How Beyonce’s ‘Homecoming’ Has Changed The Live Album Concept
April 17, 2019 is a hump day that will not soon be forgotten. Just as Ariana Grande fans were dubbing this year’s Coachella celebration “Arichella”, in comes Beyonce. She swooped in unexpectedly….well, let’s be real. We expected it sometime very soon. The juggernaut that is Beyonce made headlines last year as the first African American woman to headline the Coachella festival. Oh and did she make it a headlining show to remember.
Homecoming, the Netflix documentary and its accompanying live album dropped today. As usual, the Internet was shook. At this point, a surprise album from Beyonce or (any artist for that matter) has lost some of its sting. Nonetheless, the documentary is a carefully spliced rundown of the entire show. The clips highlight both of her show stopping performances during last year’s Coachella weekends. The docu-style camera work was a bit much for me at some points, but overall it was worth it. Don’t misunderstand it. The highlight here was seeing the phenomenal performance again, not the behind the scenes elements that we likely could have guessed ourselves.
The larger conversation here is how Beyonce has once again ushered in a new era of how fans interact with music. With Homecoming, it’s a case of live music interaction. She has brought the Coachella experience to the eyes and ears of fans all across the world. Of course, she’s going to pocket a large chunk of change from it too. Will live Coachella albums be the standard now for headlining artists? Will Beyonce’s end goal of paying homage to African American culture see more diversity in the headlining artist lineup for Coachella in the future? Could this stir up a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Music Film for Beyonce? Time will tell.
Whatever the case, Beyonce has successfully frozen a pinnacle moment of her career in time. Plus, she has elongated its impact for the remainder of the year and likely well into 2020. Artists will now have to come harder than releasing live album recordings from their sold out Madison Square Garden performances.