Billy Porter @ The Louisville Palace - Louisville
May 27th, 2023: Billy Porter @ The Louisville Palace - Louisville, KY
Billy Porter - Photos Courtesy of Emily May
“You have to choose love and you have to keep choosing it every day”. These were the opening words from actor, singer, writer, and director Billy Porter, who brought his Black Mona Lisa Tour Volume One to The Louisville Palace on May 27th for a beautiful evening of music, dancing, and stories, performing hits such as “Love Is On The Way” and “Love Yourself”. In his first-ever career-spanning pop music concert tour, Porter wowed his audience this evening with an amazing full-band performance, multiple costume changes, a powerhouse vocal performance, and a tinge of Broadway. Backed by a video installation, the screen would show video montages and interviews with Billy between costume changes, with him speaking on his role in the Broadway hit Kinky Boots, for which he won a Tony, and the television show Pose, for which he won an Emmy, amongst other important moments in his life and career. Early in the set, with empty seats on the floor near the front, he told the crowd that anyone who wanted to was welcome to come forward and get closer to the stage!
A true performer, Porter walked the stage like a catwalk, encouraging the crowd to dance and let loose and have fun, at one point joking with the crowd about his love for cursing and saying that “I’m 53 so I can say whatever the fuck I want!” and how in Queenglish, “Bitch” is a term of endearment, which earned him plenty of cheers from the crowd. He announced that the Black Mona Lisa Tour is done in honor of his new album, a retrospective of his life and that he would be playing a lot of songs from the album this evening. He sang a song from his first album, saying how it didn’t do too well back then, as the music industry was very homophobic, but oh how times have changed. Showing side-by-side photos of himself then and now, he joked that it’s always crickets when people see early photos! “Yes, that’s me”, he said. A few songs in, in an homage to Kinky Boots, he came out with the red boots he wore in the play and went out into the crowd, much to his fans’ delight.
He talked about how thrilled he was to be on his first rock and roll tour, on a tour bus, and how as a kid he had lots of dreams. One of his dreams was to create a character in a Broadway show and win a Tony Award, which he did. A second dream was to be a film and television star, which he achieved. He then talked about how he wanted to be the male Whitney Houston, and while he has been blessed to play the fairy godmother in the recent adaptation of Cinderella, “There’s only one Whitney Houston and there’s only one Billy Porter, and he’s pretty great too, so maybe I should just focus on being me!”. He went on to say how he hasn’t been touring with his own band in maybe 6-7 years and in nearing the end of this tour, he was so grateful to all of the audiences who have come out to his shows and who have all graciously welcomed him back. “I love ya’ll!”.
He then sang an incredible cover of “Stop Children What’s That Sound”, followed by a message for the audience, his message of hope. “It’s time for the people to rise up and take our humanity back! I’m told not to be so political, that I scare people, but fuck that! Ya’ll better pay attention. Kids can’t go to school or concerts, Breonna Taylor was killed without any investigation. Be not deceived. This isn’t new. 81 million people didn’t vote-are you kidding me? But ya’ll want to complain that we don’t have rights. We need to stay engaged. Ya’ll come to see Billy Porter and I have things to say and I’ll never stop speaking out!”. He talked about growing up Pentecostal and how he has since left organized religion but how in the church they used to talk about surrender. It doesn’t mean giving up or giving in, but rather being present for what is right now, in this moment. “I am grateful to have lived long enough to be present for this day.” He then performed his newest single “Fashion”, which had everyone on their feet!
He then pulled several audience members onto the stage, pairing them into teams of two for a series of “walk-offs”. He and his roadie Blake then demonstrated. He then joked “Oh lord! They get up on stage and do whatever they want!”. Towards the end of the set he introduced and thanked his band and all of the fans who came out, saying he was nervous at the start of the tour that no one would show up. He also thanked his crew, as well as the crew at the venue for all of their hard work loading in and out. He then performed “For What It’s Worth. “Thank you Louisville! I love you so much!”. Leaving the stage for a bit, he came back out in a silver sparkly suit for an upbeat encore. Billy Porter gave his fans a great night of music and performance! It was a night none of us will forget!
