Big Freedia’s triumphant return to Portland

The Big Easy has got it all on lockdown: Creole babes, Cajun gumbo, drive-thru booze, Mardi Gras and a burgeoning new subgenre known as “Sissy Bounce” with Nola’s own Big Freedia as the Queen Diva. Her majesty will be performing live at Holocene’s “Buck and Bounce 5” on Friday, April 8 in an attempt to throw her previous performance under the bus. Will she muster up the gusto to outfox her late night Sassy’s gate-crashing?

Freedia is still known in Portland for her seemingly spur of the moment booty-moving late-night Sassy’s mini-show. During last year’s MFNW, after opening for Major Lazer, she hauled ass to the famed eastside strip club and stormed the stage. With an audaciously unmitigated 12-minute jaunt with BF performing the tracks “Gin In My System,” “Azz Everywhere” and “Rock Around The Clock,” BF kept the entire club moving with dollar bills and yelling fans everywhere. Into The Woods TV even captured the whole thing. Watch the video and it’ll be the only time you’ve ever seen footage from the inside of a strip club.

If you were in New Orleans, you could see Big Freedia almost any night of the week—but alas, you are not. That said, you should feel blessed that one of the Bounce scene’s most adept performers is in town. “There’s nothing like Freedia shows,” says local artist Onuinu. “Everyone is just there to get down.”

Freedia performs a subgenre of Bounce known as “Sissy Bounce,” which in recent years has been embraced by the LGBTQ community for its themes including (but not limited to) cross dressing, partying, self-empowerment and homosexuality.

Around 2009, BF decided to expand her touring to multi-coastal levels by taking her show on the road to share it with the world, performing at any and every town between the east and west coasts with other cutting edge artists such as Spankrock, Major Lazer and even Japanther. Often times she tours with her DJ, Rusty Lazer and a full brigade of dancers. Most shows even include a multitude of dance lessons in which Freedia shows you how to get into the groove of the rapid fire rhythms and syncopations of tunes like some of her biggest hits, like the previously mentioned “Gin in my system” and “Azz Everywhere.”

Bounce music grew out of the ghettos, housing projects and mean streets of New Orleans as early as the ’80s; however, it was not mainstreamed until the 1991 single “Where Dey At” by MC T. Tucker and DJ Irv. Bounce is known for its call/response and chant style anthems that are often times hypersexual in nature. The raps, calls and chants are usually sung over samples of The Showboys’ “Drag Rap,” Cameron Paul’s “Brown Beat” and Derek B’s “Rock the Beat.”

Beyondadoubt is practically synonymous with all things original in Portland. Hailing from an undisclosed locale somewhere in the South, Beyonda has delivered an incredible facelift to Stumptown’s partying scene. Her always-packed once-monthly dance night “I’ve Got a Hole In My Soul” has proven to be a rump shakin’ go-to for everyone from the country’s most talented soul DJs to PSU students. You can definitely expect to hear some of her highly potent Bounce edits and definitely watch out for some of her most favorite Memphis, Bounce and Dirty South tracks.

You’ll have a ripping good time at Holocene with Big Freedia, Rusty Lazer and Beyonda this Friday, as it’s pretty clear you should not miss this show. BF will give another truly priceless performance you won’t want to skip out on, considering she’s here only once or twice a year at the most. Advance purchase of tickets is recommended, as this show is almost certain to sell out fast. ?