Chappell Roan gathered together a slew of artists including Caroline Polachek, MUNA and surprise guest PinkPantheress in Los Angeles Thursday night for the second of two nights of The Super Graphic Spectacular.
The two-day event, held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall, was billed as a fundraising event featuring live performances, volunteer opportunities, connection and a special headlining set from Roan herself. Roan was preceded by sets from Polachek, Muna, Alisa Mae, Fantasia Royale Gaga and Sweat Eddie. With a block party that kicked off in the afternoon, the event, which raised money for the pop star’s foundation The Midwest Princess Project, which supports trans youth and the LGBTQ+ community. All proceeds of the event were donated to the organization.
Comedian Caleb Hearon hosted the evening, and even joined MUNA during the band’s set. Roan delivered a high-energy performance to the just over 6,000 capacity room. It was a large underplay for the Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess singer, who is without-a-doubt a stadium act at this point, having drawn an estimated 40,000 per night at her Pasadena shows last year. The audience for Thursday’s show was just as high-energy back, and an argument could be made that they might be one of the most engaged crowd’s the venue’s ever seen.
Roan used every inch of the gothic-themed stage during her roughly 70-minute set, kicking off with, unsurprisingly, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl.” The setlist was consistent with other shows the singer’s done over the past year, leaning heavily on her breakout album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, with some newer songs — “The Subway,” “Good Luck, Babe!” and “The Giver” — sprinkled in.
During night one, Christina Aguilera joined Roan, and she sang her her classic hit “Beautiful” before the two singers joined together for a duet of “Coffee.” For night two, Roan mixed things up, bringing out PinkPantheress, describing the British pop star as being “fantastic” and “just so cunt” as she introduced her. PinkPantheress performed “Tonight” for the crowd, while Roan danced around onstage with her band.
Later in the show, Roan brought out Lola Young, who performed in one of the opening slots on night one, for a duet of Roan’s “Picture You.” The song, one of Roan’s more underrated offerings, was a highlight of the night.
Naturally, Roan brought her signature candor and wit to the performance, joking around with fans in the audience. “There’s some straight people in the front row, I can tell,” she said at one point during the performance before later, during the song, rushing to tell the straight it was OK. It was all in good fun. Roan even dedicated “The Giver,” her lesbian country anthem, to “all the top lesbians out there.”
The night ended with a performance of the singer’s remix of the Olivia Rodrigo song “Expectations,” which she performed as a solo, and smash hit “Pink Pony Club.” During the song — which features the lyrics “Won’t make my Mama proud / it’s gonna cause a scene / She sees her baby girl / I know she’s gonna scream” — the singer pointed to the mezzanine to inform the crowd her actual mother was in attendance. The moment got a big cheer from the crowd. “Pink Pony Club” is the type of concert anthem that will never get old, with every person in the room singing the lyrics as loud as they can.
All net proceeds from both shows, sponsored by CashApp and Visa, will be donated to the The Midwest Princess Project to power “the next chapter” of the queer-centric organization’s work.