Tonight Ash, Simone and I headed to Mission to Seafarers after work for a pre-holiday celebration by attending Tinsel: A Christmas Drag Cabaret and Dinner. The show featured performances by several drag artists, DJ Jack Hardmen on the decks, and a three-course dinner by award winning chef Jamie Donovan. The attendance at tonight's show was lower due to a few late cancellations because of the current coronavirus wave of the Omicron variant sweeping through Melbourne, but that didn't dampen people's spirits.
My favorites Dazza and Keif were the MCs for the evening and opened the show with their dance routine to the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic." Each artist did two routines for the night, and their second one was to a medley of Lil Nas X songs. Uff the Queen brought the glamour with her lip syncs to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Miss Friby had the most interesting and humorous numbers of the night with her renditions of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" and The Champs "Tequila."
In between acts we were treated to our three-course dinner. It began with a mix of entrees including hummus, Panko crumbed mushroom arancini, and house tea-smoked salmon. The mains were a mix of foods from around the world with a slow-cooked beef brisket, tandoori chicken, polenta triangles, Mexican corn cobs, and a Middle Eastern grain salad with roast pumpkin. For dessert we had little chocolate and pecan pies and pavlova cups. Overall it was a fun evening with a variety of acts, good food, and a chance to catch up with friends before Christmas.
Tonight Ash and I headed to the Northcote Social Club for Cry Club's album launch tour, which had been delayed a month due to lockdown and COVID restrictions. The opening act for the evening was three piece Melbourne pop punk band Baby Shower. Their lead singer was on electric ukulele and the set included their new single "Look At Me I'm An Asshole" and a cover of Delta Goodrem's "Born To Try." Next up was the drag king Jesse Dean, who did lip sync performances to The Killers' "Mr Brightside" and Doja Cat's "Boss Bitch" (complete with an outfit change).
Cry Club hit the stage and launched the evening with a new song (there were several sprinkled throughout the set). However, tonight was a celebration of the duo's excellent debut album God I'm Such A Mess, and we were treated to hearing the album played in full. Highlights for me were "DFTM," "Don't Go," "Lighters," "Quit," "Nine Of Swords," "Robert Smith" and the last song of the night, the album closer "Two Hearts." The band are fantastic live, full of energy, and had everyone dancing and singing along in the crowd for most of the set. Definitely check them out if you get the chance.
Last night a group of us from work headed to 170 Russell to celebrate Financial New Year’s Eve with Karen From Finance. Having come out of lockdown a few weeks ago there were still some public health directions in place such as wearing masks, social distancing and having bar tables and stools on the dance floor to try to prevent dancing. However, this didn't stop people from having fun just like at a regular drag show.
Each of the performers did two numbers and DJ Argonaut played tracks both before and in between the performance sets. The evening opened with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season 1 finalist Karen From Finance doing a Dolly Parton medley that included "Jolene" and "9 to 5." Next was Aysha Buffet dressed as a scout with balloons tied to the back of her shorts lip syncing to audio of a scout helping a senior citizen to get a badge that merged into Cardi B's "Up." Then D Flowers came out and did a Britney Spears medley which included "Baby One More Time," "Oops!...I Did It Again," "Stronger" and "Toxic."
During the performance break we all danced together to DJ Argonaut and enjoyed being out in a club and not in lockdown at home. Karen From Finance came out first for the second performance set in her sequin shark outfit from Drag Race and did a number to the Jaws theme and Lady Gaga's "911" (complete with a severed leg). Aysha Buffet was up next with a performance to "Heartbreak Anthem" by Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix. Then D Flowers finished up the set with a Beyoncé Coachella lip sync featuring "Single Ladies" and "Love On Top."
As we neared midnight all the girls came back onto the stage and counted us down into the new financial year. We were then treated to the debut of Karen From Finance's new single and video for "Out Of Office," which features a lot of her costumes from Drag Race. We all had such a great time and it was almost like we were back in pre-COVID times.
