Beyonce's 10 Most Explosive Live Performances

Say what you want about Beyonce. Lord knows, plenty of you do. But, you absolutely can not say that she doesn't know how to put on a show. And, she proved it once again yesterday when she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama and killed it despite experiencing some pretty major technical difficulties. Even in the freezing-cold weather down in Washington, D.C., Bey managed to cause quite an uproar on the Internet for her electric performance of the nation's anthem.

"The camera picks up Joe Biden smiling a big open-mouthed smile," a critic wrote on Gawker after the performance. "The U.S. Marine Band closes us out. And Beyonce is now the President."

Pretty much. When it comes to performances, Beyonce runs the world. It's one of the reasons that, in addition to the Presidential Inauguration, Beyonce will also be making headlines in less than two weeks following her performance at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. And, how do we know this? Well, because just about every single time Beyonce performs in front of a large crowd, she steals the show. Just check out our list of Beyonce's 10 Most Explosive Live Performances. This is why we're not even surprised anymore when she does it.

Date: January 2008
Performance Venue: At the Inaugural Ball for the Obamas' first inaugural dance
What We Remember: Beyonce belting out the lyrics to Etta James' classic "At Last," while millions of people at home watched with tears in their eyes as President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama shared their first dance as the official occupants of the White House.

Date: February 2004
Performance Venue: At the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 2004 Grammy Awards
What We Remember: After enjoying success with Destiny's Child, this was Beyonce's breakout moment as a solo artist. It's easy to see how much she's improved as an artist after watching her perform "Dangerously in Love" in this clip. But, still: We knew that Bey had what it took to be successful on her own after seeing this.

Date: February 2009
Performance Venue: At the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for the 40th NAACP Image Awards
What We Remember: Just about all of Beyonce's performances feature a lot of energy. But, when she sang "Halo" at the NAACP awards with images of strong African-American civil rights leaders projected across screens in the background, she gave off a different kind of energy than we were used to from her.

Date: June 2006
Performance Venue: At the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for the 2006 BET Awards
What We Remember: Seeing Beyonce and Jay-Z share the stage to perform "Deja Vu." Although it's pretty common to see these two out and about now, their relationship was still fresh. And, they clearly had chemistry on stage that night.

Date: February 2004
Performance Venue: At the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 2004 Grammy Awards
What We Remember: Prince and Beyonce performing "Purple Rain"! What more can we say?

Date: September 2009
Performance Venue: At Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards
What We Remember: Kanye West stole everyone's thunder on this night back in '09 when he interrupted Taylor Swift's speech in defense of Beyonce. But, Bey still did her thing when she took the stage to perform "Single Ladies" by outshining all of the other lovely ladies that she brought on stage with her.

Date: May 2011
Performance Venue: At the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for the 2011 Billboard Music Awards
What We Remember: Beyonce standing in front of a huge interactive screen and syncing her movements perfectly along with everything that was happening on the stage. It was pretty incredible.

Date: February 2010
Performance Venue: At the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 2010 Grammy Awards
What We Remember: Beyonce doing a stirring rendition of "If I Were A Boy" before breaking into a pretty incredible cover of Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know," much to the crowd's delight.

Date: August 2003
Performance Venue: At Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
What We Remember: Beyonce being lowered to the stage (face first!) from the rafters before performing "Baby Boy" and then bringing Jay-Z out to do his verse from "Crazy In Love." By our count, Bey burned 4,629 calories during this five-minute performance and put on a hell of a show.

Date: February 2004
Performance Venue: At Reliant Stadium in Houston for Super Bowl XXXVIII
What We Remember: Beyonce returning to her hometown to deliver "The Star-Spangled Banner." If her show at this year's Super Bowl is as gripping as this performance was, we're all in for a treat.