Last September, it was an honor to speak to Chappell Roan on a Zoom Call Press Conference. After earlier that year in March, she was unanimously chosen by my music hackathon team and I as an independent case study artist to showcase our ideated app focused on community. It was evident Roan was a rising pop-star girlie that was bound to be an artist on repeat as her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was released with the recognition of Elton John and the number one artist of Olivia Rodrigo’s Spotify Wrapped for 2023 as mentioned in Roan’s PopBuzz album interview. And while she continues to currently open for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS Tour until early April 2024, you should expect to be served vocals, hunny.

Despite the endless amount of times my friends have begged me to go to Drag Brunch in the nearby beautiful queer neighborhood of Hillcrest, Chappell Roan’s concert will be forever claimed as my first Drag Show Experience. This also had me thinking: Why don’t more artists have Drag Queens as openers? As a testament to the small LGBT+ communities in cities where people least expect one to be, Roan creates this safe space of celebration and individuality where fans can come together, support local Drag Queens in those headlining cities, and encourage fans to tip them via Venmo. Local Queens for the San Diego show include: Sasha Devaroe, Angel Holywood, and Lolita Von Tease. Each queens’ set brought the fun and energy that I’ve felt to hype the crowd up more than any concert music opener I’ve experienced, giving you a chance to continue your support for these queens beyond the concert.

In a pink sea of cowboy hats and the greatest "My Kink is Karma" themed fits you’ve ever seen, Roan’s themed concerts according to her singles (to me) was the Eras Tour, before the Eras Tour. Chappell entered the stage with a black and red latex goth fit while jumping straight into “Femininominon” then “Naked in Manhattan;” two tracks that stand out with “Pink Pony Club” and “My Kink is Karma” to be the beginning of what was to come in her new sound in cohesively building her debut album. The transition build up from Valeria on bass to Eliza on guitar to Lucy on the drums for “After Midnight” was one of my top favorites. Another favorite was the short storytime into “Supergraphic Ultra Modern Girl,” based on a crappy date to Chilli’s with a guy who clearly wore “fugly jeans” as the lyrics in the track implies. Top songs that brought the room together were "Casual" and "HOT TO GO!." As "Hot to Goinvolves everyone in dance, ‘Casual’ emotionally pulls everyone in a sing-along to one of her most relatable tracks of being in a relationship that clearly wasn’t just casual. Golden nuggets of the night include her cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and her upcoming new co-written single with Justin Tranter, “Good Luck Babe”. This will be the second single Tranter and Roan release since working on “My Kink is Karma”.

‍With the original intention of being a movie theater that was torn down into a concert venue; sure, the San Diego SOMA isn’t the greatest. The ability to park is frustrating while the view of the stage during sold out shows is unfortunately non-existent. Statements have been unclear as to why larger shows aren’t continuing to be booked at the House of Blues Downtown San Diego,but the opportunity to attend Chappell’s show made it all worthwhile. It’s been awhile since I’ve attended a concert that had me completely hyped and excited from beginning to end. Chappell created this club of pink ponies that has continued to welcome more with open arms; a community where everyone can come as they are and celebrate the renaissance of campy music together.