Beyonce sets Croke Park ablaze with fiery performance

All hail Queen Beyonce.

The undisputed princess of pop stormed the stage at Croke Park tonight and proved why she’s ‘Irreplacable’ on the world music stage.

The American superstar brought her Formation world tour to Dublin and wowed the 75,000 members of her ‘Bey-hive’ during an energetic, two-hour long spectacle.

Fans at the sell-out gig were promised a “jaw-dropping” performance - and the former Destiny’s Child star did not disappoint.

Such was the size of her production that the capacity of the Croker had to be reduced to accommodate the show, with Beyonce arriving into a balmy night in Dublin, fresh from watching the Wimbledon final.

The Bootylicious star opened her concert at 8.45pm to the mainly-female audience with the title track of her tour, before moving swiftly onto a string of songs from her critically-acclaimed album Lemonade.

She dug deep into her huge repertoire of hits from her stellar career, spanning four albums and clocking up 17 Grammy wins as she worked the stage in an energetic display.The 34-year-old star was accompanied by a giant, revolving screen and an impressive array of fireworks and pyrotechnics as she treated her adoring audience to a show they’re unlikely to forget.

She had constructed a lengthy walkway deep into the cheering crowd so she could strut her stuff like the Diva she is. Bringing lots of attitude and sass, she stunned in a dazzling array of skimpy, Swarovski-covered ensembles customised for her tour by Welsh designer Julien McDonald.

She also paid tribute to her Irish fans by telling her they were always “the loudest crowd in the world.”

“I’ve had some of the best shows of my career in Dublin, Ireland. I want to tahnk you guys for your loyalty over the years, it’s been 19 years,” she said.

She got the crowd on their feet with hits like Baby Boy and All Night as well as the appropriately-titled track Diva, Drunk in Love and Partition

But she ditched the fancy stage tricks for an acapella version of Love on Top, which she performed on her own, with the crowd roaring their approval.

Tribute was paid to the late superstar Prince with a moving rendition of his song The Beautiful Ones and his original version of Purple Rain while she performed her fifth costume change before she moved on to one of her biggest-ever hits Crazy In Love.

For the final part of the show, she blasted out an emotional version of Blue, the song she wrote for her little girl with hubbie Jay Z as well as a hark back to her Destiny’s Child days with Survivor.

The curtain came down with her blasting out her massive crowd-pleaser Halo, before finally finishing with Schoolin’ Life - and one very satisfied crowd.