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The girl has pipes. There was absolutely no question about that after Beyoncé Knowles’ two-and-a-half-hour concert extravaganza at the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday night.

The latest stop on her “I Am ... Tour” was a knockout night of multimedia entertainment — music, dancing, high-tech visuals and the charismatic presence of Beyoncé. The show came at you fast. You didn’t want to leave your seat or even blink because you might miss something. It felt eventful and exciting to be there.

Yet all of the visual fanfare wouldn’t amount to much if Beyoncé didn’t possess real talent, which she does. She’s not just a pretty face who resorts to lip-synching and electronic manipulation to sound passable. Singing in a controlled, soulful mezzo-soprano, she struck me as a modern-day R&B heir to Diana Ross.

Attired in a glittery gold leotard, she took to the stage in a swirl of smoke for “Crazy in Love,” the high-energy opener. The first four songs were all uptempo workouts with raging beats and solid choreography. There was much booty-shaking and whipping around of hair as Beyoncé sang about “feeling nasty” in “Naughty Girl.”

In “Freakum Dress,” animated graphics of turntables, faders, and other club gear throbbed behind Beyonce and her troupe of singers, dancers and musicians. Though the subject matter was slight, the music and performance were riveting, highlighted by a fiery solo from guitarist BiBi McGill.

During the concert, Beyoncé stated her commitment to “female empowerment,” and she put her money where her mouth is with a band whose every member was female.

The concert switched pacing from blocks of dance tunes to ballads. She slowed the tempo after the opening bunch of songs with “Smash Into You,” complete with a video backdrop of breaking waves. The strangest moment was her unironic delivery of “Ave Maria,” for which she was suddenly attired in a wedding dress and veil.

To be honest, some of the material, such as “Radio” and “Video Phone,” sounded generic and wouldn’t hold up on its own without all of the onstage activity. She did throw in a few diverting covers, including Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” and Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”

Toward the end, the pacing started to feel a little chaotic, especially when five of Beyoncé’s biggest songs from her time with the trio Destiny’s Child were whipped through in medley form.

But the concert ended strongly. Her sultry, full-throated delivery of Etta James’ “At Last,” which she sang to a backdrop of footage from the civil-rights era and Barack Obama’s inauguration, was a highlight, as was “Listen,” which she’d sung in the “Dreamgirls” movie.

Beyoncé wrapped things up with a few of her best new songs: “Single Ladies,” with its infectious “whoa-oh-oh” chant, and “Halo,” which made an inspirational encore.

Preceding her was Richgirl, an R&B vocal group, one of whose members (“Lyndriette”) is from down the road in Gastonia. The group seems poised for success and sang well, albeit briefly.

During the break between sets, various Michael Jackson songs were pumped over the P.A. The crowd spontaneously broke into the choruses of “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.” One dancer in the balcony did a credible Moonwalk, eliciting cheers and applause. It was like an impromptu wake for the late singer, whose passing was very much on people’s minds.