As you all know, I love drag. It is art, it is beautiful, it is humourous and carefree and fantastic. But did you know behind those painted lips and false lashes, there is musical talent also? I discovered how much talent there is in these queens on this cold frosty Thursday night, and let me say, their voices warmed up my heart and my soul.
The London line-up, consisting of season 4 winner Sharon Needles and her fellow season 4 queen Jiggly Caliente, season 5’s Miss Congeniality Ivy Winters, season 7 runner-up Ginger Minj, season 8 queen Thorgy Thor and season 9 runner-up Peppermint, was ready to wow the crowd – assisted, of course, by the grandest queen of them all that night: New Jersey’s own Michelle Visage. She introduced the show in style – along with her very famous bosom. You know it’s going to be a good show when your hostess opens concludes her introduction with “and these are my tits”.
With a couple of Christmas classics, twisted to meet the truths of our lovely ladies on stage (such as requesting heels and silicon implants in “Santa Baby” and discussing possibly becoming All Stars in “Winter Wonderland”), Mrs Visage grabbed the mic to give us an honest period where she spread her positivity, love and support for the LGBTQ community by speaking out against newly outed scumbag Kevin Spacey. Something she is too well-known for doing in live shows, Visage showed us all that a drag show is all about bringing together a massive family, where we all love each other, no matter who we are or who we love. If you need tips on being an ally, just watch Michelle.
From then on, we have the live performances! Taking turns, these gorgeous girls storm the stage to give us their own Christmas cheer. From a glamourous Ginger, prancing in a silver number with her fur (faux, I’m sure!) to a hip-hop Jiggly, giving us a jolly rap with added booty-popping throughout! This shows that these queens are being genuine when giving us what they give us best: themselves. Giving us the talents they know they can showcase, and believe me, they show them voices off perfectly!
For anyone who is a massive Drag Race fan such as myself, you will probably agree that the strongest vocalist to ever compete is season 5’s Ivy Winters (“Ivyyyyyyyyy Winteeeeeeers!”). She made my heart stop when she sang; that is natural born talent in those lungs, I know it, and her charismatic personality played up her stage presence beautifully.
You are inspirational, Ivy. Inspirational. Here’s hoping you might get moving on to your own solo tour.
Then a great spin on Christmas arrived on stage: Sharon Needles. When the other queens are Christmas, she is The Nightmare Before Christmas – but she rocks that spook well. Donning her new trademark metal helmet wig, Miss Needles stormed the stage to sing a song that says it’s about snow but we all knew… it was cocaine. She was singing about cocaine. Because it’s Sharon! But still, I felt the festivity in her performance. After this performance, Sharon took a short hiatus from returning the stage; easily explained, but it’s fair to say these short minutes kept me hyped.
And it’s not a Christmas do without a karaoke moment! Each queen, minus Sharon, was brought back on stage to give us a quick Christmas karaoke night. With snippets from hits by Vanilla Ice, Paula Abdul and… well, Frozen… it showed us that human side we all fell in love with from these queens. Especially when like most of us, they were unsure on the lyrics (Thorgy won the hilarity factor with slipping up on the words!)
Special mention of the night goes to the big-haired energy ball that is Thorgy Thor who stunned the entire audience with her perfect violin skills. Performing alongside a dancer, she put on a good instrumental rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” and I could see the story forming before me. That is what you call talent! Go Thorgy! Yeah!
I wish I could go into such detail about every single song performed but I would be going on for weeks and weeks because as my first official drag show, I was so impressed with the hard work and practice these queens have gone through to give us all a fun and festive evening!
I’ll give a shout to the big girl duet with Ginger and Jiggly, who sang an inspiring song about… food. With glittery jumpsuits and rap skills (yes, Ginger rapped!), I was laughing with my big girls. And I’ll admit, it made me a little hungry too. So well done, ladies!
When the ooky-spooky Sharon Needles returned on stage, she gave us a little macabe monologue and then sang us the story of Charlie Lawson (NOT MANSON), who murdered his whole family. “Merry f*cking Christmas” indeed, Sharon.
Then there’s another queen duet; this time it’s Thorgy returning with her precious violin, giving instrumental to the scene-stealing Peppermint, who gives us voice, face and body (the outfit/s says it all!)
(Witnessing that outfit change in person added years to my life, it was just WHOA)
Before closing the show altogether, Ivy made her way back on-stage – because she is the ‘gift’ that keeps on giving! She gave us another breath-taking performance and even threw in a short juggling act, reminding us all that she’s more than a pretty face/voice. I will never ever forget!
Before the show came to its close, all these beauties came back once more for more drag-centric Christmas carols, such as “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Joy To The World” (well done on the edits, Jackie Beat! Haha). I never felt so gutted to leave a venue after a concert. I didn’t want it to end, because it was such a rush of different emotions from a type of show I have never ever been to before – and I am so excited for my return to Troxy next March!
To close this review, I am urging you drag enthusiasts, if you haven’t already, to go a drag show! Find your favourite Drag Race queens (or your favourite drag queens in general) and find where they’ll be near you and go! You will not regret attending a drag show, especially a drag concert, because it’s such a unique experience that will make you laugh, cry, scream and do many many more embarrassing actions.
Thank you to every queen who was at Troxy, and those who were on other dates throughout the Christmas Queens tour, because your hard work is appreciated greatly by fans such as myself and every single soul in that venue. Keep doing what you do best, ladies, and I’ll hopefully see you all next Christmas.
Rating: 5/5
J Panda Reviews 