Here's the video for Karen From Finance's debut single "Out Of Office":
A delayed Midsumma Festival is currently happening around Melbourne, and tonight Ash and I went to the Arts Centre Melbourne Fairfax Studio to see the queer cabaret variety show Fuck Fabulous. Hosted by Yana Alana, this "protest party" featured a range of people in the ensemble, including circus performers (Jess Love, Seth Sladen, Dale Woodbridge-Brown), performance and drag artists (Nicci Wilks, Gabi Barton, Koko Ma$$), and dancers and musicians (Glitter & Snatch, Bec Matthews).
Each artist performed solo and in different group configurations alongside a live band and had multiple chances to shine throughout the evening. There were so many great moments in this show with different acts and skits that were feminist, punk, humorous, acrobatic, honest and full of rage on topics such as politics, women's rights, body inclusivity, identity, climate change and sexual assault. Both Ash and I absolutely loved it and thought it was once of the best things we've seen in a long time. Post show we left the theatre feeling empowered and ready to take on the world.
After getting cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is back this year with a program primarily made up of Australian acts due to international travel restrictions. After an Earth Hour dinner by candlelight at Mamasita Sean and I headed down to the Forum Melbourne for So You Think You Can Drag? as part of The Festival Club. The show featured a range of drag performances and was hosted by the hilarious Tina Del Twist, who sang, drank and joked her way through the evening.
There were some great numbers throughout the night. Highlights for me were Dazza and Keif dancing to the Beastie Boys “Intergalactic,” Sabrina Baby Slut’s lip sync themed around a girl addicted to air freshener, Lou Wall’s song about the patriarchy dedicated to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Kali Forni-Kate’s bee-themed number complete with a section where she lip synced to an ASMR track. My favorite performance of the evening though was the closing act Ruby Slippers & Egson Ham. They came out in a colorful horse costume to Daryl Braithwaite’s “The Horses” and segued into Cardi B’s “WAP." The performance had elements of dance and burlesque in it and was absolutely brilliant.
As part of Midsumma Festival Sean and I attended the first of three shows at The Melba Spiegeltent to celebrate 20 Fabulous Years Of Tammie Brown. Tammie came out on stage wearing a sleeveless gold lame dress and 80s shag blond wig. For this solo show she danced around the stage and sang songs from throughout her career, with a focus on her latest release Schubert.
The show kicked off with "Round 'N Round," and Tammie demonstrated she is a #QueenWithACause through tracks such as "Sexy Orangutan" and "Queen Killer." She also had a couple bops in the set with "Love Pinata" and "Porta Potty Prostitute." In between songs Tammie was very deadpan and spoke about a wide variety of topics, including the
environment and Amazon rainforest, old Hollywood stars, her life growing up, trans deaths, and necrophilia. Just like Tammie it was a unique and entertaining show with a mix of serious and humorous moments.
The Melbourne Fringe Festival is currently happening over the next couple weeks, and tonight Sean and I headed to the Trades Hall in Carlton to see the latest show from Dazza and Keif called Dazza and Keif Go Viral In Space With Ya Mum. Dazza and Keif are still living in Dazza's mum's basement and uploading videos of their sick dance routines online in the hopes of going viral. After showing a compilation of them trying to pick up chicks, they came out in glow in the dark tracksuits and did an impressive dance routine to NSYNC's "I Want You Back."
Frustrated with their lack of success on Earth, the boys decide to enter a contest called "Penetrate the Sky" where 20 citizens from around the world will be selected to settle the moon. Unfortunately only Keif made the cut, and the rest of show dealt with the stress this put on their friendship. There were some funny and vulnerable moments from each of them (including a recorder solo from Keif) and a big space-themed dance routine to the Beastie Boys "Intergalactic." While the show was enjoyable, we felt the storyline wasn't as strong as their MICF show earlier this year.
Tonight Sean and I headed to The Melba Spiegeltent in Collingwood for the second of two sold out shows for Karen From Finance’s one woman show Out Of Office. It started with a hilarious video of Karen getting ready for work to Dolly Parton’s “Working Girl.” Karen deals with a lot of misogyny at work, but she loves her job and is the first to arrive and last one to leave each day.
