spoke to me as an artist, not just as a listener. … The relatability, I think it inspired me to want to have that too in my music, and just to tell my story and to speak on things that I’m experiencing.”
To Kalei, Beyoncé’s music has also brought a sense of cultural liberation. The release of Cowboy Carter didn’t surprise her in the least.
“Cowboy Carter … spoke to me,” she says. “I grew up listening to country as well, but I always felt like it had to be a guilty pleasure. When she came out and she had all the greats like Willie [Nelson] and Dolly [Parton], it was like … I can be that person as well and dip my toes into that genre because that’s a part of me.”
As a country album, Cowboy Carter ruffled a lot of feathers. But who better to celebrate Black cowboy culture than a Black woman from the South? Who better to create hoedown heaters honoring Black rodeo than a woman who grew up watching them? Since 2022’s award-winning disco epic Renaissance, Beyoncé hasn’t just been on a victory lap, she’s been on a statement tour.
“When she makes an album, everybody’s like, oh, it’s Beyoncé. But when you look into what it is, you’re like, this is a trailblazing project. This is something to pay attention to,” says Ayaka Taylor, a Las Vegas-based singer-songwriter, model, dancer and actress. “I think there’s been a lot of effort to undermine what she does. But I think people are beginning to realize how impactful every step is with what she’s doing right now.”
Since childhood, Taylor has studied Beyoncé’s attention to detail and physical prowess like a musical syllabus.
“When she’s on stage, she genuinely looks like she loves doing what she does. And I feel like that really speaks to people, because energy is contagious,” Taylor says. “As an artist, I want to make people feel something. Because that’s how I connected to the arts growing up.”
To Taylor, who grew up overseas and was raised in a multicultural household, it’s been refreshing to see how Beyoncé “incorporates her upbringing into her art,” and has shifted culture, unapologetically embracing a bit of everything.
“People are shocked at listening to Cowboy Carter and how much soul is in it. It’s an everything album,” Taylor says. “That’s inspired me to slow down and focus on what type of elements I want to put in my music and genuinely to have something be an experience, rather than categorized as this or that.”
But back to the big Vegas question: Will Beyoncé set up an epic residency one day? Taylor, Rosegawd and Kalei all think it’s too soon for this icon to settle down.
“She definitely has more to say,” Taylor says. “I would love her to stay in Vegas longer, because that’s where I call home. But I think she has a ways to go before she does a residency. She’s got a lot more trailblazing to do.”
BEYONCÉ July 25 & 26, 7 p.m., $103-$521+. Allegiant Stadium, ticketmaster.com.
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