Beyonce and friends thrill Phoenix crowd
By Jennifer Wood,
Get Out

With 12 Grammy awards and numerous hit records among them, it seems Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys and Beyonce can do no wrong - especially in the eyes and ears of doting fans who saw the trio perform for the Verizon Ladies First Tour 2004 Thursday night at America West Arena in Phoenix.

From the moment Elliott appeared on stage wearing a black suit covered in rhinestones to Beyonce’s exit nearly four hours later, the audience rarely sat as it ogled three of the most celebrated female talents in hip-hop and R&B.

Elliott, who followed singer Tamia’s so-so performance, began hers with a montage of beats, video screen images and street dancers - the kind of controlled chaos typical to her legendary music videos. The 25-minute set, which included past hits (“Get Ur Freak On”) and picks from her new album, “This is Not a Test” (“Pass that Dutch” and “I’m Really Hot”), was not the awe-inspiring show one would expect from the eccentric rapper. Elliott seemed to rush through songs, the lyrics of which were often lost under a booming bass. But the crowd roared when Elliott ran through the aisles during “Hot Boyz” and when she passed by three teenage boys, they hugged each other as though they'd just won the World Series.

Next up was Alicia Keys, the pianist and songwriter who first came to fame with “Fallin’Ê” off her album “Songs in A Minor." Keys, wearing a red corset and black pants, hit all the right notes during an hourlong performance that had her writhing onstage one moment and sitting down at the piano the next. “Karma” off her latest, “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” came first, followed by “Heartburn” and “A Woman’s Worth,” at which point she received the night's first and only real standing ovation. Fans weren’t lacking in their appreciation, particularly during “Fallin,’” when many in the audience threw their hands up in the air gospel-style and belted out every word.

Thirty minutes after Keys had finished her set, about 40 security guards lined the middle aisle on the arena floor in preparation for the entrance of the tour’s headliner, Beyonce. And what an entrance. Shirtless, chiseled men carried a white Egyptian-like bed that held the singer, who wore a glittering bra top and skirt and threw rose petals onto onlookers below.

“Baby Boy” led a set list that mixed radio hits with lesser-known ballads and Beyonce had the audience spellbound for all of it - from “Naughty Girl” and “Speechless” to songs like “Survivor” from her Destiny’s Child days.

Just as impressive as her vocals were the moves performed by Beyonce and her team of dancers, which were - for lack of a more appropriate word - bootylicious. The stage changed along with the changes in Beyonce’s glitzy wardrobe, which included a shorter-than-short yellow chiffon dress that nearly malfunctioned when blowing fans became too gusty.

She finished the evening with “Crazy in Love,” the song that features hip-hop star Jay-Z, who has made appearances at other tour stops but was seen only on video screens here. At the song’s end, a storm of confetti turned the arena into a snow globe and with that, Beyonce said goodnight to an audience that by then knew why the tour’s named “Ladies First.”