One morning she receives a call from HR and is told that she must take four months leave to use up her entitlements. Karen doesn’t know how to process this news, so she heads off to a bar and one drink leads into a four month bender (again with some hilarious video footage of her adventures). Karen wakes up in an unfamiliar location and has to find a way to get some money in order to get back home in time for work. Logically, she decides to enters a lip sync contest, but things don't quite turn out as expected.
The show was well written and mixed comedy, video clips, lip syncing
and some great costumes. I'm really glad that In The Dark supported this tour for an Australian queen, and I hope we’ll get to see more local girls touring shows in the future (which is likely as it looks like Drag Race Australia will be confirmed shortly).
Last night I headed to 170 Russell to catch this year's Comedy Queens tour, which was a mix of queens from Australia, RuPaul's Drag Race, and a couple iconic drag pioneers. Local favorite Karen From Finance opened the evening with a medley around names and also MC'd the show throughout the night. Next was Australian legend Trevor Ashley, who spoke about her stage career and life, and sang a song about all the famous Aussies she's been with.
The drag icon Miss Coco Peru then hit the stage and did a stand up set with stories about growing up gay in the US, and also sang a parody song to Frank Sinatra's "That's Life." Next up were two stars from RuPaul's Drag Race and the hosts of the fantastic podcast Race ChaserWillam and Alaska Thunderfuck. Willam did some funny jokes, called out audience members trying to take photos from bad angles, and then did his Britney Spears parody to "Oops!... I Did It Again" about fellow queen and Britney impersonator Derrick Barry. Alaska was next on stage in a leopard print outfit, questioning why she was on the tour since she considers herself a glamour queen. Alaska took out her glasses and did some library reads, and then invited an audience member up to sing along with her to her new song "Walking Into The Club."
After a short intermission the legendary Jackie Beat hit the stage. She did a set of stand up and had a great punchline about wearing flats because her feet are tired from paving the way for everyone else. She also sang two parody songs, including one to Jennifer Holiday's "You're Gonna Love Me." The show then took a strange turn when Vanessa Vanjie Mateo from seasons 10 and 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race came out and didn’t really do much except wander around the stage and the front of the crowd as she dedicated Taylor Swift’s "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" to her ex and fellow season 11 contestant Brooke Lynn Hytes. Karen From Finance had to pop out on stage to keep things moving as Vanjie got a couple guys from the crowd up for a twerking contest.
Thankfully season 8 winner Bob The Drag Queen was up next and just mastered the crowd with a hilarious stand up routine that touched on many topics, including White Night, RuPaul's Drag Race, and the things that are shared between straight girls and their gay friends. Bob also did lip sync mashup around how to detect guys who are cheating. We were then treated to a joint performance by Willam and Alaska of their parody of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" called "A Lacefront Like This" that included several wig reveals and a name-check of Sydney's own Wigs By Vanity.
The show finished with everyone coming back out on stage one by one to RuPaul's "Sissy That Walk" for a final bow. I thought this year's show was much better run to time than last year's, and I love that this tour features such a diverse range of queens, many of whom you wouldn't otherwise get to see in Australia.
This show by the self-proclaimed Serena Williams of drag is about the complexities of love and contains vignettes about Nefertiti's experiences interspersed with songs. Accompanied by a pianist, Nefertiti sang different songs about love, ranging from a stripped back version of Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry On Their Own" to Beyonce's "Love On Top." The hour long show was engaging and uplifting, but also quite vulnerable and honest at points as it delved into the topics of race and domestic violence.
Tonight I ventured down to The Plenary in the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre to see beloved RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7 and All Stars 2 queen Katya Zamolodchikovain her new one-woman show Help Me I'm Dying. This title took on new meaning last year when Katya took the year off to go to rehab and deal with mental health issues. She has slowly been coming back into the public eye, first through her podcast with Craig MacNeil Whimsically Volatile, and then with Trixie Mattel as they resurrected their hilarious web series UNHhhh.
