Throughout her Renaissance tour, Beyoncé has issued a fun challenge to her audiences: When she sings the line “Look around / Everybody on mute” from Renaissance highlight “Energy,” the audience is supposed to remain as quiet as they possibly can. Well, Beyoncé was particularly impressed by one tour stop, as she declared one city the winner: Washington DC.
On August 6, Beyoncé performed at FedExField in Landover, Maryland (just a few miles outside of the DC city limits). Fan-shoot footage shows that when it came to the moment of truth, most people in attendance did a terrific job of shutting their mouths and allowing a profound near-silence to settle across the venue. Beyoncé even gave DC an official acknowledgement, writing on her website that the city was the “eerbody on mute war winner.”
https://twitter.com/jacomus/status/1688582912986218501
Beyoncé via https://t.co/tEWPvbkEQW
“Washington D.C. – EERBODY ON MUTE WAR WINNER”#RENAISSANCEWorldTour pic.twitter.com/VLQdckUFcy— COWBOY CARTER TOUR (@CowboyCarterWT) August 7, 2023
While that moment went well, the evening got off to a rocky start: Before the show started, FedExField issued a shelter-in-place order due to lightning in the area. Fans were eventually allowed to return to their sets, but it did cause a delay for the show. Beyoncé came through, though: The singer paid $100,000 to extend the DC Metro trains by an hour, so fans would be able to get home. The money paid to “keep all 98 stations open for customers to exit and operational expenses.”