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Missy Elliott has recorded more albums and Alicia Keys has sold more solo CDs, but it took only a minute or so into Beyonce's tour-opening performance to understand why she closed the show: She knows how to make full and spectacular use of the arena setting.

At the kickoff show of the trio's Ladies First Tour on Friday night, Beyonceentered the Office Depot Center from the middle of the capacity crowd, waving from a white curtained recliner carried by bare-chested men. Ostentatious though it might have been, the royal entrance seemed almost appropriate for the rhythm-and-blues singer who currently reigns over pop music.

Since the release of her solo debut album, "Dangerously in Love," less than a year ago, Beyonce has won a record-tying five Grammy Awards in one year, sold 3 million copies of that record and made a huge, gushing fan of TV cultural arbiter Oprah Winfrey -- who said she may follow this tour across the country.

Fair warning, Oprah: Give it a couple of shows before you summon your jet. The pacing in what may be the first all-black female arena tour could use some help, and the waits between performances were flat-out withering.

From start to finish, Beyoncewas the most galvanizing figure on the tour she conceptualized. Hits like "Baby Boy" took new and interesting directions-- a nod perhaps to Prince, whom Beyonceasked to lend a hand. The segment of songs from her group, Destiny's Child, was especially well-received, though not imaginatively delivered. And the powerful singer's "Dangerously in Love" reminded casual admirers that she's more than a mane-swirling dance machine.

Keys put on an equally compelling vocal show, and her 10-member band was much more accomplished than Beyonce's keyboard-based ensemble. But Keys is a ballad-heavy artist, and one was shocked to learn that she had a choreographer. Her set felt more appropriate to a theater or relaxed venue. She did move off the piano stool often and even incorporated a little Beyonce-like bounce into an opening dance routine, but the incredible moments were when the spotlight was on her alone, as she sat and played "You Don't Know My Name," "If I Ain't Got You" and her first hit, "Fallin'.

If there was any Elliott highlight, it was quickly forgotten amid the muddle that was her set. On a stage full of dancers, the dynamic recording artist and video performer did little to distinguish herself for a live audience. (No wonder she's, surprisingly, never headlined a concert.) But Elliott has many an infectious single in her five-CD catalog, and she watered some down into barely developed medley form. And the many little ones in the all-ages, all-races crowd surely had to be shielded as Elliott rapped every profanity bleep-free, and one of her dancers did a rather adult spin on a pole.