Beyonce overcomes technical delay to close out Essence Music Festival

R&B superstar Beyonce suffered a minor setback as she prepared to close out the 2013 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday (07Jul13) after a technical glitch delayed her performance by 30 minutes. The Irreplaceable hitmaker was the highly-anticipated headlining act on the final night of the annual three-day event, but fans at the sold-out show were forced to wait a little longer for their pop idol to appear as engineers worked quickly to fix malfunctioning video screens which surrounded the stage.
The issue was soon resolved and Beyonce kicked off the concert by launching into her female empowerment anthem Run the World (Girls).
She kept the audience entertained throughout her 90-minute set, playing hit after hit with songs like End of Time, Get Me Bodied, Crazy in Love and Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), and dedicated her ballad Flaws and All to the city, which she claimed had “inspired my music so much”.
She also performed her new song Grown Woman and belted out a rendition of I Will Always Love You as a tribute to the late Whitney Houston.
Beyonce wasn’t the only artist to face technical problems at the festival on Sunday – R&B singer Luke James, who has opened for the superstar on a handful of dates on her ongoing The Mrs. Carter World Tour, also struggled through some sound issues as he performed.