Concert Review: Chappell Roan at Emo’s
Midwest pop-princess Chappell Roan brought gay culture to the Emo’s stage on Nov. 1.
Written by Heather Stewart
Photos by Mackenzie Coleman
Only three days after releasing her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan started her national tour, bringing her sapphic anthems, local drag performers, and iconic dress-up parties to fans. Each of her shows on the Midwest Princess tour has a dress-up theme that correlates with one of her song lyrics. For Austin, it was “slumber party kissin’,” a homage to Roan’s cheeky “Naked in Manhattan.” Despite it being just under 60 degrees (cold for Texans), fans lined up outside Emo’s on the evening of Nov. 1 wearing sheer slips, feathered robes, and silk pajama sets. It was a sea of pink, reminiscent of Roan’s aesthetic, and several fans even wore fuschia-bedazzled cowgirl hats. Thankfully, Emo’s is an indoor venue, making it easy for fans to dance and sing-along to Roan’s dynamic discography rather than fighting to stay warm.
Fans indeed warmed up quickly to Roan’s openers and local Austin drag queens, Eileen Dover, Moxie, and Amber Nicole Davenport, who walked onto the stage at 7:30 p.m. sharp. Moxie was the host of their three-person lip-sync extravaganza. She started the show with a heartfelt speech about being a trans woman. A portion of the Midwest Princess ticket proceeds goes to For the Gworls, a Black, trans-led charity with a focus on financially supporting its community members. Roan and the queens were also adamant about tipping the performers throughout the show. “There’s nothing a drag queen loves more than money, other than drugs,” Moxie joked.
It’s no surprise that Davenport admitted to feeling tired after her second lip sync performance — in which she paused frequently to fan herself — considering she had just slayed a performance to Britney Spears’ “Outrageous,” packed full of high-energy splits, dips, and tricks. She wore a cheetah print body suit adorned with a peplum skirt and blue, sparkly details. Next, Dover took to the stage with a mash-up of Charli XCX tracks. She wore a trippy, colorful bodysuit that covered her arms and legs with a leather bikini set and cropped, lavender bomber jacket layered on top. Her performance centered more on silly and sexy gimmicks rather than extravagant physical tricks. Every time Dover “beep beeped” on her boobs along to “Vroom Vroom,” the crowd cheered.
The queens fed off the growing comradery of the crowd, calling up an audience member to be crowned “Mr, or Miss, or they/them of Austin,” as queen Moxie put it. Moxie then lip-synced to Hannah Montana’s “Nobody’s Perfect,” wearing a simple, all-black outfit made up of a short romper, a voluminous wig, and tall leather boots. She brought back Spears with “Slumber Party” before ending her sultry performance with a lip sync to Kim Petras’ “Dirty Things,” stripping down to nipple tassels, an aqua underwear set, and a black lace corset. “If you haven’t been to a drag show, you obviously haven’t lived your life,” Moxie said before the queens lip synced. The crowd members had now lived after watching the drag queens’ energy-packed performances and were ready for Roan’s set.
A pink (of course), hazy light saturated the stage as Roan and her band members sashayed on a few minutes after 8:30 p.m. Roan wasn’t dressed in pajamas despite the dress-up theme she created for fans. Instead, she wore a Baroque-inspired mini dress with puffy sleeves and a peplum skirt. Various baby pink ribbons acted as accessories. She also had on bow-covered tights, puffy leg warmers, and ballet flats — all various shades of pink. Her energy built up as she sang the slow-starting “Femininomenon,” culminating as she shouted the sarcastic lyrics, “Can you play a song with a fucking beat?” The bubblegrunge electric guitar strums and rhythmic cymbals were barely audible as the crowd screamed along to the sapphic bop. A fan held up a Papa John’s box in reference to the chorus lyrics “Get it hot like Papa John.” Flashing white lights bounced along with Roan’s simple yet charming dance moves as she fluttered across the stage.