The show began with clips of Drag Race winners Bianca Del Rio and Alaska Thunderfuck amusingly congratulating Katya and welcoming us to the show. Katya did one of her trademark introductions from the podcast to bring herself out onto the stage. She opened the show with a Russian themed section in full Katya character that included "playing" violin and lip syncing to Russian language versions of different songs, including Ariana Grande’s "Thank U, Next," M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes," and Whitney Houston’s "I Will Always Love You." While she was lip syncing there were photoshopped photos of her and Trixie's faces in various scenes projected on the background screen. Katya spoke about her life growing up in Russia and coming to America and also did a lip sync to Peggy Lee's "Is That All Their Is?" with some historical footage of 50s/60s women in the background.
The next section was themed around her Boston dumpster dwelling character Trish. It started with a funny extended clip of Katya and Trixie out of drag at a Hamburger Mary’s (with a Courtney Act cameo as a waitress) as Katya talked about a horrifying dream, and then Trish came out onto the stage in a stretch denim catsuit that matched the stage furniture. Trish spoke about her life and then invited a male audience member onstage in order to do a seductive dance for him. She was quite funny with Trish's mannerisms and Boston accent.
We were then treated to a surreal video about shame, which was a mix of Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks and included cameos from Fena Barbitall, Devon Green and Jinkx Monsoon. It started with Katya in a dungeon and then she was forced to walk through the streets in shame for doing half rate drag wearing a red bra and panties. I think the crowd were even throwing mini hands at her. Then she teleported into the Red Room of Twin Peaks where she spoke with Jinkx. It was such a Katya clip and was my favorite bit in the show.
Katya then came out onto the stage as herself and told funny stories, including what her dream gender reveal party would entail. She also showed us a clip of one of her first audition tapes for Drag Race, which was very her. For the finale she changed into a lace bodysuit and did a lip sync medley of some of her greatest bits, including Tamara Lowe's Jesus sermon, Lady’s "Pussy," the Katya verse from "Read U Wrote U," and Tatianna’s "The Same Parts" from All Stars 2. The performance also included full jumping splits and pussy pounding the floor both forward and back and in a circle.
Katya is once of my absolute favorite queens and it was so amazing to finally get to see her perform in person. As expected she put on a very unique and on brand one-woman show with beautiful costumes and a running list of references to things from all her previous works. If you like performances that are surreal and non-linear, go check out her show.
Tonight I ventured down to the Malthouse Theatre for my two Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows this evening. Sean joined me for the first one, which was Dazza and Keif and their show Go Viral. We saw the duo in January at So You Think You Can Drag and were looking forward to seeing them in their own show. Dazza (Keely Windred) and Keif (Danni Ray) are desperate to become YouTube famous for their mad breakdancing skills. However, a staged breakdancing battle in a Bunnings car park doesn't quite go to plan, and they not only get defeated by a girl, but also become inadvertent feminists. The show features some hilarious dance routines to classics such as Bomfunk MC's "Freestyler" and Darude's "Sandstorm." Dazza and Keif are played with some nuance, and you end up feeling real emotion for them as they go through some ups and downs in their friendship.
My second show for the evening was cabaret star Hans with Like A German. Hans (Matt Gilbertson) has done many shows at the Adelaide Fringe and even appeared on America's Got Talent in 2018 (making it to the quarterfinals). Hans talked a bit about his experience in the States, but the majority of the show was him and his band singing songs and having lots of fun with the crowd. He did a hilarious polka style mashup of Australian rock classics on the accordion, and got two guys from the crowd to change into some sequin hot pants and vests to dance and see who was the bigger Hans fan. It was a very entertaining and fun show full of fabulous costumes and music.
Bianca Del Rio, the stand-up comedian, drag queen and winner of season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, brought her latest show It's Jester Joke to the Comedy Theatre for the first of two sold out performances tonight. The title of the show is not only a pun, but a nod to her clown persona, which is something she fully embraced with her orange wig and choice of costume.
