Chappel chooses Devine for show support

DUMFRIES drag queen Devine Tension is on cloud nine after opening for music superstar Chappel Roan this week.

Devine –who is known as Dillon when out of drag – was one of three queens to open for the ‘Pink Pony Club’ singer at the Summer Sessions at the Royal Highland Centre near Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The Doonhamer described the day as an ‘out of body experience’. Explaining how she came to perform for a crowd of 29,500 after being approached by the singer’s team, Devine said: “Chappel’s team got in contact with me about a week beforehand. I got an email and at first I freaked out a little bit and, I won’t lie, I couldn’t believe it was real when I first read it.

“I took my friend Madam Jo with with me and we drove up to the Royal Highland Centre.

“When we got there the production assistants and everyone working with Chappel’s team were so attentive and lovely.”

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ON STAGE . . . Devine during her performance for 29,500 strong crowd[/caption]

Before strutting her stuff on the stage, Devine and her fellow queens, Rujazzle and Miss Peaches, got to meet Chappel backstage.

“She’s so tiny and very shy but she was the sweetest person, and we got to chat with her just before the show,” said Devine.

“The stage itself was massive and you could see the audience as we were walking into the backstage area, and they could see us and the reception with them just seeing us was insane - they all started screaming, it was crazy.

“I don’t really know how to describe the feeling of what it felt like to go on that stage, I was really nervous and had been for about 48 hours before.

“It was absolutely the biggest stage I’ve ever performed on, and it was packed. There was a sea of pink hats, that’s all you could see and it was great.”

Now back in Dumfries after her brush with stardom, Devine is more determined to continue to grow the town’s drag scene, adding: “I never thought something like this would happen to someone who hadn’t been on a TV show, obviously I’ve not been on Drag Race so I really think it’s a great thing that Chappel and her team have done to champion local drag in every city they go to and it’s really special because I never thought that was possible.

“I never predicted opening for Chappel until it happened so I’m really optimistic about the future.”