Now that Beyoncé and JAY-Z have released their long-awaited joint album, Everything Is Love, the couple is expected to make a number of changes to their current On the Run II Tour; however, concertgoers shouldn’t expect a complete overhaul.
During a recent interview with Dazed, OTR II’s set designer Ric Lipson spoke about his approach to creating the tour’s stage, how it reflected a message of forgiveness, and the ways it’ll be modified in light of the couple’s new album.
“The show will change, for sure. There'll be new content, and they will use the stage differently in those new songs,” said Lipson, who also worked on Bey’s 2018 Coachella set. “I don't think they're going to redo the whole show, because there are a lot of hits that you want to sing and there's only nine songs on the album. I don't know yet. We actually rehearsed some bits but we never put them in the show.”
Lipson went on to say that any major adjustments to the tour’s set would be difficult after the talent and crew was already on the road; however, Lipson insisted his firm Stufish Entertainment Architects would be on standby “if there's other plots that evolve over the next few weeks.”
“You never know. What's beautiful about making a show is that they're an evolving organism. You as the designer, it's like having a child. You give birth to the child but you don't necessarily know how it's going to be raised,” Lipson explained. “We give birth to these children and we raise them for a few weeks, and then we put them up for adoption and they grow up with a different family.”
On the Run II is currently on its European leg. The Carters will bring the show to North America on July 25, and will make stops in Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Los Angeles before wrapping up Oct. 4 in Seattle.
