Lizzo couldn’t very well not recognize the devastating loss of Tina Turner at her sold-out concert Wednesday night in Phoenix as the music world was reeling from the news of Turner’s death at 83.

She set the tone for her performance when the Special Tour hit Footprint Center with Turner’s iconic “What’s Love Got to Do With It” blasting through the PA, fans singing along as phone lights swayed above their heads.

Then, midway through her wildly entertaining set, a joyous celebration of female empowerment, body positivity, gay rights and just being who you are while also letting other people be who they are, Lizzo honored Turner with a heartfelt tribute in the spot where she’s been doing Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.”

“And I haven’t allowed myself to be sad. I haven’t allowed myself to cry about it. And I don’t want to right now because I’d much rather celebrate the incredible legend Tina Turner is. As a Black girl in a rock band, I would not exist if it was not for the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

The singer brought her tribute to a rousing climax shouting, “And remember this, there would be no rock ‘n’ roll without Tina Turner,” underscoring her conviction by repeating that last part another two times.

Then she segued into Ike and Tina Turner’s fiery rendition of “Proud Mary,” paraphrasing Turner’s famous intro:

“So we like to go fast sometimes but we gonna take it nice and easy right now.”

She even busted some Turner-esque dance moves when the song kicked into overdrive the way it does.

What made it that much more impressive was the thought that this was something Lizzo and the members of her band had to have worked up at soundcheck, maybe even in the dressing room.

That tribute proved an unexpected highlight and a necessary detour in a triumphant testament to Lizzo’s own place in the 21st century stratosphere as the kind of queen the music world needs in 2023.

She was as vulnerable as she was strong, as heartfelt as she was hilarious, a gifted singer on a mission to contribute something more than entertainment to the world while she has our attention.

‘In case nobody told you today, you’re special,’ Lizzo tells Phoenix concert fans
After making a dramatic entrance from beneath the stage in a sequined catsuit while singing “The Sign” at the helm of an all-female band whose guitarist appeared to be channeling Prince on more than one occasion in the best way possible, she was joined by a crew of eight dancers, the Big Grrrls, as she segued into “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready).”

Taking a moment to soak in the applause, which was just shy of deafening, she welcomed fans with, “This is a safe space tonight, OK? Where anyone can be themselves and be celebrated for being themselves. If you want to dance, then dance. If you want to cry, then cry. And if you want to scream, then scream.”

It was the perfect introduction to her world, a Utopian paradise where your body is nobody’s business but your own and “we not free ’til we all free.”

She encouraged fans to join her in an affirmation mantra of “I love you, you are beautiful and you can do anything” along the way to setting up the тιтle track to her most recent album, “Special,” with “In case nobody told you today, you’re special.”

Lizzo sang her biggest songs from ‘Truth Hurts’ to ‘About Damn Time’ to ‘Good As Hell’
Before the night was through, she made her way through every hit you could’ve hoped to hear while interacting with fans like they were family, telling them, “Don’t ever let nobody dim your light” leading into “Jerome” and responding to their handmade signs in one particularly entertaining portion of the show.

That included a young girl using curse words with her mom’s permission and a superfan reminding Lizzo how one of her songs goes.

Highlights ranged from the Beastie Boys-sampling “Grrrls” and her guitarist dropping to her knees to shred like Prince on “Tempo” to a well-chosen cover of Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and the anthem that remains her most successful single, “Truth Hurts.”

The wealth of slow jams offered ample opportunities to show us what that voice can do, from “Scuse Me” and “Jerome” to the total force of nature she unleashed on “Special.”

And this is all before bringing the night to a euphoric close with “Good As Hell” and then returning for an even more exhilarating two-song encore of “Juice” and “About Damn Time.”