ONTD

EDMONTON — When it comes to Beyonce, Edmontonians should perhaps consider themselves very lucky.

Lucky that the “bootylicious” superstar even decided to grace an Edmonton stage again after her last turn at Rexall Place in 2007 only drew a crowd of 7,800 people, but even luckier that Beyonce would actually launch her brand new tour supporting her latest album, I Am ... Sasha Fierce, in the City of Champions.

Whether it was a momentous occasion or just an opportunity to test out the show and work out the kinks in front of a “modest” audience — because, once again, only 8,000 fans turned out — will be left for those that attended to decide.

If Beyonce’s first outing on her I Am ... tour was no major disappointment, it was still a somewhat muddled affair, one that didn’t really clear up where the line between Beyonce and her supposed “alter ego” Sasha Fierce is drawn.

If Beyonce is the soft-spoken side and Sasha is the brazenly hyper-confident persona, the whole concept never really spread its wings properly Thursday night at Rexall.

Opening with some momentous numbers — Beautiful Nightmare and Crazy In Love, which were peppered with touches of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat and The J.B.’s Pass the Peas — you would have thought Sasha was already in the house.

Add a rump-shaking Freakum Dress and, three songs in, Beyonce — ahem, Sasha Fierce — was already in full-blown party mode, shaking her golden-sequined, bow-clad tush and flailing her hair about wildly.

If only it had stayed that way.

The quieter, more introspective segment that followed was a collection of moments ranging from mildly corny (Ave Maria and an awkward on-stage wedding gown transformation) to supremely boring (Satellite).

Apparently, we were still in “Beyonce” mode.

Sasha Fierce, as we now know from the video bit that introduced her, is actually a robot — a sexy, creepy android not unlike Astar from the old War Amps television ad (“I can put my arm back on ... ”), but one unafraid to expose some key parts of her anatomy.

If it took a few moments for Beyonce — uh, Sasha — to regain her momentum, she did manage to pull it off with the help of her 13 musicians and backup singers, a slew of dancers and harder hitting material like Halo, Irreplaceable, Survivor and At Last.

It wasn’t always perfect, there were obvious glitches here and there, and it did feel like the show dragged on for a tad too long (two hours and 15 minutes? Really?) before it finally got to the smashtacular Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).

Road test or not, Beyonce’s lucky Edmonton fans didn’t seem to walk away disappointed, and that’s probably all that matters.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Entertainment/Concert+Review+Beyonce/1432586/story.html