I was nervous that we wouldn’t make it to the show on Saturday night. Yes, I know, I live in Minnesota and driving in snow is just a part of life up here and, if I’m being honest, I’m pretty good at it but that doesn’t change the fact that I hate having to do it. It has been snowing pretty much non-stop since Thanksgiving creating the perfect cozy and lazy weekend vibe in my apartment and it was hard to justify leaving but there was a show that I was intrigued by and who am I to miss a show just because a little bit of snow and ice. My friends and I committed by scheduling Uber rides to the show and back home hours before we even met up for dinner and some drinks beforehand. Thankfully we scored getting the best Uber drivers ever who got us to Saint Paul safely and just in time for the show.
I’ve talked about how amazing shows in the Twin Cities are in the winter before. People are more friendly and just more fun. That vibe was felt throughout the Palace Theatre. Nobody cared why you were at the show and nobody cared what you were wearing (although the people watching was great and people really went all out for this concert creating the cutest crowd I’ve ever seen), everyone was friends at the show last night and it was absolutely lovely.
Alex Chapman got the young all ages crowd ready for the main act of the night with his mix of old and new songs all blending together in a highly danceable DJ set. The theme of LGBTQ+ was heard loud and clear throughout Alex’s quick opening set. From Avril Lavigne to Lizzo to Fall Out Boy– his mix was all over the place but had the common thread of beats that made you want to move. I’m not typically one for DJ’s opening up shows as I feel like they are typically ignored and, well, let’s be honest– they typically never nail a mix but Alex did just that and he could have honestly spent a couple of hours on stage and I wouldn’t have had a single complaint about it.
It was song after song of upbeat poppiness with an undeniable sense of passion that radiated not only from the stage but also from the audience. There was an unspoken sense of respect that the audience clearly had for Kim that I can’t quite find the right words for. People were definitely rowdy in the audience and it almost felt more like a club night than a concert but every song was followed up a deafening round of applause and when it was just Kim, her microphone, and her DJ with a guitar in his lap performing a beautiful acoustic rendition of The Killers’ “Human”, I swear you could hear a pin drop in the audience. Kim has been called “The new princess of pop” by multiple outlets and I didn’t quite understand that title but, after watching her absolutely destroy the stage for over twenty songs straight, it makes sense.
I was introduced to Kim Petras by my friend that was at the show with me and actually caught Kim performing at Jingleball a year ago. Although not my typical cup of tea musically due to the top-40 pop sound that Kim has perfected, her come-up story is something that I absolutely admire and, upon learning about that story, made me an instant fan. Kim was born male but, at an extremely young age, insisted that she was a girl. Kim ended up being one of the youngest people to go through gender reassignment surgery. She and her family received a lot of flack for the surgery. I couldn’t even begin to imagine going through not only the surgery at such an early age, but the hate on top of that but none of that stopped Kim and probably only helped catapult her to the level she is at today.
Take the story of Kim’s journey, add her undeniable talent and stunning beauty and you are left with the perfect way to spend a snow Saturday night in Saint Paul.
