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Watch Beyonce Dedicate Moving Cover of ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ to Detroit

Beyonce detroit change is gonna come sam cooke cover

Beyoncé’s “Mrs. Carter” tour hit Detroit on July 20, just a day after the city became the largest municipality in American history to file for bankrupcy. There she performed a version of Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which has been set to a montage of photos and video — taken by her prolific traveling A/V team — of the city, her adoring crowd, and Detroit icons like Jack White, Aaliyah, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin. It all might come off as a bit heavy handed if it wasn’t for the fact that, well, Beyonce absolutely slays the cover. The poignant moment is a far cry from when she got her weave stuck in a fan during another show.

There is, maybe, something a bit sour about a multi-millionaire sweeping through one of America’s most tattered cities on a tour that’s making her even richer and cramming footage of fans mouthing “I love you, Beyonce” into a montage of said city’s poor and broken people. But entertainment is escapism, and if seeing Beyonce makes Detroit’s survivors smile — even for a night — that’s quite all right.