He’s irreplaceable! Beyonce paid tribute to Prince while kicking off the first show of her Formation world tour in Miami on Wednesday, April 27.
Queen Bey, 34 — who has been making headlines with her jaw-dropping new visual album, Lemonade — played Prince’s 1984 smash “Purple Rain” during the concert.
The tune came on while Beyoncé did a costume change backstage. The entire screen turned purple, as fans at Marlins Park in Miami waved their lit cellphones in the air and sang along to the music.
“Prince, thank you for your beautiful music,” Beyoncé said later in the show. The singer also belted out Vanity 6’s song “Nasty Girl.” Vanity 6 were Prince’s protégées. The group’s lead singer, Vanity, died at the age of 57 from kidney failure in February.
Beyoncé and Prince performed on stage together back in 2004. The pair opened the 46th Annual Grammy Awards with a medley that included “Purple Rain,” “Baby, I’m a Star” and Bey’s songs “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Crazy in Love.”
Beyoncé homenageando o Prince com ”Purple Rain”. #FormationWorldTour pic.twitter.com/AeyUub2lPU
— BEYONCÉ HARD (@BeyonceHard) April 28, 2016
As previously reported, Prince died at the age of 57 at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on Thursday, April 21. Beyoncé, like so many other stars and fans, paid her respects to Prince on social media following the news. On Thursday, she posted a quote from The Purple One.
“Everyone has their own experience,” the quote read. “That’s why we are here, to go through our experience, to learn, to go down those paths and eventually you may have gone down so many paths and learned so much that you don’t have to come back again.”