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.