“Red Wine Supernova,” the pop singer’s most popular track, followed. An acoustic guitar paired nicely with the simultaneous drum beats as Roan teased, pointing to her neck and singing with a smile, “She did it right there out on the deck / Put her canine in the side of my neck.” Despite her outstanding creamy and bubbly vocals, Roan encouraged the crowd to sing along, cultivating a communal feel early on in the show. The intimate venue, which gave audience members a good view from wherever they were watching, enhanced this feeling of togetherness.
Roan also had several warm interactions with her band members throughout the show. At the hypnotizing instrumental start of “After Midnight,” she playfully danced with bass player Aubrey Harris, who was on theme in her pastel blue and white slip and tall, heart-covered socks. Roan stuck to her now-expected frolicking and hand-heavy dance movements, still charming her audience nonetheless. After this flirty track, she stopped singing to say hi to her audience. “I’m Chappell Roan, it’s very nice to meet you,” she said. “We upgraded the venue. I didn’t know that [the] other one was outside, so I’m glad we’re here now. Also, it’s like 700 extra tickets sold out in a day.” The crowd rallied in celebration.
“This is ‘Picture You,’” Roan announced before a dark blue light covered the stage. She moved in an interpretive dance of sorts along to the opening twinkle of dreamy guitar strums and ethereal background vocals.The soul-crushing track was a vocal standout. The slowed rhythm kept the crowd from screaming over Roan’s honeyed voice. Fans were entranced as Roan cried, “Do you feel the same? I’m too scared to say / Half of the things I do when I picture you.” She stood center stage for the majority of this mesmerizing track. Her ethereal voice echoed through the venue, creating a more serious atmosphere than during the previous, upbeat songs.
Another emotional standout, Roan’s performance of “Casual” was chill-inducing. The heavy electric guitar mirrored her impassioned vocalizations. She portrayed the complexities of wanting more in a “Casual” relationship with emotive facial expressions as she crooned, “I try to be a chill girl / That holds her tongue and gives you space / I try to be a chill girl / But honestly I’m not.” She belted the desperation-riddled chorus, which featured many impeccable vocal runs and crashing drums.
The perky performer introduced her next song with an unassuming talk leading into its spoken intro. “I have some aunties that like to give me dating advice,” Roan said. “Unwanted, uncalled for, but here we are.” The crowd laughed. “Like, you can’t wear red lipstick on a first date … Or, you know, don’t wear something too revealing … There’s a lot of random rules that don’t make sense but …” The lights quickly shifted along with Roan’s tone as she performed the opening monologue of “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl.” Her fast-paced energy pulsed through the audience. She even featured a scream similar to Olivia Rodrigo’s in “all-american bitch” whom she’s opening for on her Guts tour next year. “That song is hard to sing every night,” she admitted once the belt-heavy track came to an end, during which she danced a lot. The singer took a moment to ask if anyone brought their boyfriend to the show. Then, she asked one of the boyfriend’s names, and if he knew “HOT TO GO!” The crowd cheered in anticipation. Roan taught the YMCA-like dance to go along with this upbeat, delightfully in-your-face track. Once again, the red-haired songstress created a sense of affability with crowd members. After performing this pop hit, she let people know to ask for help if anyone needs water or care and gave a shout out to the ASL interpreters standing off to the side, expressing true consideration for all of her fans.
As she told Afterglow in a press conference earlier this year, she announced to the crowd her favorite song on the album, “Guilty Pleasure,” which features soulful verses that unfold into an ‘80s-pop-sounding chorus, during which Roan let out an impressively-powerful belt. Afterward, the 25-year-old singer referenced a winning queen from “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” when mentioning that her corset was super tight: “I’m like Violet Chaki.” She then asked the crowd if they’d tipped the opening drag queens yet. She adamantly praised the drag performers along with For the Gworls charity, showing her authentic passion for supporting the entire LGBTQ+ community. “I know a lot of you know what’s going on with drag in the South right now,” Chappell said in reference to some southern U.S. state governments proposing drag performance bans. “Your queens need it more than ever, your support.”
