Critic’s Pick: Alaska’s ‘Red 4 Filth Tour’
Alaska brings her current tour to The Howard Theatre in D.C. on Oct. 29, followed by appearances in Richmond, Philly, and NYC.
Alaska Thunderfuck is one of the few Drag Race queens who managed to pull off a debut album, Anus, that was not merely tolerable, but fun, memorable, and genuinely unlike anything else, owing largely to her comedic sensibility and endlessly quotable personality.
The camp and comedy that are an inseparable part of the Alaska brand give a big boost to her fourth album, Red 4 Filth, released last month and serving as the basis of her current tour, which stops at the Howard Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 29, just in time for Halloween.
Red 4 Filth puts Alaska’s stellar sense of comedic timing on full display on the overly dramatic and winkingly funny “Beautiful (night 4 a) Breakdown,” a track that is at once an addictive and hilarious recounting of a mental health crisis.
Meanwhile, her deadpan laconic slurring puts a fun spin on a cover of “All That She Wants” that would make Ace of Bass proud. Closer “mmm mmm mmm,” a genuinely fun pop track that might be the album’s best, does stumble at one point, when Alaska references her 2016 win of All Stars 2, a season of Drag Race that by now feels like it belongs to a different cultural era altogether.
In fact, Drag Race hangs over Red 4 Filth — right down to the album’s title, which calls back to a fifth-season challenge that launched a thousand memes.
Although the show is where she made a name for herself, four albums in, and so far removed from her time on the reality series, the references and callbacks are beginning to seem stale.
Nevertheless, Alaska is a charismatic seasoned performer with an inimitable attitude whose live shows are legendary. It’s easy to see how many of the tracks could take on dynamism and dimensionality on stage. Only one way to find out.
Saturday, Oct. 29. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $95 for a VIP Meet & Greet before the show. Visit www.thehowardtheatre.com.
Other stops on the tour include The Canal Club in Richmond, Va. (11/2), Foundry at Fillmore in Philadelphia (11/3), Sony Hall in New York (11/4) and Paradise in Boston.
Ticket prices and availability vary from city to city. Visit www.alaskathunderfuck.com/tour.
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