Beyoncé broke curfew during her highly anticipated Bay Area “Renaissance” world tour stop at Levi’s Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 30, despite getting an extra hour to perform.
The pop icon sailed past the stipulated cut-off time of 11 p.m. during her three-hour spectacle at the home of the San Francisco 49ers, which is located within a residential neighborhood in Santa Clara. The infraction came as she transitioned from “Naughty Girl” to “Move,” defiantly stalking the stage with her dancers.
Even though an ordinance requires the stadium to blackout by 10 p.m. on weekdays, Queen B received considerable leniency from the Santa Clara City Council. Authorities granted her concert a rarely invoked exception allowing for an extension until 11 p.m., a privilege allotted for a maximum of five non-NFL events annually.
But taking the stage close to 9 p.m. — an hour past the advertised start time — with a three-hour career spanning show that includes the entire track list to her most recent album, “Renaissance,” Beyoncé showed no intention of conforming to the prescribed limit.
The incident marked the third time the pop superstar ignored the venue’s restrictions. She had previously breached the curfew during her joint performance with Jay-Z for the On the Run II Tour in 2018, as well as during her solo appearance as part of the Formation World Tour in 2016.
Despite these offenses, the Santa Clara City Council voted to make Beyoncé the honorary mayor for the day and presented her with a key to the city on Tuesday, Aug. 29, the night before the 41-year-old superstar performed her most recent sold-out concert for some 50,000 fans.
Levi’s Stadium has been grappling with noise-related challenges since its opening in 2014, and few music superstars have adhered to the venue’s rigid constraints. Just last month, Taylor Swift joined the ranks of artists such as the Rolling Stones, U2 and Coldplay when she blew past the venue’s 11 p.m. weekend curfew, delivering a 3½-hour performance featuring more than 40 songs and a pyrotechnics display. Her two Santa Clara concerts ended at 11:38 p.m. on July 28 and 11:26 p.m. on July 29.
In 2018, British pop phenom Ed Sheeran dropped Levi’s Stadium from his tour because of the curfew but is now scheduled to appear at the venue on Sept. 16 due to the exemption.
Reach Aidin Vaziri: [email protected]
