Why Beyoncé should stop playing around with this On The Run and tour with a Destiny’s Child reunion instead

When Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter hits the stage for her second Coachella appearance this weekend, the seemingly unstoppable force will face off against a familiar foe: Queen Bey. The 36-year-old’s legendary two-hour headlining performance at America’s signature music festival has already garnered landmark deification.

Indeed, how in the name of Sasha Fierce does one attempt to match a universally hailed event that’s already being compared to such storied gigs as James Brown’s 1962 Apollo Theater show; Jimi Hendrix’s guitar-igniting triumph at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival; Michael Jackson’s glorious 1983 Motown 25 King of Pop statement; and Prince’s bar-shattering 2007 Super Bowl XLI halftime show spectacle? And when Beyoncé thanked Coachella’s organizers for the opportunity to become the first black woman to headline the festival, she quipped, “Ain’t that ’bout a b—-.” A side-eye to the inherent bias of such an achievement.

In between a barrage of brass versions of “Crazy In Love,” “Formation,” “Sorry,” “Hold Up” and “Run The World (Girls),” the multiplatinum Lemonade visionary’s much-rumored reunion with Destiny’s Child had social media on full tilt.

“I’m not watching the Destiny’s Child reunion at Coachella and crying … YOU’RE watching the Destiny’s Child reunion at Coachella and crying,” rejoiced a superfan on Twitter just minutes after the recognizable silhouettes of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams suddenly appeared onstage. The trio ran through an all-too brief medley of favorites that included “Lose My Breath,” “Soldier” and the obscure Timbaland-remixed take on “Say My Name.”

“WHERE IS THE DESTINY’S CHILD TOUR? STOP TEASING US SIS,” exclaimed another member of the Beyhive collective. The freakout over the last great girl group was massive. For a legion of millennials who came of age in the ’90s and early 2000s, the women of Destiny’s Child are their Supremes.

“I was a huge Destiny’s Child fan growing up,” said Jezebel culture editor Clover Hope, who can still recite by heart lyrics from their 1998 Wyclef Jean-produced “No, No, No, No, No Part 2.” The foursome — which back then consisted of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson — would go through a series of controversial lineup changes after their six times platinum 1999 sophomore album The Writing’s on the Wall. “Bills Bills Bills,” “Bug a Boo” and the aforementioned “Say My Name” were instant pop soul anthems.

“They became the leading girl group at a time when girl groups still mattered,” added Hope of the highly competitive decade dominated by such female acts as En Vogue, TLC, SWV, Brownstone, Xscape and the Spice Girls. “But Destiny’s Child was the last breath of that era. That’s why seeing them together at Coachella was a great moment.”

The return of Destiny’s Child takes on an even greater meaning with the emergence of Beyoncé as the most vital and zeitgeist-dominating performer in the world. Her ascent was solidified during her 2013 Super Bowl XLVII showcase (button-pushing Bey was laughably charged with leading another Black Panther Party revolution in high heels), which drew in an estimated 108.41 million viewers.

And now there’s Beyoncé’s upcoming On The Run II tour with her husband, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, easily the hottest ticket of the summer, slated to kick off in Cardiff, Wales, on June 6, playing to mammoth stadiums across the globe. According to Pollstar, the couple’s last On The Run trek pulled in $109 million with an average ticket draw of 57,634 on just 19 dates. Beyoncé’s 2016 Formation World Tour did even better, taking in $256 million. Her albums are cultural and political events. The name Beyoncé has become a verb.

“On The Run II is already projected to hit the $200 million mark,” said David Brooks, a senior correspondent at Billboard who covers touring and live entertainment. “There’s no limit to Beyoncé’s fan base. If I’m doing a country, rock, rap or R&B show, I don’t want to be anywhere close to whatever city she’s playing. Right now, Beyoncé is a planet barreling through the concert solar system and sucking up all the gravity.”

And so the question remains: Does Mrs. Carter, whose Coachella set tallied a record-breaking 41 million livestream views on YouTube, really need a Destiny’s Child reunion? It’s been nearly 20 years since the classic lineup of Beyoncé, Williams and Rowland reached the girl group mountaintop, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide of their 2001 Survivor. By the time they dropped their fifth and final album, 2004’s Destiny Fulfilled, the trio was a Grammy-winning triumvirate whose black girl magic message resonated with empowering singles such as “Independent Woman Part 1,” “Survivor,” “Bootylicious” and “Girl.” The U.S. leg of Destiny’s Child’s 67-date 2005 farewell tour grossed $70.8 million. Rowland went on to drop her 2011 double-platinum solo single “Motivation” and became a U.K. reality television star. The recently engaged Williams, once the target of the “Poor Michelle” memes, blossomed into a successful gospel artist.

It’s never been a matter of whether Beyoncé needs Destiny’s Child. The truth is, fans need — the world needs — Destiny’s Child. Because since the unofficial disbandment of Fifth Harmony, and beyond the intense K-pop fanaticism, “girl groups” have nearly become extinct in the U.S. “[Girl groups] have all but disappeared,” said One artist Meelah Williams, who recently reunited with the Las Vegas-based female vocal act 702, the group that recorded a string of hits, highlighted by “Where My Girls At” and the brilliant 1996 “Steelo” (produced by Missy Elliott). “It’s very bizarre.”

But while the days of the ubiquitous girl group are in the rearview mirror for now, throwback female vocal acts are now taking their classic catalogs out on the road. “Xscape and SWV are back together again touring, which let us know that if they can do it, we can do it,” said Meelah of 702’s return to the spotlight. “En Vogue is still doing it, and Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child came back together to perform after all these years, which is amazing. They are definitely an inspiration for all of us.”

With the concert industry booming, a Destiny’s Child reunion tour would be a no-brainer. Last year, Pollstar reported global ticket sales jumping to a record $5.65 billion, a 15.8 percent increase over the previous year. Aging megastar acts such as U2, Metallica, The Eagles and Bruce Springsteen are routinely among the top earners alongside relative newbies such as Taylor Swift, Drake, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar and Katy Perry.

But post-Generation X ticket buyers are flexing their economic muscles. Millennial stars such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga have all become major players in the concert market. And the “I Love The ’90s” concert series — which features a rotating stable of acts from the era of flip phones and Yo! MTV Raps, including Salt-N-Pepa, Coolio, Color Me Badd, Vanilla Ice, Kid ‘n Play and Sugar Ray — was a surprise hit in 2016, pulling in more than $21 million.

“There is definitely a huge nostalgia factor happening right now, especially if you’re in your 30s or early 40s,” said Brooks. “For many, ’90s music takes people back to that feeling of when they were young and all they had to worry about was being home on time so their parents wouldn’t yell at them.”

OK, then: It’s settled. A full-blown Destiny’s Child tour would pretty much be a big deal. Beyoncé’s Coachella takeover was an overwhelming statement of black female empowerment, celebrating a world where swag surfing, Nina Simone, Big Freedia, trap music and New Orleans second line music can all coexist within the genius complexities of black culture. The around-the-way black woman power of Destiny’s Child would not only fit right on in, it would lead the way.