Christine and the Queens at the Royal Festival Hall
In an ambitious and theatrical stage show, Christine and the Queens wowed the audience at the second and final night of Southbank Centre’s Meltdown Festival (curated by Christine himself), leaving them speechless for the full two hours of this brilliant opera. The artist performed in full his newly released album, Paranoïa, Angels, True Love (produced under his new persona, Redcar), with carefully added monologues about pride and love between songs.
The work was heavily inspired by the famous queer play, Angels in America; the stage construction was like Dante’s Paradiso, similar to a National Theatre production, with eerie statues, wooden tables and staircase pieces. He started the show in simple fashion, wearing slicked-back hair, black cigarette trousers and a matching waistcoat, which he would shed to expose the beautiful transition into a male body, his bare chest and gorgeous physique like a Michelangelo sculpture coming to life. His numerous outfit changes were nothing short of spectacular.
This was theatre, music, dance and sheer beauty all wrapped into one performance. The space belonged to him as he danced through emotions, his body beautifully possessed in a contemporary form of art: matador and bull at the same time. His stage force is unmatched.
“Do you suffer from loneliness? / This is the voice of the big simulation. / Just let go of any pressure in your body, / The terrestrial food is of no importance now. / Let me touch you, angel,” soared the voice of none other than the legend Madonna herself. Chris, almost in tears, proved to us that he’s absolutely capable of celestial vocals and expressive choreography, dancing in foggy mystique, antique ornaments giving us a Shakespearean tragedy feel.
Pitch-dark, and the second act began with Chris in the middle of the crowd. He wanted to feel closeness with his audience, who were mostly quiet, but only out of respect for the whole theatrical show. You couldn’t hear a pin drop.
In the final act, white angel wings were brought on-stage and Chris wore them like a heavy crown, a messiah nailed to a cross. “Dance with your bones and your imagination, and all shall be fine” – so true, Chris. We all had a religious experience at the Christine and the Queens concert last night. An absolutely unforgettable performance.
Laura Bit
Photo: Gaelle Beri
For further information and future events visit Christine and the Queens’s website here.
Watch the video for the single Full of Life here:
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