Live: Chappell Roan in Dublin 2024
In mid-September I had another concert and it was the American singer Chappell Roan. It took place as usual in the 3Olympia Theater in Dublin, and of course my camera couldn’t miss it. And we had a big surprise!
It’s interesting with Chappell because a friend introduced me to her at the beginning of the year. I listened to her debut album back then, which had already been out since September, I think. I remember two songs that caught my eye on it – Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl and My Kink is Karma. I then added these songs to my playlist and somehow didn’t listen to the album any more. But somehow within a month she announced that she was going on a mini European tour and that she would be in Dublin as well. And like when artists go on a mini European tour, Dublin isn’t part of it, it’s always UK and that’s it. And in this I mean Paris, Manchester, London, Dublin, Berlin. I don’t know if there was more, but that’s not important.
She was supposed to play at The Academy in Dublin, so I decided to go as I liked the two songs. I would listen to the album until then and that it will be fine. Ooh my, so first off, a big shoutout to my friend J. for introducing me to Chappell back in the day. That concert sold out immediately, so if I bumped into her later, I simply wouldn’t be able to get tickets. The concert was so sold out that they moved it from The Academy to the 3Olympia Theater and about a day before the concert the venue posted that it was really sold out and that people should not call or go to get tickets. And no one was really selling. How many times it happens that a person can get a ticket literally on the day of the concert because someone gets sick or something, but no. Ticketmaster was as dry as the Sahara. And the reason is because at the time when she announced the tour, she only had her debut album out. And some people knew her, not that they didn’t, but she wasn’t exactly popular. When someone said her name at the time, no one knew who it was (literally J’s friend “Have you heard of Chappell Roan?” and I said “Who?”). Then in April of this year, she released the single Good Luck, Babe and has been an almost overnight success ever since. If you look at her Spotify, she just has millions and millions of plays. She just performed at various big festivals including Lollapalooza and stuff. And finally, as far as the mini European tour is concerned, she canceled Paris and Amsterdam in order to perform at the VMAs (a very iconic performance, though).
What’s very interesting about Chappell as such is that she talks openly about what it’s like to be a big name in the music scene. And no, she doesn’t talk nice about it. She literally has depression, people are stalking her. Simply, despite the fact that she had been on the music scene for several years, this success came without warning and she had no chance to prepare for it. She still doesn’t let anything get in her way (look for chappell roan vmas paparazzi) and sets the bar, which I think will be very important for future artists and in some ways reshape the current show business. However, the introduction to Chappell is over. If you are interested in any of this, there is a lot of information and interviews with the artist herself on the Internet. Now let’s talk about the concert!
Over the summer I listened to the album (The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess) and that single, and I was so glad I had a ticket to that concert, because this is exactly the kind of pop music that I just love. And I knew it would be worth it.
So the concert took place in the 3Olympia Theater and it has two entrances – one for sitting and one for standing. There is always a line up to the alley around the corner, but now it stretched around two corners. A really massive surge. They let us in in time at 7 and I had a standing ticket. I stood roughly where I was standing on Fletcher in May (on the left quite at the back). It was mainly because the photos from that evening are my favorites and I was hoping for a similar view. If you haven’t seen my Fletcher photos, I’m adding a link here.
The first thing I found out when I came in was that Chappell has a so-called dress code/theme for every concert. It was Pink Pony for Dublin. So everyone in pink, except me haha But it doesn’t matter, I probably don’t have any pink clothes anyway. A lot of people had Eras tour hats, which is cool, but they blocked the view. As for the view – before Chappell came on stage, it was quite good and I could see almost the whole stage. But then people started to move and suddenly a 2-meter-tall guy who was standing behind me was standing in front of me and he didn’t mind (his girlfriend, who was obviously a fan, is to blame, while he was standing there like a stump the whole time). So I was moving left and right most of the concert to see Chappell at all… I still believe that tall people should stand in the back.
The opener were Haus of Wig aka Drag Queens. They have lip synced to various big hits like Beyoncé, Gaga and so on. It was very nice and the wait went by so quickly. The funny moment was almost at the end of their performance, because from where I was standing, there was a beautiful leading line aka human heads from me to the stage and two drag queens squatting there. So while the whole venue was raving about how great the show was, I was raving because it would have been a great photo (I was too lazy to take out my camera).
However, the biggest surprise came at that time between the frontrunner and Chappell herself. It’s just that this venue used to be a theater (and still occasionally is), so there are private boxes on both sides of the stage. You can’t get tickets for those, they are always available to the artist’s family or influencers and so on. Who did we have there in the box to our left? Jenna Ortega, Emma Myers and a few other actors from Wednesday. They have been in Dublin for several weeks and are filming the second season of the series. But it was funny, because at one point the people who were standing in front of us and had a view of all 4 boxes started yelling. I usually don’t get excited about how many times they yell just for the heck of it, or because of a random Irish influencer. But someone behind me tapped the tall guy on the shoulder and asked him why people were yelling haha I didn’t see her at first, she was in the upper box, but then they went down to the lower box and at one point she was standing by the railing and she was looking great. I won’t post photos or videos here, but the internet is full of them if you’re interested.
Otherwise, Chappell. The best concert. Fact. I know I always say that. But for example a week before this concert I had the Jonas Brothers and they were fine, but I didn’t know all the songs and it was in the 3Arena, so it was a different atmosphere. And here I knew all but two or three songs, and it was just really amazing and everyone was singing. Chappell actually has such a soft female voice. I didn’t expect it at all (I don’t watch her interviews). So she gives “protect her at all cost” a lot.
She also spoke in between songs, for example, very nicely about fans in general and the queer community. But also when she talked about her own album, she forgot its name and laughed at herself. Also, what happened after the third song was that it suddenly dawned on me that it was Chappell. If you’ve ever been to a concert of your favorite, you definitely know that feeling. And the millisecond after it dawned on me, she said something like “I can’t believe I’m here” or something like that. It went perfectly with my quick realization.
The energy was divine – Chappell sang, danced. Who wasn’t there and wanted to go, you really missed out on a lot. It was one of those concerts that barely started before you think it was over. It went by very quickly, but in a good way.
It completely recharged me and it was also an inspiring performance for me. Right after the concert I wanted to take my camera and go take pictures of people and other shows and take pictures of projects and create art. I haven’t felt like that in a long time and it’s a very good feeling.
What I would like to mention in the end is that I am a little sorry that the concert ended up being at the 3Olympia Theater and not at The Academy, as it was originally supposed to be. The venue is smaller, more intimate, standing room only and has a balcony accessible to the audience. This one is great, because you can lean there and most importantly, not only will no one bump into you during the concert, but above all there is no person with a cowboy hat or a 2-meter tall disinterested guy standing in front of you. But it’s true that I would only have photos from above and they probably wouldn’t look so great. On the other hand, the 3Olympia standing room is built well – the floor slopes slightly from the back towards the stage, so unless there is a 2-meter-tall guy standing in front of you, or a moron with a head covering, you can see well.
So the concert was on 11/10 and I really hope that I will see her live again sometime. It was really great and an experience of a lifetime!
