Lipsyncing for life: thousands attend the largest drag show ever in Calgary with RuPaul
“Waitin’ Tonight” by Nari was blasting out of the speakers, the crowd was jumping, and Sasha Velour was dressed as a blue tasseled armchair, dramatically mouthing out the lyrics to the song while shaking her shoulders within the cushions.
When the beat dropped, she popped like a Transformer out of the furniture – smiling as she soaked in the love from the audience, and singing along with them to the classic club tune.
But she wasn’t the only Queen to show up to Cowboys Music Festival: and as the stage produced a variety of iconic drag performers from Canada and beyond, the attendees got louder and louder as they saw all of their favourite faces.
Sasha Colby strutted down the runway and Nearah Nuff did the splits, Roxxy Andrews dominated as an amazing part of the show with Coco Montrose attending the show, local Canadian artists stole hearts, and the crowd went absolutely wild as legendary ‘Queen of Drag’ RuPaul (USA) arrived to dance and DJ.
The energy at ‘Drag Me to Cowboys’ – the drag artist stage show at Cowboys Music Festival in Calgary, Alberta – was electric all day this 11 July, as a record-breaking 7,423 participants took the Guinness World Records title for the largest attendance at a drag artist stage show ever.
For 30 years, the company has hosted the massive spectacle – and they wanted to celebrate their anniversary with an incredible display and official record-setting count to prove that the community is more alive than ever!
“Our goal with this record is to make this a title worth fighting for in the future, by expanding the size and impact of drag performances worldwide and showing how active the community is,” they said to GWR, hoping more awareness to the history and art of drag to those around the globe.
Cowboys Music Festival is an 11-day music festival during July, which hosts a variety of global artists every year at Cowboys Park.
This year’s ‘Drag Me to Cowboys’ set was hosted by local performer Farrah Nuff, who told the Calgary Herald that she was honoured to be a part of one of the festival’s biggest events. Her co-performer Karla Marx explained to the publication that the show’s rising popularity demonstrates that the public is still accepting of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Alberta, and that there will always be others ready to share in your joy.
“It shows that queerness is celebrated and welcome in Alberta,” she said. “It shows that on the biggest stages and in the biggest celebrations in Canada and Alberta, that queerness is absolutely a vibrant part of our communities.”
Read more stories about massive performances in our dedicated People Power section!
And in addition to all the talented performers that took to the stage, the festival’s organizers wanted to highlight all of the incredible attendees who made the energy at the show so entertaining.
Despite the hot weather that day, participants danced, sang, and celebrated for hours – turning the open-air tent into a loud and celebratory hall fit for Queens (and Kings).
“[People were] connected through music,” said Guinness World Records Adjudicator Tina Shi, who remotely reviewed the event and confirmed the attendance count through PatronScan.
“This inspired them to embrace life more fully, and experience the passion and joy of music and dance.”
And finally, after a series of electric opening performances from local drag artists, organizers took to the stage to announce that the crowd had taken the title for the largest attendance at a drag artist stage show on Earth.
The audience was thrilled – and the celebrations continued as RuPaul took over the microphone to lip-sync to Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’.
So congratulations to everyone that turned out to this incredible event – you are Officially Amazing!