Fans at last night’s Beyoncé concert at Madison Square Garden got to witness a truly emotional moment that the music press will be talking about for years to come. In the middle of an already-flawless concert, Beyoncé performed a duet of her hit single “Crazy In Love” with a hologram of the late John Candy!
The sold-out crowd went wild as the iconic horn intro of “Crazy In Love” began and Queen Bey launched into the first verse, but those cheers turned into a deafening roar when Beyoncé abruptly stopped the music and said, “Wait a minute. I’m gonna need a little help from Uncle Buck,” and a fully animated 3-D avatar of John Candy materialized onstage.
According to accounts from people who were lucky enough to be at the show, John Candy bellowed, “I’m back from Valhalla!” as the entire Garden got to their feet for a standing ovation. The John Candy hologram then blew a kiss to Beyoncé and shouted, “I’m ready to make some magic with Beyoncé, just like the magic I made with Steve Martin in Planes, Trains And Automobiles!”
The music then resumed as Beyoncé and John Candy’s hologram sang the remainder of “Crazy In Love” while looking into each other’s eyes and smiling. The SCTV star and Bey were strutting all over the stage as they sang. Ecstatic fans were frantically snapping Instagrams of Beyoncé and John Candy performing their deeply sensual duet, and hundreds of emotional teens were calling their friends and family to tell them through tears that they were getting the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of watching Beyoncé sing “Crazy In Love” with a hologram of John Candy.
“I look and stare so deep in your eyes / I touch on you more and more every time,” Beyoncé and John Candy sang together, with the deceased comedian’s hologram belting the words in a gorgeous booming baritone that perfectly harmonized with Bey’s higher register.
The performance only got more incredible—and emotional—from there! Whoever was in charge of creating the John Candy hologram did an incredible job animating the deceased comedian’s complex choreography. The Uncle Buck star was spinning and thrusting all over the stage. Candy performed an elaborate pop-and-lock routine that was perfectly in sync with the driving rhythms of “Crazy In Love,” and he shook his hips in perfect time to the song’s chorus while looking into Beyoncé’s eyes and singing, “You got me lookin’ so crazy in love!”
As if that weren’t incredible enough, the John Candy hologram even rapped a verse in which he replaced Jay-Z’s original lyrics with a rap about what it was like to play the character Barf in the 1987 film Spaceballs and to work with the legendary comedian Mel Brooks.
“Mel was a sage on screen and page, he brought us wisdom and mirth. / Spaceballs was set amongst the stars, but he was so down to earth,” Candy’s hologram rapped as Beyoncé danced behind him and shouted, “Tell them about Mel’s humility, John!” By the time the Candy hologram finished rapping and he and Beyoncé launched back into the chorus, most people at Madison Square Garden were openly weeping as they watched Queen Bey share a bittersweet moment with such a beloved actor who left us before his time.
The many fans who wrote about this amazing performance on social media seem to agree that the most emotional moment of the entire night was when “Crazy In Love” ended and the John Candy hologram blew Beyoncé one final kiss before shouting, “Time to go coach that big Jamaican bobsled team in the sky,” a reference to his role in the 1993 comedy Cool Runnings, before he disappeared and left Bey alone onstage. It sounds like it was one of the most beautiful moments ever. We salute Beyoncé for allowing John Candy to walk among us one last time!
