After stomping around the Village within Birmingham's Southside, I arrived at 'The Fox' with plenty of time before Alesha Tryed would introduce herself and her supporting queens. It was a first time for me, I hadn't been to 'The Fox' before that Sunday evening in June 2021. I had seen many photos from the previous three editions of 'Carry On Camping' through Instagram or Facebook. Settling down in the beer garden with a drink in hand, I was about to see my first live drag performance since December 2019. That Philadelphia moment seemed like a world away, Birmingham had chosen itself to show me an honest form of local drag. I love RuPaul and his epic Drag Race but I prefer to see queens who haven't been on that show, some things are best left on the screen. It was amazing to see people interacting, sitting next to each other and drinking their drinks within a normal fashion, well as much as Boris would allow them. Who would be my favorite queen? Would 'The Fox' be a worthy venue? Southside! Another one? Eh!I was able to meet a long-time friend, Liam as Alesha walked into the venue! It was great to put a face to the name, well faces and names after communicating for such a long time over social media. I also met Rob and Keegan (Bondi) for the first time, as I had blogged for them during the fifth edition of my 'Life's A Drag' blog series. It was nice for it not be a work engagement, well of course I had my eye on those queens and the venue at the same time. There's always time for a blog feature! As the beer garden filled up, the dusk turned into early evening, even though COVID measures were in place it was lovely to be back out in a social setting. Moving to another table, I didn't pay any mind to the other five people on the bench because I was there to see the queens and that only! Are you sure? The drinks were flowing and to be honest I much preferred the card machines and table service, I was able to follow the rules and get suitably in a state. Where were those queens? Would I be seeing a future Ru-Girl? 'The Fox' was about to show me!
Alesha came to the stage, introducing herself and her show in her own special chaotic way. Alesha won't be visually featured in this post because I have showcased her image in 'Birmingham... Digbeth Murals, A Drag Revue & My English Breakfast', I didn't see the need to make this feature a four photo affair. If you want to see Alesha Tryed perform, check out her Instagram @aleshatryed and she can be found on YouTube as part of the trio, 'Two and A Half Queens'. Serving local queen Realness, four queens stood before us but they wouldn't need to lip-sync for their lives in that way! Taking to the stage we had Yshee Black, Harper Fugitives, Flick & Peaches Munroe for our entertainment. To make the first half of the evening, the queens performed a medley of camp and kitsch excellence for us all to see! I didn't know who the three local queens were but I was very interested to see how they would perform. Pulling stunts, dressed in beautiful garments, I was definitely served! Let me check my notes, oh there's more! Reminding me of 'Princess Fiona' from 'Shrek' because of their garment, Flick performed the house down! Proclaiming that they had come out as 'Non-Binary' during the lockdown, something positive happened to them during that period of confinement. Peaches Munroe, where do I begin? I was getting all kinds of 'Jessica Rabbit' Realness for sure! Harper Fugitives was sitting in the corner, I noticed Harper was sitting close by but when would she be performing? I didn't need to wait long, Harper stormed the stage at 'The Fox' and for what performance that I saw was worth the wait! For a complimentary show, the acts were supreme and for that I was thoroughly impressed to see such organic and honest performers who weren't demanding a huge fee for their snatched time. I had waited long enough to see Drag safely, I had made the right decision to see those three local queens within Birmingham's own Southside District on that beautiful Sunday! Fly high queens, I wish you every success for the future! Slay!
I had been waiting for one queen in-particular to make her presence known, Yshee Black would be that queen! Like Alesha, I had collaborated with Yshee Black during one of my recent 'Life's A Drag' blog features. I was staggered by Yshee's approachable nature, it was appreciated because some queens are apparently much too busy to answer my questions? Yes! Anyway, I introduced myself politely as the 'blogger' and Yshee knew who that was because we had been in brief contact through the medium of Instagram. I asked ever so nicely for a photo, Yshee accepted and said it would be possible during the interval time. I was majorly fan-girling and I didn't care, I was as close to meet a Ru-Girl and that was a lot! Yshee performed two numbers throughout the show, vacating the venue when she had a prior gig that she was headlining. It was a joy to see Yshee Black perform live, I had seen her series 'Pop Buzz' several times but to be in her presence at 'The Fox' was next level local Birmingham queen fantastic! Maybe, I am a Yshee super-fan?'Carry On Camping' was turning out to be an absolute scream! Alesha, Yshee, Flick, Harper and Peaches were all slaying before our very eyes, it was such a wholesome affair with an honest production on show for all to enjoy! The drinks kept on flowing, from cocktails to cider to then another Guinness, that state I was getting in took some work to get to! Ah the interval, Rob being the music maestro had the task to play some Eurovision bangers! Of course, I appreciated Moldova's 2021 entry 'Sugar' by Natalia Gordienko! Birmingham certainly gave me some serious sugar! Being in its infancy, 'Carry On Camping' is a Drag revue to watch out for! Would I pick up where I left off to see another one of 'Alesha's' shows? Without question, I would certainly rock up to 'The Fox' and to other venues to see such talented performers! Will Yshee be on the Race? Of course, this blog will be a credit to her journey because this Birmingham queen is going far! Wishing Flick, Harper and Peaches all the best! Alesha, keep on trying! Birm, I was dragged out! Southside, Who? I Don't Know Her! Joseph Harrison