Roan channeled all of her fervent energy into the powerful vocals on heartbreak melody “Coffee.” A golden light made her appear angelic as she, eyes closed, emotively sang, “If I didn’t love you / It would be fine / I’ll meet you for coffee, only for coffee / Nowhere else is safe / Every place leads back to your place.” The song’s heavy subject matter created a more hushed sing-along. She moved to a piano and her bandmates left the stage before the next song. Roan played soft keys as she spoke, which was oddly reminiscent of a church worship service. “I hope that you feel this space is yours and that you are allowed to sing as loud as you want, dance as hard as you want, and kiss whoever you want,” she said. “You are celebrated for being you, so thank you for being you.” She then went on to perform the love-filled, gently heartfelt “Kaleidoscope,” paired with a solo-piano performance. Roan bared her heart in this stripped down rendition, revealing that her community is her priority.
Long-time fans perked up as Roan sang the dark and brooding “Good Hurt” from her 2017 EP, School Nights. Afterward, she poked fun at her younger self for the “dramatic” lyrics, saying, “I just think about her and I’m like ‘Girl, calm down.’” Then she performed an awe-inducing interpretation of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” gradually raising the crowd’s energy as she was nearing the finale of her set. She had the audience cheer for her band members as they each broke out into mini-solos. Roan held out her old-school fan with “CUNT” written across it, possibly foreshadowing that she was about to serve it with her sexy, queer standout, “Naked in Manhattan.” She flirtatiously sang, “Boys suck and girls I’ve never tried / And we both know we’re getting drunk tonight / Touch me, baby, put your lips on mine / Could go to hell, but we’ll probably be fine.” The (pun intended) casual lyrics reflected in her nonchalant movements as she fanned herself and held out the mic to the crowd. Roan’s effort to mingle with crowd members throughout the show had clearly paid off at this point, as they effortlessly ebbed and flowed with her energy levels (which were now on the rise again).
The charismatic performer called on the crowd to release their emotions as they sang along to her vengeful track, “My Kink is Karma.” Roan did the same, emanating engaging facial expressions as she did during her “Casual” performance, replacing the desperate longing with head-banging spite. Harris sang a line of the track into the mic as Roan playfully interacted with her band members toward the end of the track. She even nailed a belting “yeah,” which Roan seemed to celebrate with a mini fist-pump. This song’s performance encaptured all of the elements of the show that made it so engaging, moving, and pure slumber party fun. Roan did an expected encore fake out before coming out again to perform the last two songs on her setlist.
She allured the crowd with emotionally raw yet technically polished cries during “California,” a vulnerable confession of letting someone down. This served as a nice contrast to the celebratory self-embrace that is “Pink Pony Club,” an upbeat pop hit Roan closed the show with. “Oh, Santa Monica / I swear it’s calling me,” Roan lilted. “Won’t make my mama proud / It’s gonna cause a scene.” Roan minimally acted out the scenario of her mom’s disappointment in the song, building up excitement for the song’s moment of confidence. “Oh mama, I’m just having fun / On the stage in my heels / It’s where I belong,” Roan belted in defiance to the defeated, melancholy attitude of “California.” The crowd beamed with excitement, letting out cheers and grooving along to the lyrically hopeful and instrumentally bodacious track.
During the show, which came to end around 10:00 p.m., Roan opened up about her struggles to find success at the start of her music career. The highs and lows of her life were prevalent in each of her performances. The on-the-rise pop icon’s nearly-flawless vocals, quirky, dance-like-no-one-is-watching moves, and authentic community-building culminated to such a warm and emotionally-comfortable concert environment. As she said, audience members felt free to sing along, dance, and be themselves as they watched Roan emphatically embrace the queer identities belonging to her, the drag queen performers, and the audience members. Roan’s voice is strong beyond her singing talent — she speaks to her community with an ease, kindness, and awareness, which leads to especially intimate and unforgettable shows such as this.