The Formation World Tour is the seventh concert tour by American singer Beyoncé in support of her sixth studio album, Lemonade. The all-stadium tour was announced following her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The tour started April 27 in Miami, Florida and concludes in Barcelona, Spain. The tour's title is in reference to Beyoncé's 2016 song "Formation." On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released "Formation" for free on the music streaming service TIDAL and its accompanying music video on her official YouTube. The following day on February 7, 2016, Beyoncé performed "Formation" during her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. Immediately after the performance, a commercial aired announcing The Formation World Tour, which kicks off in Miami on April 27, with the first pre-sales going on sale just two days after the announcement on February 9, 2016.Leading up to the tour announcement, Beyoncé was praised and criticized over her new song and Black Panther-influenced costume for the Super Bowl halftime performance. As a result of this, the hashtags "#BoycottBeyonce" and "#IStandWithBeyonce" begun trending on social media platforms such as Twitter. A group of protesters also planned to stage an "anti-Beyoncé" rally outside of the NFL's headquarters in New York City on the day general sale of tickets went for sale. However, the planned rally was met with zero protesters and instead dozens of Beyoncé supporters who held a counter-protest. The tour's associated album Lemonade was released four days prior to the start of the tour.
Lemonade is the sixth studio album by American singer Beyoncé, released on April 23, 2016, by Parkwood Entertainment and distributed through Columbia Records. The record is the second "visual album" following her 2013 eponymous album. Unlike its predecessor, which featured individual music videos for each track, a one-hour film was aired on HBO to coincide with the release of Lemonade. The album is a much darker album than her previous visual, and has a more varied structure in terms of musical genres, encompassing a wide range of them from R&B, soul, pop, rock, hip hop to even country, funk, and blues.The concept was described by streaming service Tidal as "every woman's journey of self-knowledge and healing."[4] Lemonade was widely co-produced with many well-known artists, and includes guest vocals from James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and Jack White. Lemonade was made available for online streaming on April 23 through Tidal, which Beyoncé co-owns, and was released for paid purchase through the service the following day. It was later launched to the iTunes Store and physical retailers on April 25 and May 6, respectively. The record has since garnered widespread acclaim from many music critics and was considered by many to be a surprise release. The record was preceded by the release of the single "Formation" on February 6, 2016. In April 2016, Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour to promote the album itself.
