Chappell Roan Pays Homage to Cult Classic ’90s Movie ‘Party Monster’ at Bonnaroo

When Chappell Roan took the stage at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee on Sunday, she paid homage to a cult classic film: Party Monster. The singer, real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, stepped out in a spandex dress and white go-go boots, similar to the outfits worn in a party scene in the Macaulay Culkin-starring film, the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer-songwriter pairing the look with a tray with a large needle syringe and a stethoscope.

The nod to the movie, which Roan confirmed when she shared a screenshot from the film to her Instagram Stories while tagging the festival, was a fitting one for the singer, who hails from the small midwestern town of Willard, Missouri, and often reflects on her midwestern roots in her music. In Party Monster, which is based on a true story, Culkin stars as Michael Alig, who, desperate to leave his boring Midwestern past behind, arrives on a Greyhound bus in New York City. After meeting downtown club kid James St. James and influential nightclub owner Peter Gatien, Alig decides to throw the most controversial and over-the-top parties in the city.

The singer’s set was a major draw for Bonnaroovians, so much so that Bonnaroo organizers ultimately made the decision to move her performance from one of the medium-sized “tent” stages to the second-largest stage at the festival. Fans, braving the 92-degree heat, began lining up for her performance hours before Roan hit the stage, with Ashley Drury telling The Tennessean that when she arrived six hours before the singer’s set, “there were already 30 people in front of us.”

Following her “Midwest Princess” intro, the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer kicked off her set with “Femininomenon,” a track from her 2023 debut studio album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. It was followed by “Naked in Manhattan,” “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl,” “HOT TO GO!,” “Red Wine Supernova,” “My Kink is Karma,” “Pink Pony Club” and more. She also sang an unreleased song, “The Subway,” which she first debuted at New York’s Governors Ball festival earlier this month.

“Can you believe it? We’re at Bonnaroo,” the singer told the crowd. “I’m so happy to be here. My name is Chappell Roan. We’re gonna have so much fun today, but if someone in the crowd needs help, just point to them.”

Roan also poked fun at her Party Monster-themed attire when she told the crowd that she could help because “she’s the doctor.”