Watch Beyonce’s Touching Tributes to Prince, Vanity
Beyoncé paid tribute to Prince at the opening night of her Formation World Tour in Miami Wednesday. The singer performed a medley of Purple Rain songs with the deceased musician at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
For a moment when Beyoncé wasn’t on the stage, a gigantic box structure in the center of the set became purple. A recording of “Purple Rain” was played for the audience, who enthusiastically sung along to the classic on their own. In the past, Beyoncé has covered “The Beautiful Ones” during her live shows.
The singer also offered a tribute to one of Prince’s protégé and ex-girlfriends during the show, mashing up Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl” with her own “Blow” off her 2013 self-titled LP. Denise “Vanity” Matthews died in February from kidney failure and abdominal issues. Beyoncé has covered “Nasty Girl” before, often as a mash-up with “Naughty Girl.”
Beyoncé pays tribute to Vanity by mixing “Nasty Girl” into “BLOW” LIVE in Miami at #TheFormationWorldTour pic.twitter.com/jxN8h9MdI1
— THE BEYHIVÉ (@TheBeyHiveTeam) April 28, 2016
Many artists of diverse musical genres have paid tribute to Prince in the week following his untimely death. Bruce Springsteen opened his Brooklyn show with a cover of “Purple Rain,” while both Liz Phair and Chris Stapleton offered their own spins on “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Earlier this week, D’Angelo, with help from Maya Rudolph’s Prince tribute group Princess, covered “Sometimes It Snows in April” on The Tonight Show.
Watch the five times Beyoncé blew our minds.