The Midwest Princess Tour

While out on her first tour since the long-anticipated release of her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan brought the biggest pop show Toronto’s 950 capacity Opera House has ever seen to the city on Wednesday night. Roan isn’t afraid to go big in her performance, presentation or production, and it both shows and pays off. The energy for the night was set the moment she got on stage, opening with Femininomenon, the same song that opens her album, with her jumping and dancing around declaring that you can do better than a guy who doesn’t really care and that we need, well, a femininomenon. Celebrating and becoming a more fulfilled version of yourself in the face of heartbreak is a thread that runs throughout Roan’s music, and when you combine this with shimmery and infectious production you get a sold-out show where everyone knows every word and is dancing the entire night. 

Over the course of ninety minutes, Roan played through the entirety of her album, the title track from her 2017 School Nights EP as a way of honouring her younger self, and a cover of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance with her infectious energy not wavering for a second, even throughout her few more laidback songs. In between sets she told stories of growing up and finding herself in a small town in Missouri, quips about her mother’s well intentioned but out of touch dating advice that she’s never followed and uhauling (if you know you know), and expressed gratitude for the community that has formed as a result of her music, saying that what she does is “bigger than any one of us” and that it’s not her that makes it special, it’s the community that surrounds it. She’s not wrong about this — Roan has created a space where she encourages everyone to sing as loudly as they want and dance to their hearts content, and where everyone is able to express their truest selves.  

Instead of taking the traditional route of having other musicians as opening acts, Roan opts for a drag show, with different queens performing every night as a way of both celebrating the queer community and honouring the influence that drag has on her. Peach Blossom, Ibarra and Star took the stage, getting the crowd going with their performances soundtracked to Charli XCX’s Vroom Vroom and a variety of Lady Gaga songs. The queens had the crowd completely engaged, and were matching Roan’s energy before she had even taken the stage. 

Roan closed the show with Pink Pony Club, a song about leaving home and being able to live openly and freely as a queer woman for the first time while missing the places and the people you grew up around. Originally released as a single in 2020, the song signalled a shift in direction for Roan as an artist; three years later and it’s found a new home on her album, venues around the world, and the hearts of countless people that the song so deeply resonates with.