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The summer of 2023 was upon New York City. Taylor Swift (2023) started the party in May with her Eras Tour, with the Bronx rapper Ice Spice joining her onstage. Restaurant sheds left on the streets were packed with New Yorkers enjoying their favorite craft brews. The Pride March ended at a dance party at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park headlined by Christina Aguilera (2023) singing “Lady Marmalade” while dressed in a rainbow rhinestone jumpsuit with Adam Lambert wearing green leopard-skin. Flaco, the escaped Eurasian eagle-owl, explored the city from on high, refusing to let himself be captured by zoo employees. The sex therapist, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, lamented that poor Flaco was “flying all over New York to find companionship” (Shanahan, 2024). City pools were open again. The ferry to Fire Island was crowded. The Jersey Shore was packed.
The season’s marquee event was the Beyoncé Renaissance tour at the end of July. It was all over the news, it was all over the internet, and sound systems around the city rocked to “Break My Soul” (Beyoncé, 2022) and what Wesley Morris described as music “steeped in or conducted entirely with Black queer bravado” (2022). Fans turned out in fringed cowboy hats and megawatt sparkles as transit employees shouted, “Beyoncé, Track 14!” (Holtermann & Hamja, 2023). NJ Transit posted memes of buses and trains wearing glittering silver cowboy hats. Beyoncé is known for great dance numbers, and according to J Wortham (2023):
During “Pure/Honey,” there’s a moment when the stage transforms into a soul-train lineand ballroom stage. And then Beyoncé does something extraordinary: She switchesbodies with her dancers. Which is to say, she trades places with them, turning her back on the main stage (a full-body mic drop), and lets her tremendous team of dancers inherit herplace. The dancers, emboldened by the spotlight, take turns vogueing and cat-walkingdown the stages. It is one of the most triumphant moments of the tour. (2023)
In early Ju