Review: Beyoncé was all queenly bravado in her Renaissance Tour at Soldier Field. Never mind the raindrops.

It’s Beyoncé's house. The crowd that packed Soldier Field Saturday for the first show of the singer’s two-night stand was lucky enough to visit temporarily.

Commanding a massive stage augmented by a long runway and figure-eight extension, Beyoncé proved an outgoing host, and delivered multiple meanings to the concept of “house” — a type of music, home, family, fashion, desire and evolution included. Though the multi-act spectacle boasted Broadway-quality props, sensational costumes, opulent interludes and a constant feed of high-definition visuals that blurred the lines between fantasy and reality, nothing outshined Beyoncé's dynamic singing or celebration of Black culture, history and womanhood through performance.

Named after the album she released in July 2022, the Renaissance Tour marks Beyoncé's first solo outing since 2016. Her most recent jaunt was a co-headlining 2018 tour with husband rapper Jay-Z. In trademark Beyoncé style, she managed to stay in the public eye despite taking a breather from the road — and succeeded in every pursuit. No contemporary artist has a longer entrepreneurial reach than the 41-year-old Houston native, who has maintained a feverish creative pace since her tour with Mr. Carter.

A documentary and live album chronicling her pioneering 2018 Coachella performance; a narration role, companion soundtrack and documentary for a remake of “The Lion King”; four wins at the 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony that made her the most-awarded female artist in the institution’s history; an Academy Award nomination; and several partnerships with luxury brands have allowed her to cover the bases as a director, designer, writer, actor, producer, singer and investor.

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A group takes a photo outside of Soldier Field in Chicago before attending Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour on July 22, 2023. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

She’s also a philanthropist. Her foundation, BeyGOOD, donated $100,000 to area small businesses before the concert. The gesture was far from the only local connection in the 150-minute set, much of which paid tribute to house music, a style born in Chicago.

On the surface, Beyoncé turned the stadium into an open-air nightclub in which freedom, fun and euphoria reigned. Her radiant discothèque was a safe space where flamboyance, differences and subcultures weren’t only welcome but encouraged. Shimmering silver coated stairs, instruments and her ensemble’s apparel. Subtlety took a back seat to bravado, daily worry surrendered to unfettered joy.

Yet Beyoncé hit on deeper meanings and bigger ideas, blending high-energy dance, provocative displays and Afrobeat-laden sounds that amplified Black identity, positivity and experience. This was not the Beyoncé who embraced messiness and imperfections at Soldier Field in 2016. The elated but determined singer who slayed at the same venue Saturday embarked on another mission, one aimed at pleasure, ecstasy and liberation — and that, for a sci-fi-themed progression, found her slipping out of metallic constraints (“I’m That Girl”), referencing the solar system (“Alien Superstar”) and preparing to rocket to the moon and beyond (“Lift Off”).

Back here on Earth, Beyoncé found strength in herself and her legions of followers. She channeled the soul and spirit of block parties, marching-band presentations, roller-skating contests and neighborhood gatherings with open fire hydrants offering inner-city kids a respite from heat. The exuberance and confidence informed her array of disarming moves — pop-and-lock combinations, aggressive shimmies, shoulder rolls, rump shakes, move-outta-the-way prances — usually executed in choreographed routines with her dance squad.

Cycling through a series of high boots, Beyoncé vogued and vamped, swaggered and stampeded. She oozed confidence and conveyed defiance lyrically, emotionally and visually, going as far as raising her right fist for an extended moment at the close of “Black Parade.” She telegraphed sexuality, zeroed in on erogenous zones and embraced the sensations that come with true release. Beyoncé appeared all too eager to confess yearning and resort to vulgar expressions in the service of naughtiness or humor.

The forward approach matched the attitude and temperature of a majority of the bounce-heavy songs. She played all but two tracks from “Renaissance” in an order paralleling that of the album, reveling in throbbing beats, syncopated rhythms, swelling tempos and funk so freaky it stuck out its proverbial tongue. Bass lines seemingly composed of rubber stoked knuckle-popping grooves that touched on everything from disco to Jamaican dancehall to hip hop, R&B and jazz.

In a manner similar to how she empowered women and led by example, Beyoncé elevated the contributions of Black music icons. Rose Royce, Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, Maze, Prince, Diana Ross, Grace Jones and, most prominently, Chic and Donna Summer — whose 1977 hit “I Feel Love” and moniker graced “Summer Renaissance” — got acknowledged via cover versions, name drops or obvious cues. Beyoncé cited other heroes by updating Madonna’s “Vogue” at the end of “Break My Soul,” quoted Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” during “My Power” and interpolated the Jackson 5 into a breezy rendition of “Love on Top.”

The show wasn’t without flaws — some of which stretched beyond the singer’s purview. At 8 p.m., an hour after the posted start time on the tickets, thousands of seats remained empty, likely due to the horrific traffic snarls and inane traffic “management” happening around Soldier Field. It’s a mystery why these issues — nearly nonexistent for Taylor Swift’s opening night at the venue in June — arose for Beyoncé. Concertgoers deserved far better from the city.

Such hang-ups might explain why the vocalist waited until 9 p.m. to begin. However, that decision felt shortsighted, particularly since fans sat around in the rain and without an opening act. Beyoncé should also be aware that the trade-off for projecting live, nonstop video footage from every conceivable angle forces the audience to watch (or try to ignore) intrusive camera operators who follow her steps.

That said, Beyoncé made up for the patience-testing delay with singing that placed her in rare company. Her voice lifted all tides. She excelled at every range, demonstrating a trifecta of power, phrasing and pitch. Her a cappella flights soared and surged, the siren deliveries pure and absent histrionics, the breath techniques sophisticated and assured, the tones steeped in gospel.

At the show’s opening, she focused on ballads, moving from smoky and sultry on the desperate “Dangerously in Love” to silky, lush and smooth on the devotional “1+1″ with effortless ease. She cooed the soft, sensual “Plastic Off the Sofa” while lying on her side in a clamshell contraption; she sent out the booming “Diva” with a tornadic flourish. Beyoncé just as effectively snarled and spat, working her voice into a throaty rasp or frantic lather that implied serious consequences for challengers and haters.

As she warned on “Move,” get out of the way — there’s a queen coming through.

Setlist from Soldier Field July 22, 2023:

“Dangerously in Love”

“Flaws and All”

“1+1″

“I’m Going Down” (Rose Royce cover)

“I Care”

“River Deep - Mountain High” (Ike and Tina Turner cover)

“I’m That Girl”

“Cozy”

“Alien Superstar”

“Lift Off” (Jay-Z and Kayne West cover)

“Cuff It”

“Energy”

“Break My Soul”

“Formation”

“Diva”

“Run the World (Girls)”

“My Power”

“Black Parade”

“Savage” (Megan Thee Stallion cover)

“Partition”

“Church Girl”

“Get Me Bodied”

“Before I Go” (Maze cover)

“Rather Die Young”

“Love on Top”

“Crazy in Love”

“Plastic Off the Sofa”

“Virgo’s Groove”

“Naughty Girl”

“Move”

“Heated”

“America Has a Problem”

“Pure/Honey”

“Summer Renaissance”

Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.