Beyonce’s Coachella performance was a historic cultural moment

We usually don’t talk much about celebrities but we couldn’t help but to bask in the moment of Beyonce’s performance at Coachella last night. You know it must have been grand if those beyond the bey-hive are talking about it.

Beyonce’s performance at Coachella

Beyoncé made history last night. She was the first black woman to headline Coachella, and her performance not only channeled in her inner roots but left a mark that will well be remembered.

While the performance was meant to entertain the live audience in Indo, Cali., it also thrilled the audience watching afar on live stream. Known to be a hipster festival, by the end of the night Beyoncé claimed Coachella as her own with her DJ-ing dubbing it “BeyChella”.

Cultural Importance

Bey was not only humbled that she was the first black woman to headline Coachella, but it was evident she took the moment to show the cultural importance.

Starting with singing “Lift Every Voice”, the National Black Anthem, Beyoncé dedicated much of her performance to HBCUs, complete with a drumline, majorettes, and step-dancing.

She performed some of her biggest hits behind a marching band including members from Florida A&M University. Beyoncé basically created her own HBCU: the University of Beyoncé. The school colors: yellow and black (the yellow, a theme from her album “Lemonade,” is also the color of her Beyhive horde of fans). The fraternity brothers’ clothes carried the same Greek letters as Beyoncé’s cropped sweatshirt: BDK, or Beta Delta Kappa. The B and K likely stand for Beyoncé Knowles, while the Delta may be an allusion to her favored number, four. Any HBCU alumnus was proud to be one last night.

Special guests

To top it off, Beyoncé graced the performance with cameo’s from her sister Solange, a reunion with Destiny’s Child, and of course a performance with Jay-Z.

On Saturday night, she told the audience, “I am so happy to be here. I was supposed to perform at Coachella before, but I ended up getting pregnant, thank God,” referring to her pregnancy with twins, Rumi and Sir Carter. “This is a very important performance for me tonight. I’m happy to be back on stage.”

She then went on to explain a bit of the genesis of the grand show.

“I had time to dream and dream and dream with two beautiful souls in my belly, and I dreamt up this performance” she said. “And this is more than I ever dreamt of it being. And thank you guys for sharing this with me. I hoped you all enjoyed the show. I worked very hard.”

Photo Source : CNN