No one was safe during Bianca's hour plus stand-up set as her biting wit took aim at disabled people, different races and ethnicities, gays, lesbians, other Drag Race alum, the Catholic Church, and various audience members sitting in the front rows. Going into Bianca’s shows you know she will say some truly outrageous and offensive things, but it is important to remember that at the end of the day you are attending a drag show and it's not meant to be nice.
Bianca was very quick with her interactions and responses to the crowd, and was riffing so much I'm not sure how much of her planned set she managed to get through. She spoke about doing promo on some of the Australian morning talk shows, and her funniest story was about when she had to play a Gay Sober event in NYC after a big night out and was desperate for a drink prior to going on stage.
After her set Bianca did a Q&A segment, answering prewritten questions from the crowd. They provided some funny moments, including one from musician Henry Wagons about his young daughter's love of Bianca and RuPaul's Drag Race. If you get the chance (and don't mind potentially being offended), be sure to check out Bianca when she plays in your city.
Tonight I had the privilege of seeing my favorite RuPaul's Drag Race alum and All Stars 3 winner Trixie Mattel return to Melbourne at The Plenary with her new one woman show Skinny Legend. This was the last night of her Australian tour, and opening the evening was Melbourne's very own Karen From Finance, who performed a great routine themed around the working women and office environment. She not only lip synced to Dolly Parton's "9 To 5," but also former Prime Minister Julia Gillard's famous misogyny speech against Tony Abbott.
Before Trixie came out on stage there was a cute little cartoon of her getting ready, then a compilation of clips from interviews, RuPaul's Drag Race, the YouTube series UNHhhhand Viceland's The Trixie and Katya Show. Trixie began the show with a lip sync mash up to "Roxie (The Name On Everybody's Lips)" from the musical Chicago, but with a robot voice inserted to say Trixie instead, as well as some monologues by Tammie Brown and Jasmine Masters. Trixie was wearing a full blond wig and purple jumpsuit with long bell sleeves for the first half of the show. She had some great stand-up bits and stories that covered a wide range of topics, including going through Australian immigration, ageing, parenting, bears and interactions with fans. Despite not liking hugs she invited an audience member up on stage to hug her, which resulted in a red warning alarm going off while she was being touched.
Trixie's Australian accent has improved from previous visits, which could be thanks to her watching Wigs By Vanity Instagram videos. As expected, she played some songs on guitar, with "I've Already Got Your Money" dedicated to people who might be offended by the show, a new song "Rich People" about the troubles of the rich like having to double parking their boats or staining their fur coats with the blood of the poor, and "Little Sister" off last year's EP One Stone. Trixie also sang a hilarious parody of Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" called "Steve Buscemi Eyes," which featured a photo montage on the screen of various Drag Race alum faces photoshopped with his eyes.
After a brief intermission the second half of the show began with old black and white fitness and modelling clips hilariously narrated by Devon Green. Trixie then came out in a 1970s Cher/Native American inspired pink outfit with a long pink headdress that showed off lots of body. She had some hilarious puns about her outfit, such as,"I had reservations about wearing this" (note Trixie is Ojibwe). She told more personal stories with her stand up in the second part of the show, including about growing up in rural Wisconsin and being a country gay, moving to Los Angeles and the differences in who's considered hot, and some interesting encounters with the dentist and proctologist.
Musically Trixie showed off her chops by playing a pink clarinet to "Colors Of The Wind" from the Disney movie Pocahontas, her beautiful pink autoharp on the plaintive song "Is Michael Cera Hot" (complete with photo montage playing behind her), and then back onto guitar for the unreleased song "Yellow Cloud," which is due out in May 2019. To finish the night we got a snippet of Oasis' "Wonderwall" by audience request before she played the song that represented her past 12 months, RuPaul's "Kitty Girl" from the All Stars 3 finale. Trixie sang the first two verses before getting a guy from the audience to sing BeBe Zahara Benet and her parts of the song. Overall Skinny Legend was such a fantastic show and demonstrated how multitalented Trixie is as a performer. I am looking forward to some new music on the horizon and hopefully more Australian shows in the near future.
