Big Freedia brings an unforgettable night of bounce to Boot and Saddle

It’s a Friday night and the modestly sized Boot & Saddle is packed from the stage to the doors. Tickets for the Big Freedia show sold out far in advance and many fans were left disappointed at the doors. But for the ones who made it in, the energy was buzzing.

First up was El Malito, an awesomely eccentric, language-melding and genre-mixing artist. He performed a variety of songs on a number of subjects including, but not limited to, platypuses, cougars (not the animal kind) and simply “shakin’ what your mama gave ya”. He even performed a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” in Spanish, which I can say with certainty was a first for many audience members. El Malito’s eclectic musical performance topped with his two back up dancers, definitely made for an attention-grabbing (and awesome) first act.

Up next was the Queen of New Orleans Bounce herself and like any respectable queen, she made quite the entrance. While her five backup dancer made their way to the stage, audience members went crazy as Big Freedia walked in from the back of the venue and through the crowd.  Once she got on stage, the party started.

As her five extremely talented dancers commanded the stage (and made us wonder how anyone could ever credit Miley Cyrus with inventing twerking), Freedia performed hits such as “Gin in my System” and “Excuse.” She even found time to bring several audience members on stage (myself included), twerk a little herself and dedicate a song to her mother, all while feeling a bit under the weather.

Even though fans were more than satisfied with her high energy performance, Freedia still took the time out after to take photos and sign autographs for half an hour after the show ended, showing that she is truly the queen of her craft.