I was fortunate enough to attend Beyoncé's Molson Amphitheatre show in Toronto this past July and it was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever witnessed. The choreography, the singing, the tight musical direction, the lighting... everything was on-point. For some odd reason though this just doesn't translate on the just-released CD/DVD set I Am... Yours - An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas.On the two audio disc/one DVD set, you get a career-spanning selection of Beyoncé's best work from condensed versions of her Destiny's Child work to her Grammy-winning work from her three solo albums to-date. One crucial mistake made on this recording of the show is track order. Although we learn in the behind-the-scenes portion of the DVD titled What Happens In Vegas, that it was Beyoncé's intention to create an intimate, all-bout-the -music atmosphere with this show, the first half of the concert simply is too cluttered with ballads. Don't get me wrong because I love Halo, Irreplaceable, If I Were a Boy and Satellites. I just don't want them back to back to back for 50 minutes. The arena version of the show I saw kicked off with a bang starting with mega-hit Crazy in Love opening the show on a high note. On this DVD though, the fun stuff including the ultra-catchy Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) is saved for the ending. Baffling.
At this Las Vegas show, fans were also treated to a segment customized for the intimate atmosphere. Déjà Vu was given the jazz treatment complete with a couple minutes' worth of scatting from Beyoncé, which for me was neither here nor there. She did make an effort though and I will give her credit for this.
The second half of the concert titled Storytelling, has Beyoncé doing a track-by-track narrative of her career from Destiny's Child's first audition for a record label in the early '90s . It was at this audition that they performed I Wanna Be Where You Are by The Jackson 5. She goes on to explain her meteoric rise to fame in both film and as a solo recording act with much gratitude to her father Matthew Knowles and his persistent guidance.
Interestingly, we learn that Bootylicious was written on a flight to Japan after eating a copious amount of food and then listening to Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks, which contains a guitar hook that reminded Beyoncé of a voluptuous woman, inspiring her to write a tribute to curvacious ladies. She also explains how she fell in love with now-husband Jay-Z while collaborating together on '03 Bonnie & Clyde.
In one of many self-congratulatory moments (ad nauseam), Beyoncé tells us that upon first presenting her debut effort Dangerously in Love to studio executives at Columbia Records, they advised her that she lacked any hits on the album. Of course, they were wrong and she was right as that album yielded five hits and multiple Grammys. Although we learn plenty about the diva's accomplishments, there is perhaps a bit too much talking and not enough focus on the music here, which goes against what she is adamant about.
From a cinematography standpoint, filming a concert at such an intimate venue means a limited range of shots. That is, there is far too much focus on close-up shots on this DVD. At the version of the show I attended, we were treated to a big visual spectacle complete with lighting, graphics and montages. This gets lost on the DVD due to venue size limitations, not giving the viewer a true indication of what the I Am...Tour experience was all about. Beyoncé's I Am... Yours - An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas CD/DVD set released through Sony Music, is now in-stores. I would have preferred still to hear and see something closer to what I experienced and loved so much earlier this year on her arena tour. Grade: B
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