Beyonce and Jay-Z’s ‘On the Run II’ tour is officially happening
YOU may want to check your bank account balance and kick your penny-pinching into high gear, because the long-rumoured Beyonce and Jay-Z joint tour is officially happening.
The powerhouse couple announced Monday that their On the Run II tour will start June 6 in the United Kingdom and July 25 in North America. Pre- sale starts Wednesday, with tickets going on sale March 19.
Beyonce dropped the news via a trailer on her website and some photos on Instagram.
The first On the Run tour, named after the Jay-Z song “Part II (On the Run)” featuring Beyonce, took place in 2014 after they wrapped up solo tours. The duo has had a Bonnie and Clyde thing going for a while (that was even the name of their first single together), and they kept that on-the-lam vibe with the 2014 tour. At the time, the superprivate couple also were plagued by rumours of impending divorce (remember the elevator incident?)
Well, On the Run II comes at a different point for the two. They have since aired a lot of their dirty laundry, had twins and released some of their most critically acclaimed and revealing work yet.
They are also still going with the bandits theme in 2018, along with some reconciliation for good measure. The trailer for On the Run II includes quick scenes of handcuffed hands, the pair driving in a convertible and speeding off on a motorcycle, along with the old reggae standard “I’m Still in Love with You Boy.”
Beyonce and Jay-Z each embarked on solo tours in support of their recent albums. Beyonce’s “Lemonade” and JayZ’s “4: 44” earned them Grammy nominations for album of the year, but both lost. (“Lemonade” did win the best urban contemporary album Grammy in 2017, and Adele basically said Beyonce should have taken the top album prize instead of her).
In 2016, we were sorting through the tea leaves to discern what Beyonce was spilling about her husband’s possible infidelity on “Lemonade”; the album took us on her journey from rage to sorrow to redemption. A year later, Jay-Z basically fessed up to his erring ways on “4: 44,” repeating the phrase “I apologise” seven times in the title track.
When they hit a rough patch in their marriage, they started working on a joint project, JayZ said in an interview with New York Times Magazine: “We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together,” he said.
Beyonce, who was further along with “Lemonade” than Jay-Z was with “4: 44,” released her album first. “We still have a lot of that music,” Jay-Z told the Times. “And this is what it became. There was never a point where it was like, ‘I’m making this album.’ I was right there the entire time.”
Will some of that music make its way into the tour? We can only wait to see. The two have also collaborated on tracks in 2017, including “Family Feud” on “4: 44” and on DJ Khaled’s 2017 “Shining.”
While the cost of the North America tickets for On the Run II isn’t available yet, Ticketmaster UK announced that in the United Kingdom, they would range from 25 to 160 pounds, plus fees (so that’s US$ 34 to US$ 222). People are already freaking out over how to pay for the shows:
Fredd Wilson tweeted “The fact that the presale starts in 2 days, Beyonce not even giving you time to make a transfer from your savings to checking # OTRII”
Blair Waldorf tweeted “now that we have dates for # OTRII can we talk prices so i can mentally prepare my finances “
Tyler Conway tweeted “Food $ 200 Data $ 150 Rent $ 800 # OTRII Tickets $ 3,600 Utility $ 150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying”
Monday’s announcement comes a week after an event called “On the Run II” featuring the two popped up on Ticketmaster and Beyoncé’s Facebook page. The events were quickly deleted from the websites, but the Beyhive was already kicked up into a frenzy over the possible tour.
Last month, Ticketmaster UK also had posted some concert dates, before promptly removing them. — WP-Bloomberg