Violet Chachki to Show Atlanta “A Lot More Me” on U.S. Tour
In case you didn’t get enough of Violet Chachki on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” she is bringing her “A Lot More Me” (violetchachki.com) tour to North America this year. It is a one-woman show, featuring drag, burlesque, stand-up, and circus and fashion elements. The production has been years in the making and faced a setback last year due to the pandemic.
“It is one of the largest productions of a solo touring drag queen, ever, and it’s a combination of really everything I love,” Chachki said in an interview with Georgia Voice.
She will be bringing the tour to her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, on August 25, 2021. Atlanta has always been the epicenter for Southern drag and queer Pride. The city serves as a place for queens to express themselves and for people to enjoy their performances. The “A Lot More Me” tour will also travel to six other states and then make its way up to Canada for seven more shows. The scheduled dates and tickets can be found on Violet Chachki’s website, VioletChachki.com.
Chachki describes the tour as her ultimate dream and goal. COVID-19 has impacted everyone in some way, and for Chachki, it meant postponing her anticipated 2020 tour that she had been working so hard to put together.
Once the pandemic put her dreams on pause, she was devastated, but took the time to regroup from six consecutive years of touring and performing. While she performed her tour to sold-out crowds in Europe, she has been waiting for the moment to bring the show home to the States.
“This has been years and years and years of hard work, learning, apprenticing and touring; even me just trying to figure out how a show like this could even happen,” Chachki said. “So, I’m so excited that it’s happening again.”
The art of drag can mean different things for different people, but for Violet Chachki it means escapism and a form of therapy. As a child she gravitated toward the art because she could escape into this world, a world this tour invites all into. This past year has been difficult for so many when it comes to the burdens of the current health, social and financial crises.
Whether participating in drag or watching it, the experience can be freeing and a time of celebration and self-expression.
“I think celebration is something everyone in the world can relate to now, with escapism and expression being the other two main principles of drag,” Chachki said. “Drag is a celebration of where we are at and how far we have come.”
Chachki holds many titles, one of them being an international drag performer who won season seven of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” On the show, fashion and design were the aspects she excelled in and she has since been established as a global fashion icon. Chachki described her passion for lavish costumes and said this about what the audience can expect from the tour: “It’s going to be a visual feast.”
She is also known for being a highly skilled burlesque dancer, model, and recording artist, but she has done more than just earn a number of titles. She has also been recognized as the first for many accolades in the drag world. She was the first drag queen to appear in a major lingerie campaign. In 2019, she became the first drag queen to perform in India and was among the first drag queens to attend the Met Gala.
The upcoming tour is inspired by all of these accomplishments and experiences, rooted in high-fashion costumes, glamour, femininity, and empowerment. Chachki is especially inspired by women who use glamour as a tool to show their beauty, and her stage character is indeed a representation of that.
She also pulls visual and production inspiration from Dita Von Teese, the model and burlesque dancer known as the “Queen of Burlesque.” In 2017, Chachki joined her tour, “The Art of the Teese.”
“A Lot More Me” is not only meant to exude fashion like a typical runway show. It is also meant to leave people with a memorable performance that incorporates her talents and skills. After all, she is more than glitz and glam; she was also dubbed “shadiest queen” during her winning season on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for a reason. From laughs to jaw drops, Chachki guarantees she will give the audience everything and then some.
“Drag allows me to literally become someone else and enter a fantasy world where I can escape reality,” said Chachki. “With everything that happened in 2020, not just the pandemic, I think escapism is so important to help us take a break from reality, to have fun, to laugh and to temporarily put our minds to ease.”
“A Lot More Me” comes to the Variety Playhouse (1099 Euclid Avenue) on Wednesday, August 25 at 8pm — doors open at 7pm. Buy your tickets at VioletChachki.com.