American singer-songwriter and businesswoman Beyonce has kicked off her Cowboy Carter tour and has been making headlines and breaking records. The 32-date tour spanning the United States and Europe commenced on April 28th with five nights at SoFit Stadium and amassed a staggering $55.7 million in gross revenue, setting the record for the highest-grossing single-venue engagement by a female artist in Billboard history.
Critics Speak Early as Cowboy Carter Gears Up
The tour initially faced controversy with news outlets reporting low ticket sales. Writers Meredith Clark and Emma Powell, in their 2025 article for The Daily Mail, “Beyonce’s Crist Plans As Tickets Struggle To Sell Hours Before She Kicks Off ‘Flop’ Cowboy Carter Tour”, writes, “an inside source maintained that resellers – individuals or businesses that scoop up mass amounts of concert tickets and resell them to fans for exorbitant prices – are largely to blame for limited attendance. Still, the insider claimed Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z were remaining hopeful and are ‘expecting more of her fans to buy tickets today and in the coming days if resale gets cheaper.’”
Blazing Trails in Boots: Beyoncé’s Country Music Takeover
Regardless of the initial accounts, the 43 year old multi-Grammy winning singer has continued to dominate headlines as she entertains audiences with her illustrious country music set. Riding high on the heels of her historic Album Of The Year Grammy win, the first time a Black woman has won in that category since Lauryn Hill in 1999, Beyonce is reclaiming the African American influence within the country music genre amidst racially charged backlash.
Writer Sylvia Obell, in her 2025 article for Elle, “Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour Is a Reminder That Black Art—and History—Can’t Be Erased”, writes,
“Critics and the country music community reacted as if a Black woman born and raised in Houston, Texas, had no claims to the culture or sound she grew up with. As if enslaved Africans didn’t create the banjo and use washboards and bone castanets to try and emulate the music of their homelands with whatever was available. As if Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Linda Martell never existed.”
