“Five, six… Five, six, seven, eight…!”
Meet Chappell Roan, America’s up and coming artist that is taking the billboards by storm! For those who don’t know who Chappell Roan is, like Grace Acevedo (10), who says she “knows nothing about her”, Chappell Roan (Kayleigh Rose Amstut) is an iconic, 90s-inspired singer. She broke out onto the scene in 2023 with “Good Luck, Babe!” and followed her hit single with a hit-filled album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”. She also won Best New Artist at the 2024 Grammys.
Her ongoing pop-up tour, “Visions of Damsels and Other Dangerous Things”, had only three US stops: New York, Kansas City, and Pasadena. The tickets were just as exclusive as her shows; you had to sign up on Chappell’s website, and wait to see if they would send you the link to purchase tickets. Personally, three separate people in my family applied for two separate days and only one of us got accepted at all. Thankfully, we were able to get tickets for Saturday, October 11th (the other Pasadena day was Friday, October 10th).
The setlist went as follows (Setlistfm):
1. “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”
2. “Femininomenon”
3. “After Midnight”
4. “Naked in Manhattan”
5. “Guilty Pleasure”
6. “Casual”
7. “The Subway”
8. “HOT TO GO!”
9. “Barracuda (Heart cover)”
10. “Picture You”
11. “Kaleidoscope”
12. “The Giver”
13. “Red Wine Supernova”
14. “Good Luck, Babe!”
15. “My Kink is Karma”
16. “California”
17. “Pink Pony Club”
Before Chappell Roan arrived, opener Trixie Mattel DJ’d songs like “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne and “Gnarly” by Katseye to the waiting crowd. Hemlocke Spring, another opener, sang her own original songs. All this happened up to four hours before the show even started. My mom and I entered the venue around 5pm, and the actual concert started at 8pm. With this in mind, be warned: the concert venue (the Rose Bowl in Pasadena) was fit more for a musical festival, with no seating or guaranteed spots. It was first come, first serve, and though we arrived three hours early, my mom and I only managed to get okay-seats.
For those worried about food, there were various food stalls inside the venue, although you were prohibited from bringing your own. They had a fried chicken stall, a taco stall, and a pizza stall. They weren’t exactly gourmet, but they were still edible.
There were a few spots outside and inside the venue where you could buy official merchandise. There were various t-shirts (a white one with Chappell’s tour dates, a black one with a lizard that said Chappell Roan, a white one with a pink star and Chappell’s facial features) that sold for $45, as well as one purple t-shirt that sold for $55. Sweatshirts came in three styles, all for $95: a blue one with a rabbit and a butterfly, a brown one with a car and the name Chappell Roan, and a black one that had the tour name. A few accessories were a “Pink Pony Club” fan ($20), a pink rabbit bandanna ($20), and a Midwest Princess camo hat ($35). Finally, there was a “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” vinyl, selling for $65.
The actual concert started shortly after 9pm, and was so high energy many people immediately started jumping and waving their hands. Chappell herself was a vision dressed in gold. Throughout the performance, she shed more and more layers, ending up in glittering black-gold shorts and a bralette style shirt. When it came time, she instructed the enthusiastic crowd through the HOT TO GO! dance. Brooke Holmer (10) remarked on the high-energy nature of the song, saying that she likes “how upbeat it is because it really uplifts the mood and makes you more excited.”
And while she’s known for being a proud LGBTQ+ supporter, Chappell clarified that her music and her concerts were not just for queer people. My only critique about the concert itself was that it was quite short, lasting only an hour and a half. I suppose it can’t be helped, given how short Chappell’s catalogue is right now.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. A few months ago, she herself stated that she hadn’t even started on her second album and that it could up to take five years before it may come out (Billboard). Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy the precious few songs she does have out (which won’t be that hard, seeing as they’re all, in my opinion, bangers)!
