Heavens open on Wembley as Beyonce sings Purple Rain in poignant Prince tribute

Beyonce is known for her breathtaking live performances but even she couldn't have staged her Prince tribute more perfectly at Wembley Stadium this evening (3 July). As the opening refrains of the Prince hit Purple Rain echoed through the stadium, the heavens opened on the crowd.

Fans turned to Twitter to share their amazement at the poignant moment. "Okay so Beyoncè done a prince tribute playing purple rain, it started playing and it actually rained. When the song stopped so did the rain?" (sic)

"Purple Rain just started at the Beyonce concert and it literally started raining," said another.

The tribute was featured in The Formation singer's World Tour, which is currently underway in the UK. Her second Wembley gig marked four planned shows out of her scheduled six.

It's not the first time Bey has shown her love for The Purple One. Beyonce performed a version of his hit Purple Rain with Prince back at the Grammy Awards in 2004. She later said she was "terrified" and "overwhelmed" to have been working with him but by the time they performed he "made me feel really comfortable".

After the sudden death of the pioneering music icon on 21 April following a suspected drug overdose, Beyonce paid her personal tribute to the artist. Posting an image of him on Instagram she drew on a poignant quote from the star himself which said: "Everyone has their own experience. That's why we are here, to go through experience, to learn, to go down those paths and eventually you may have gone down so many paths and learned so much that you don't have to come back again."

Beyonce has won rave reviews for her Wembley gig as she hit the stage with customary style and oozing sex-appeal serenading fans with one hit after another including Crazy In Love, Halo and Love On Top and tracks from her Lemonade album.

Clearly revelling in performing before thousands of people at Wembley she said: "I started singing a very, very long time ago. The first concert I ever saw was Michael Jackson. And I started dreaming that one day, I'll be in stadiums. All the way in London.

"I just want to say thank you. Most of you guys made me your Destiny's Child 19 years ago and I want to say thank you for supporting me for so long and allowing me to grow and evolve, I love you so much. Thank you to my BeyHive!".