Beyoncé Addresses Dad, Label Execs at Second NYC Show
Did you expect anything less? Beyoncé brought the house down yet again for the second night of her series of "intimate" shows at Roseland Ballroom in NYC. That certainly wasn't a surprise, but what she said about label execs—and to a lesser extent, her dad—was.
Bey ran through her career chronologically in front of the approximately 2,500 fans packing the venue—all four shows sold out almost instantaneously—starting with her Destiny's Child hits and ending with her new album, 4, which she played in its entirety, in order. But between her powerhouse vocal runs and breathless dance moves, she had a lot to say.
Beyoncé shouted out her father and former manager, Mathew Knowles, thanking him for interrupting Destiny's Child's first audition—Bey had a stuffed-up nose because she had gone swimming the night before, and as a result the group wasn't at their best. "And he was right," she said. B had gone on a similar tangent on Sunday night, giving her pops props for submitting DC's "Independent Woman Pt. 1" to the film makers of the Charlie's Angels remake, a major career breakthrough for the trio.
Beyoncé also teased Columbia and Sony executives, who were attending the show as a group despite some major restructuring earlier that day which saw Columbia lay off 25 staffers. "They told me I didn't have one single on my album," Beyoncé said, referring to her solo debut, 2003's Dangerously in Love. "I guess they were kind of right. I had five."
Despite the friendly diss, most of the execs stayed until the end of the explosive, adrenaline-fueled show. "We've only got one problem with her," Rob Stringer, chairman of the Columbia/Epic label group, joked sarcastically to The Hollwood Reporter, later that night. "She just doesnt work very hard, does she?"
(Photo: Myrna Suarez/PictureGroup)