Here's the video for a live acoustic version of "Little Sister"
Tonight I went down to the Palais Theatre for the first ever visit to Australia of the official RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq The World tour. This tour featured seven queens from different seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race doing individual and group numbers accompanied by four male dancers.
The show was hosted by Season 10 finalist Asia O'Hara, who did a fantastic job keeping things moving along and wowing the crowd with her numerous costume changes throughout the night. The Season 10 alums featured at the start of the show with Kameron Michaels performing a medley of Cher songs, and Eureka O'Hara doing a routine dressed as Ursula from The Little Mermaid that contained many of her signature dance moves (and a cameo from Asia O'Hara as Ariel). After an audience game of "Wig In A Box" where three people had to lip sync
for their lives, my favorite queen from Season 8, Kim Chi, did a very beautiful lip sync to an emotional ballad in a fantastic costume that was gradually torn away to reveal a sequin dress underneath.
After a short intermission the Season 10 queens kicked off the second half of the show with a 10s Across The Board boxing themed routine. One of the great things about tonight was the amount of young people in the crowd since it was an all ages show. This included a little five-year-old girl in the front row, who Asia O'Hara interacted with throughout the night. Having someone so young in the crowd was a bit of a challenge though for Season 5 and All Stars 2 finalist Detox, who did a very sexy and risque number. It was quite funny to see her doing the sign of the cross and mouthing "I'm sorry" to the little girl's mother.
Next up was Season 7 winner Violet Chachki, who did a fantastic burlesque routine that included her doing aerial acrobatics using a large hoop hanging from the ceiling. It was pretty spectacular. Asia O'Hara came out and did a flag and baton twirling routine, and then it was time for Season 8 and current All Stars 4 contestant Naomi Smalls to perform. She did a high energy dance routine that featured her now iconic back bend and slide across the floor, which had the crowd cheering.
For the finale all the girls came back out in silver outfits for their final bow. It was a very entertaining evening getting to watch the queens do full production numbers and exciting to see some more Ru Girls that I haven't seen live before.
It's currently Midsumma Festival in Melbourne and last night Sean, Mat and I went to see So You Think You Can Drag at Howler. This contest for amateur drag queens and kings was hosted by the hilarious Dolly Diamond, and featured a variety of acts across two intervals. I always enjoy performances that have a bit of humor, and my favorites during the evening were the lonely Betty Crimes, the explosive Dr Safari Boob, and Mustashe with his vegetables.
While the judges discussed their scores and determined the winner, we were treated to a performance by the reigning champions, Dazza and Keif. They were so entertaining with their dance routine, matching tracksuits and Shannon Noll t-shirts that I will likely check out their upcoming show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The winner of this year's So You Think You Can Drag was Femboyant, who had a bit of a rockabilly kabuki vibe. It was a fantastic evening and great to be able to see some of Melbourne's up and coming drag talent.
As Ben and Jinkx pointed out, December is a very popular month for drag-themed holiday shows. This one was written by both of them and played on their drag personalities, with the upbeat DeLa being a Christmas tour de force while Jinkx was dragged along for the ride, drinking side of stage and trying to get DeLa to acknowledge her Jewish heritage. There were many musical numbers and costume changes throughout the show, with my favorite being DeLa as a Christmas tree and Jinkx in a Star of David blue dress with menorah strapped to her back.
The show touched on a lot of different topics in a really intelligent way, including religion, politics, cultural appropriation, and toxic masculinity and misogyny. It was all very funny and we were laughing out loud throughout, especially when the tables turned and Jinkx had to motivate a despondent DeLa to finish the show. I also enjoyed the clips of DeLa's attempt to create a Rudolph-like stop motion animation that were interspersed through the evening.
I am so happy I was able to go to this show, and finally get to see DeLa perform live. I hope that both them will bring either their solo shows or do one together in Australia in 2019.
