Thread by @jensimmons

As a person who 300+ shows in my 20s, I’ve been sitting here for an hour trying to figure out how Beyoncé’s team did that show. A one time performance? On a festival stage with one hour to complete load-in? With perfect everything — sound, choreography, CAMERA, live editing…

At least 1,000 people worked that show. And I’m not counting the festival staff. I mean her show. On stage, backstage, load-in, production, filming, streaming. How in the world? How? No, really, how?

Live performance TV shows are *never* this good. All the camera work & switching was finely planned and rehearsed (up to the last song, clearly the last song was not). This was two hours. On a *borrowed* stage. A one time shot. They did this ONCE? What? HOW? Every bit perfect.

It’s clear they used a big studio for months of rehearsal. After years of pre-production. They did the show on another stage a zillion times. It’s normal to do so for a giant stadium tour. Where your crew owns the stage. With millions of $$$ in tickets to be sold for that tour.

But how — how her team pulled this off for a one time event, on a borrowed stage. I truly can’t wrap my head around it. She must have demanded so much from Coachella in terms of the stage, control over the sound, setup of the equipment, load-in, etc. otherwise — never this great.

At the root, the business decisions are what blow me away the most. Beyoncé and her team are on such a different level. No one pulls this off but her. There were dozens of people working pyrotechnics alone. With likely no rehearsal. Perfectly. For a one time event. WHO DOES THAT?

You’ll see pyrotechnics like that for the Super Bowl, the biggest TV show of the year with the most expensive ads of the year. Huge budget.

Speaking of Super Bowl halftime show: only 15 minutes long. The camera work and sound is not anywhere near as good…

And of course, the execution of the backstage stuff is not the most important story about #beychella. It’s just the one that has my mouth open at the movement, because I used to do that stuff (on a way tiny scale). The show itself, the performances, the meaning, the statements…

You could compare this concert video to other concert videos (like amazing U2 or Rolling Stones films) — where they tape multiple nights of a tour. After planning everything for the shoot while watching the show. Because the tour’s already underway. And then they cut it later.

This team got that level of quality in one take, switching (editing) live. The teams for the Oscars, Grammys, Super Bowl — none of them pull this off. (And I bet their budgets are way bigger.)