I'm a little picky about music festivals. While I should really take the plunge and attend whatever great-looking event I can afford at the time, it's easy to look at the line-up and wait for something better. There's always the opportunity to find new music to admire, but I tend to look for at least three bands or artists that I really want to see live before I consider going.
My outlook changes quite a bit when it comes to someone like Beyoncé. More so than maybe any other artist, she is loved by music fans with a huge variety of taste. Whether you like obscure heavy metal or 80s pop ballads, there's a good chance you'd get something out of Lemonade.
Now, Beyoncé is making history as she headlined Coachella, the music festival in Indio, California. Not only is she the first woman of color to headline the festival, but fans have been waiting for this specific performance long in advance.
The singer was originally meant to headline the festival in 2017, but dropped out last minute at the advice of her doctors, being pretty far along in her twin pregnancy at the time.
Yet once it got to 2018, she decided to double-down on the performance, with TMZ reporting that she spent 11-hour days in a Los Angeles studio with dancers, choreographers, technicians and other crew members.
She even had a team of security guards patrolling the inside and outside of the studio to make sure no one saw anything in advance. And, soon enough, the rumored 12 dancer routine expanded to include 100 dancers, moving rehearsals to a larger studio. In the end, it looks like it all paid off.
The singer opened with 'Crazy in Love', accompanied by a brass marching band, and later sang a rendition of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing'. "Coachella, thank you for letting me be the first Black woman to headline," Beyoncé said during the performance, before launching into 'Run the World (Girls)'.
Her full set stretched over two hours, with a Nina Simone tribute, Malcolm X quotes, and plenty of cameo appearances to keep things lively. She sang 'Deja Vu' with husband Jay-Z, and Solange even made a surprise appearance to support her sister on stage.
But the biggest surprise of the night, which sent fans into a frenzy, was the reunion of all-time greats Destiny's Child.
Towards the end of the lengthy performance, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland joined Beyoncé on stage, with renditions of past hits like 'Lose My Breath,' 'Say My Name' and 'Soldier'. As you can imagine, her fans were gobsmacked by the surprise and couldn't contain their excitement.
Even Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, who represents Beyoncé 's hometown of Houston, congratulated the singer. "Houston's own Beyonce is giving us the dream performance at the 2018 Coachella!" she tweeted. "I am very proud of the artist, entertainer and global philanthropist Beyonce has become".
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day imagining I was lucky enough to attend Coachella this year.