Chicago’s hottest new club opened last Wednesday: The “Pink Pony Club” — Missouri-born, dark pop princess Chappell Roan’s first night of a two-day stop in the city for her “The Midwest Princess” tour.
As the name of her horse-themed hit song “Pink Pony Club” suggests, scores of people –– a club’s worth –– lined up outside the House of Blues last Wednesday and Thursday for the sold-out shows. Fans dressed from head to toe in pink, decked with cowboy hats and cow print sprinkled here and there — an homage to the tour’s name and the singer-songwriter’s hyper-pink persona.
An hour after the Wednesday show was slated to start, the opening act emcee, Chicago drag queen Boyj, strutted on stage in only a bejeweled red bodysuit, sparkling fishnets and sky-high heels to introduce the other two openers: local drag queens Sasha Sota and Annie Depressant. The queens performed a series of death-defying splits, flips and cartwheels, barely breaking a sweat in their lofty platform heels.
All stops on Roan’s tour will feature opening performances from local drag queens. A portion of the ticket proceeds will go to For the Gworls, a Black, trans-led collective that fundraises to help Black transgender people pay rent, access gender-affirming surgeries and travel.
After the queens had finished up their diva-licious performances, the lights turned pink. Chappell Roan’s band took its place on the stage.
The singer bounced on stage in pink-bejeweled everything, her big red curls swinging perfectly despite the heat outside. “Femininomenon,” the first track on Chappell Roan’s album released last month, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” was the perfect start to the night.
From there, the bubbly 25-year-old launched into a series of songs off her newest album, occasionally slipping into a British accent to joke with the crowd. Some highlights included the camp, queer anthem “Red Wine Supernova,” a surprisingly upbeat song about struggling to be a queer girl growing up in the Midwest.
Roan also performed “Picture You,” a sultry song reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, sounding like it might feature in a black and white movie. The crowd was on fire, and not a single person there seemed like a casual fan. They knew every lyric and adlib in every song… and made sure that everyone around them knew it too.
During “HOT TO GO!”, Chappell took the time to teach the crowd a Y.M.C.A-style dance, complete with moves for every letter in the song’s title. After everyone was thoroughly out of breath, the “Midwest Queen” — as the crowd had started calling Chappell — took the opportunity to switch to a slower section of the show.
During “Coffee,” the singer started crying, telling the audience that the song was for “the queer girlies in the Midwest that really need it right now.”
“Kaleidoscope,” a song about her first time falling in love, followed, leaving the audience sucking in tears (or, in my case, letting them fall on the camera gear) and holding their partners a little tighter.
After that heart wrenching interlude, the band was reenergized, launching into a sultry, red-lit rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” to the enthusiasm of concert attendees. On “Naked in Manhattan,” Chappell’s vocals blew the venue out of the water, but the showstopper was the encore.
After a rousing chant by the crowd, the band came back on stage for two final songs. “California,” the singer’s exploration of leaving the Midwest, encapsulated the fall of the Midwest princess referenced in the album’s title. “Pink Pony Club,” one of the artist’s 2020 singles, brought the night to a close — truly a pretty-in-pink end to a rose-colored night.
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Twitter: @TabithaParent12
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