Fans looking to get a ‘real’ glimpse into Beyoncé’s sold-out tour will be sheer out of luck.
Another series of carefully selected images were released on Friday as the Single Ladies singer brought her world tour to the LG Arena in Birmingham.
Scroll down for first listen to Beyoncé’s cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black with Andre 3000 from The Great Gatsby soundtrack…
The photo censure follows the headlines that the 31-year-old is travelling the world on her Mrs. Carter Show tour with her own snapper in tow — along with imposing an explicit ban on unapproved photographers.
The snaps all feature head-on and well cropped looks as the singer poses gracefully for the cameras.
Her curvy body and bouncing hair is only visible from flattering angles as the singer takes part in the dance-heavy performances.
Showing restraint: The singer is pictured from few angles, barely showing off dance moves
Not a speck of imperfection permeates from her always smiling face — though she did release a couple of images of her well made-up eyes covered to the world by a multi-coloured wrap, a dancer bouncing around her.
And in one particularly glamorous shot the Love on Top songstress flashes her hand at the crowd as the lights come down to reveal falling fire sparks on the stage behind her.
Beyoncé’s tour kicked off in Serbia on April 15 and resumed in Paris on Wednesday night.
The 65-gig tour will roll through the UK starting on Friday and then makes its way over to the U.S. in June.
Instead of offering a candid view of the show’s wild antics, the concert so far feels as though its merely a fashion show, the images showcasing her sparkling head-to-toe costumes designed by Brit Julien Macdonald and a few select pieces by Dsquared2.
But on Friday’s performance, photographers from other known organizations such as WENN were able to sneak into the arena, providing a more-action packed recap of her show.
Just a peep: The images offer up a fashion show from her tour, with costumes by Julien Macdonald and Dsquared2, among others
No photo credentials are to be granted for her concerts, her UK publicist has confirmed.
Fans should get familiar with the name Frank Micelotta, as he’s the only man approved to carry a lens on her tour.
The PictureGroup CEO has often gotten cosy with musicians, having expertly timed images of Paula Abdul, Bret Michaels and Sir Paul McCartney among his decades of work.
Fstoppers.com revealed Beyoncé’s company Parkwood Entertainment is only giving out three to five pre-approved images to media after the show, and this recent snap is part of the bunch.
Her choice to curate her media coverage comes after it was widely reported back in February that the singer’s publicist had asked agencies or websites to remove ‘unflattering’ photos of the star during her energetic performance at the Super Bowl.
After publishing the shots, Beyoncé’s US publicist wrote to one website respectfully asking them to ‘change’ their article.
‘I am certain you will be able to find some better photos,’ she was quoted.
However, bloggers fear that the move by the diva’s camp may backfire, with publications and websites instead buying in pictures from fans and amateurs.
‘They thought by not letting photographers in, they will have full control over the photos shown in the media,’ F-Stoppers blogger Noam Galai writes. ‘Huge mistake. Now not only is the mainstream media showing unflattering photos of her, they are showing bad-quality unflattering photos of her.’
Galai, a professional photographer, believes that ‘unflattering’ photographs published of the star at the Super Bowl were due to pressure to get snaps of the event out quickly with ‘no time for much sorting or retouching.’
Breach: Friday’s non-approved snaps leave wonder if more unofficial photos will be released
He adds: ‘But in almost any other event, such as normal concerts, photographers have time to go through the images, get rid of the bad ones and send out the absolute best. Generally speaking, no one wants to post bad pictures.
‘Banning professional photographers from all shows is simply stupid. Beyoncé needs to use the media to her advantage, not fight it. Playing games with the media will cause more harm than good.’
An agency events photographer agreed, telling Mail Online: ‘This is a mistake on her part on so many levels. Beyoncé is going to get less press.
‘And even though she can ban the professionals from events, she can’t ban the amateurs or the public with camera phones. This is going to create a new generation of paparazzi and they can’t get the shots that make her look good.
‘She wants control – she doesn’t want to look bad,’ the snapper added. ‘But by doing this, she’s opened the door to look worse.’
According to the Music Photographer’s Facebook page, news outlets have instead been given a link to a website featuring shots from Amsterdam, Zagreb, Belgrade and Bratislava, all of which were taken by Micelotta.
Instruction: The professional Music Photographers Facebook page posted the tour guidelines online
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