Last night I was fortunate enough to get to see the sold out Comedy Queens 2018 Australian tour at 170 Russell. The show was hosted by Australia's Maxi Shield and featured American drag queen legends and newer queens from different seasons of Ru Paul's Drag Race doing a mix of comedy, songs and lip syncs. The three legendary drag performers on the bill Lady Bunny, Sherry Vine and Jackie Beat each took turns performing stand-up and their own parody songs. My favorite was Sherry and Jackie's duet of "I Got You Bitch" (sung to Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe").
The two Season 10 girls Monet X Change and Monique Heart each gave really high energy lip sync performances. Monet also had a funny stand-up set, and gave a shout out to a girl in the crowd who created her own sponge dress. Ginger Minj from Season 7 and All Stars 2 did a stand-up set, which unfortunately fell a bit flat with the crowd, as well as a great telephone-themed lip sync mash-up based around Adele's "Hello." Even with the technical difficulty of her track dropping out in the last 30 seconds, the crowd clapped along so she could sing and finish the performance.
The other Season 7 queen and All Stars 3 winner on the bill was my favorite skinny legend Trixie Mattel. Trixie, who was celebrating her 29th birthday, had a tight set of comedy and music. She sang a mix of her own material and mash-up covers of Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi" and Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," alongside Oasis' "Wonderwall" and a hint of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" for all the white people in the crowd. Trixie was so funny and you can tell all her time on the road has made her such a fantastic and engaging performer.
This was also my first time getting to see another favorite of mine, Season 5 winner Jinkx Monsoon. She sang a fantastic cabaret version of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" and then did a whole set about being a high functioning alcoholic and slut, and the influence of different Disney films on sexual preferences. Overall it was an entertaining but long three hour show, which I'm sure will tighten up as they do the other two shows of the tour in Sydney and Brisbane this weekend.
Over the past few months I have been binge watching numerous previous seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race that I missed when they originally aired (it's available for streaming on Stan here in Australia). One of my absolute favorite contestants, the winner of All Stars 3 and co-host of the YouTube series UNHhhh and Viceland's The Trixie & Katya Show, Trixie Mattel performed tonight for her third Melbourne show at Chasers Nightclub in South Yarra.
The show was broken up into two sets to allow for costume changes. It began with the famous Melbourne queen Karen From Finance lip syncing to Meredith Brooks' "I'm A Bitch." Karen was our MC for the evening and was quite entertaining as she revved up the crowd and introduced each performer. At the start of each set we got a lip sync performance from local queens Lexi GaGa (set 1) and Sabrina Babyslut (set 2), who had the largest number of outfit reveals that I have ever seen in one performance. It was pretty epic.
Supporting Trixie on this tour was RuPaul's Drag Race season one and All Stars 1 contestant Tammie Brown. Tammie is an absolute original and performed her own songs across both sets, including "Walking Children In Nature" and "Porta Potti Prostitute." She also spoke to us in multiple languages and got the whole crowd to move like chickens.
Trixie Mattel is an extremely talented musician and comedian, and she has combined these elements, along with her trademark look, into an amazing and hilarious show. In the first set she did a total take down of some of her fellow RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars contestants and played the finale version of "Kitty Girl," inviting people up from the crowd to sing the verses by Shangela and BeBe Zahara Benet. She also did one of my favorite songs of hers, "Mama Don't Make Me Put On The Dress Again" off the album Two Birds, and a cover of Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi."
In the second set she opened with the most epic mashup lip sync performance themed around the working woman that included movie clip dialogue and portions of Dolly Parton's "9 To 5," Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money" and Britney Spears' "Work Bitch." The whole crowd lifted and lost it when Trixie started dancing down the stage platform. She did some more comedy bits, including her attempt at an Aussie accent, and finished by singing "Break Your Heart" off her latest album One Stone.
All the girls that performed then came out for one final bow and a photo with the audience (Trixie somehow managed a quick costume change into a pink dress and short wig) and that was it for the night. It was such a fun evening although I wish Trixie had performed more of her own music, including the wonderful and touching "Moving Parts." I'm looking forward to getting to see Trixie again (as well as other Drag Race alumni) as part of the Comedy Queens tour in August.
Here's the video for "Mama Don't Make Me Put On The Dress Again"
