It was inevitable that Beyoncé would ditch Grammy-winning trio Destiny's Child for solo glory -- the bootylicious diva simply doesn't need support to command any stage.

Sunday night at a nearly sold-out BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Beyoncé put on a show that was as much Broadway theater as musical performance.

Shortly after 9 p.m., the singer made an appropriately dramatic entrance in a silver sequined dress with matching floor-length cape. She danced wild-haired, like a young Tina Turner, as the opening song Crazy In Love segued into Gnarls Barkley's hit Crazy.

Backed by an all-female band with a horn section and three drummers (with SUGA MAMA emblazoned on the bass drum heads), Beyoncé got her freak on during Freekum Dress, with a torrid solo by a Lenny Kravitz lady lookalike.

Beyoncé tapped Shakira's essence by dressing in a shimmering gypsy skirt and bikini top for Baby Boy -- and she shook it like the fiery Colombian singer, gyrating with male dancers in military fatigues on a smoky stage.

The Middle Eastern theme continued with Naughty Girls (which borrowed Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby), after which Beyoncé scatted like a muted trumpet back and forth with her horn section.

Beyoncé waited till an hour into the show before tapping her Destiny's Child alter-ego. In a sequined body suit, Beyoncé ran through a medley of the group's hits, including Independent Women, Bootylicious, No No No, Bug A Boo, Bills Bills Bills, Cater 2 U, Say My Name, Soldier and Survivor.

The opening act, neo-soul man Robin Thicke, whose father Alan starred in the '80s sitcom Growing Pains, did his best to bring sexy back by mining the blue-eyed R&B territory forged by Justin Timberlake. Clad in black slacks, shirt and tie and white adidas kicks, Thicke hopped onstage just after 8. His boy-band moves -- which altered between kick-stepping and Mick Jagger rooster walks -- belied a voice fuller and richer than Timberlake's.

The singer performed the bulk of his debut album The Evolution of Robin Thicke in his 45-minute set. After Shooter, he exclaimed, ``Give it up for Beyoncé -- she didn't have to let a little white boy open up for her tonight.''

The women loved Thicke's silky falsetto and bedroom demeanor, but the band's happy, jazzy sound was reminiscent of a late-night talk-show house band -- the technical musicianship is there, but the sound was generic.

Thicke's hit Lost Without U opened with him behind the piano, like a lounge singer, before he jumped up and got the mostly female audience to shriek along with the lyrics.

But the loudest screams came toward the end of Wanna Love U Girl, when sometime-Miami resident rapper-producer Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes appeared to close out the set with lively rapping.

By Michael Hamersly,
Miamiherald