Meeting Legend, Icon, Star Trixie Mattel

I’ve never bought tickets to a Meet & Greet of any sort, let alone to meet and greet a drag queen, let alone to meet and greet my favourite clown in a gown of all time – Trixie Mattel. Here’s how the buffoonery went down.

When Trix announced she was coming back to Australia to premiere her 75-minute one woman show Skinny Legend, I knew I was going. I went to see her at Fluffy last year, my first drag show, and it was genuinely one of the best nights of my life. Seeing someone you love perform only metres away from you, surrounded by people who are just as happy and excited as you are, is incredible.

What I didn’t predict was that her M&G tickets would be a pretty doable $127? I usually disregard the  ‘Ultimate Sickening VIP Eleganza Extravaganza Meet & Greet‘ packages because they’re always around the $200+ mark. That, and the thought of meeting one of my idols strikes a casual fear into my heart. But when the ticket prices came out, my interest was higher than Trixie’s eyebrows.

“I kinda wanna get meet n greet tixs lmao omg” I messaged my friend Prue.

“Thank god, me too,” she replied.

8 months later (yes, tickets came out in July 2018 for her February 2019 tour) we were in the Brisbane Convention & Entertainment Centre (a weird place to see a drag queen, but a testament to Trixie’s success of needing a venue way bigger than a club) with 73 other VIPs. With my Trixie Mattel x Sugarpill makeup collection on my face, my new baby pink Skinny Legend merch t-shirt in hand and my outfit deliberately chosen because it looked slightly reminiscent of her All Stars 3 IQ Kitty look, the moment finally happened.

The ushers, well, ushered us into a proper line in front of a door. What I THOUGHT would happen is Trixie would be tucked (lmao) away from sight completely, with one person at a time disappearing into a separate room with optimum soft-focus drag queen lighting to get a quick professional photo with her before the next fan would be escorted in.

But no, we all stood in this line, the door swung open and bam! She was hit by a bus.

JK Kimora, but bam! She was standing there. Just like, RIGHT THERE.

“Hi!” She said to the first person in the line, as if we had just rocked up at her apartment. I think if I was that first person I would have dropped to the floor from the sheer abruptness, like a puppet with its strings cut. I took this little video, and those hearts are literally what I see whenever I see Tracy Martel.

The line moved quickly, and soon enough we were at the front, watching the girls before us get a photo each. Then WE were allowed in and I stood in the corner of the small room with Prue, not realising it was MY TURN to finally MEET AND GREET TRIXIE.

“Is this my playlist?” Trixie asked her assistant when we walked in, smiling and bobbing to a Spice Girls song that was playing. “Work.”

This is what I remember vividly. Number 1) Up close she looks exactly like you think she would look – so stunning! Her makeup is p h e n o m e n a l. It made me realise that when you see a celebrity in real life you think ‘oh wow THAT’S what they really look like, that’s what their skin looks like without TV makeup, that’s how tall/short they are,” etc, there are more surprises. With Trixie, it’s always the same exaggerated silhouette, the same iconic makeup, and it’s the same genuine demeanour. She just felt so FAMILIAR. And it was so comforting.

Number 2) I remember my cheeks just shaking uncontrollably. My cheeks literally isolated themselves on my face and were just doing their own damn thing – that’s how much I was smiling. In a blur I put my arm around her waist, felt her wig, immediately loosened my arm because I know queens hate it when you touch their hair, and my photo was taken. I don’t even remember looking at the camera. Trixie got Prue in for a group photo and as I was leaving her side for their duo shot, my brain cells finally came back from their lunch break and I remembered what I wanted to tell her.

Me, a humble fan: “I’m wearing your Sugarpill collab! I love it so much.”

THE Trixie Mattel: “Oh isn’t it amazing? You look so beautiful. And it’s so sold out. I only have one. How good is the blush though?”

Me, ascending into another realm: “So good!”

We got all our photos, thanked her endlessly and walked out, but not before her assistant made sure we collected our signed posters of her, part of the VIP tickets we bought.

Showtime now, and when we found our seats were realised we were in the fourth row from the front AND dead centre. I felt like I was sitting in front of the TV, or my laptop. I don’t know if I will EVER get seats this incredible for anything ever again.

“Welcome to my one woman show, where I play the woman.”

Her show was amazing. She did so much stand up, and it was all hilarious. I do wish she sung a couple more of her songs, because she’s an incredible country music artist. She did, however, sing Little Sister, both Prue and I’s favourite song from her, and it was everything. She wore two of the most incredible outfits I’ve ever seen her in, and since Brisbane was the first stop on her tour, no one had ever seen them before online either, making both her entrances grand AF.

Next up on my drag-agenda line up is a night with Katya later in the year, and I just know it will feel odd not getting to stand in that weird hallway again and say hello to her.

– Jessica xo