Photo credit: Atheists and Airplanes
PrideFest Milwaukee is the world’s largest LGBTQ festival with permanent festival grounds—Henry W. Meier Festival Park (more colloquially known as the Summerfest Grounds)—operated entirely by volunteers. After several years in Juneau Park (where, as a 20-something, I attended my first pride celebrations in the early-’90s), PrideFest moved to its current location in 1996. Now boasting permanent stages, exhibit buildings and vendor pavilions, it has evolved into a nationally recognized LGBTQ festival.
From the start, PrideFest Milwaukee drew extraordinary talent from all genres of popular entertainment to Brew City. Its current entertainment venues include a Children and Family Stage, The Dance Pavilion, Miller Lite Mainstage, Rainbow Stage and the The Wom!nz Spot Lounge and Café. PrideFest describes the latter as “a dual-stage performance area” intended “to empower and showcase female-identified and non-binary artists and performance groups from a variety of art forms from within and outside of the LGBTQ community.”
What follows are some of the many highlights of a variegated lineup of local, national and international performers coming to Milwaukee for PrideFest 2019. A comprehensive list can be found at pridefest.com.
Greyson Chance Thursday, June 6, 9 p.m. Dance Pavilion
As PrideFest queries on the webpage: “How many other artists drew 14 million views to their debut singles on YouTube—not to mention roughly 100 million views on their YouTube page? And performed multiple times on ‘Ellen’ and other national TV outlets? And headlined in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila and elsewhere in the Far East—twice? All before he was 17 years old?” They’re speaking of the uniquely gifted singer-songwriter-instrumentalist Greyson Chance. He combines awareness and irresolution with a sensitivity many older artists haven’t as yet managed to achieve.
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Atheists and Airplanes Friday, June 7, 8:30 p.m. The Wom!nz Spot Lounge and Café
This indie garage rock band based in Milwaukee comprises Emily “Knieval” (vocals, guitar, bass), “Calamity” Jen (vocals, guitar, bass) and Beth “Leppard” (drums). The band’s ethos combines the influences of classic, punk and alternative rock, blues, lo-fi, grunge, dark humor and existentialist philosophy, creating music that’s part noise, part Friedrich Nietzsche.
Dragapalooza Friday, June 7, 10 p.m. Miller Lite Mainstage
What’s an LGBTQ pride celebration without a drag show? You needn’t wonder; PrideFest has a show that is truly fit for a queen! Dragapalooza is a live musical concert featuring the cast of international celebrity drag queens singing live with a world-class band, led by Grammy-nominated producer Chris Cox. Cox has a discography of more than 600 productions, remixes, mix compilations and a string of more than 50 number-one Billboard Dance Club hits.
The variety show-rock concert line-up features BibleGirl666, a “spitfire headline-maker known for making a name for herself through the power of social media and her global business empire DragQueenMerch.com,” PrideFest announces. She’s toured extensively throughout the U.S., as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada and Great Britain, drawing inspiration from her love of pop culture. Also performing is singer Rhea Litré, a lover of the nightlife of West Hollywood and former contestant on “American Idol.” There’s also Trixie Mattel (stage name of Brian Michael Firkus), an American singer, actor, drag queen and recognized “Skinny Legend.” Trixie is the winner of the third season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.”
Long before she held court as a finalist on season seven of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Ginger Minj reigned as “The Comedy Queen of The South” from her home base of Orlando, Fla. The self-described “nicest bitch you’ll ever meet” cites legendary comediennes Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball as her idols. Minj appears as well, along with Coco Montrese from Miami, who’s performed across the country, held the title of Miss Gay America and was in the top-five of both “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (season five) and “All Stars” (season three).
Kim Petras Saturday, June 8, 10:30 p.m. Miller Lite Mainstage
Petras’ brand of escapism remains rooted in her great capacity for empathy. Knowing herself from the age of two, she notably began transitioning with female hormone therapy following her 12th birthday, before receiving gender-reassignment surgery four years later and making worldwide headlines. Her bravery, quietly and subconsciously, punctuates her music.
“I have unique experiences and have had unique experiences, because I am transgender,” Petras explains. “Those experiences 100% go into my music. Being the outcast and being bullied makes you work harder in life. I had to fight for everything. At the same time, I’m just a girl going through heartbreak. It feels the same way to me as any other girl would feel about it.”
“For a moment, I’d love for listeners to forget reality and have fun when they listen to me,” she says. “They don’t have to think about anything negative. I hope they blast it in the cars or when they’re getting ready and want to feel fabulous. I hope it’s a soundtrack to their lives.”
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That works as a summary of all the music, dance and celebration at Milwaukee PrideFest. Members of the LGBTQ community, and those who know, love, support and call them friend, sibling or parent, have a lot to face in today’s world. We’ve made great strides in terms of acceptance and personal freedom, but in a country led by a race-baiting, sexist, lying, homophobic demagogue, it’s easy to lose heart. PrideFest and its entertainment lineup, all-told, surely helps us, for four glorious late-spring days, “forget reality and have fun.”
