It was barely 48 hours after the internet basically exploded. Chappell Roan had just pulled out of the All Things Go festival in DC and NYC, citing a massive need to prioritize her mental health. People were losing their minds. Fans were crying in TikTok comments, and critics were sharpening their "is she ready for the big leagues?" pencils. Then, on October 1, 2024, she showed up in Franklin, Tennessee.
Honestly, the energy at the FirstBank Amphitheater that night was weird. It was a mix of "is she okay?" and "holy crap, she’s actually here." If you’ve ever been to the Graystone Quarry, you know it's a stunning spot, but getting there is a nightmare. Traffic was so backed up that Chappell actually delayed her set by about 40 minutes just so people wouldn't miss the opening. That’s the kind of stuff that doesn't make the headlines, but it mattered to the 7,500 fans sitting in the humidity.
The Scalper War of Franklin
Before the first note of "Femininomenon" even hit, Chappell Roan Franklin TN was already a case study in how to fight Ticketmaster. Or at least, how to try. When tickets first dropped, they vanished. Gone. Snapped up by bots in seconds.
Instead of just shrug-emoticoning it, Chappell and her team did something pretty ballsy. They went through and "scrubbed" the list. They identified thousands of tickets that were clearly bought by scalpers and just... canceled them.
"I'm genuinely so pissed about the scalper situation," she told fans on her IG stories. They re-released those tickets via a lottery system to actual humans. It didn't solve everything—some people still got burned by third-party sites that didn't transfer the tickets properly—but it was a rare moment of a pop star actually putting their money where their mouth is regarding fan access.
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Camo, Crowns, and the "Midwest Princess" Theme
There was some minor drama about the dress code. Look, Chappell fans take the themes seriously. Like, "spend three weeks sewing sequins on a thrifted corset" seriously.
For the Franklin date, the theme was "Midwest Princess." A lot of people were actually bummed about this. Why? Because Franklin is right next to Nashville, the spiritual home of the "Pink Pony Club" vibe. Everyone wanted glitter and cowboy hats. Instead, they got camouflage.
Chappell walked out in a camouflage ball gown that was both hideous and brilliant. It was a nod to her roots—realizing that Tennessee and Missouri (where she’s from) share that weird blend of rural grit and hidden glitter. The crowd eventually leaned into it. You saw people wearing hunting vests with tiaras. It was camp. It was messy. It was perfect for a show that almost didn't happen.
The Drag Queens of Nashville
You can't talk about the Franklin show without talking about the openers. Chappell doesn't do traditional opening acts. She hires local drag performers. In Franklin, we got:
- Coqueta
- Aquamarine
- Miss Alexia Noelle
She didn't just give them a stage; she gave them a lecture. Not to the queens, but to the audience. She basically told the crowd to "tip them, b****," reminding everyone that while she’s the one on the Billboard charts now, these queens are the ones keeping the queer community alive in the South every single weekend.
The Emotional Breaking Point
The most "human" part of the night wasn't the high notes or the "Hot to Go!" dance. It was the mid-show speech. Chappell has been very open about her struggle with "pop supernova" fame. She was recently diagnosed with severe depression, and you could feel that weight in the air.
She stopped the show to talk about how hard it is to be queer in the South. "I needed this so bad when I was 15," she told the crowd. You could hear her voice crack a bit. It wasn't a rehearsed PR speech. It felt like someone checking in with their own people after a really, really bad week.
She played "Kaleidoscope," a song she often skips because it's so emotionally draining. For those few minutes, the "Midwest Princess" persona dropped, and it was just Kayleigh Rose Amstutz trying to make sense of 7,500 people screaming her name while she felt like she was falling apart.
Why This Specific Show Mattered
A lot of people think the Chappell Roan Franklin TN show was just another tour stop. It wasn't. It was the "comeback" after her first major public stumble. If she had canceled Franklin, the narrative would have been "she's over." By showing up—even with the traffic delays, even with the exhaustion—she proved that she’s trying to find a balance between being a person and being a product.
What to know if you're heading to FirstBank for future shows:
- Arrive 2 hours early. Seriously. The parking at the quarry is a bottleneck from hell.
- Check the theme early. Chappell usually announces them on her Instagram or via fan accounts a few weeks out.
- Support the openers. Bring small bills. Those drag queens are local legends and they work harder than anyone else in the building.
If you're looking for the setlist from that night, it was pretty much the standard Midwest Princess run, but "California" and "Pink Pony Club" hit differently in a Tennessee valley. It felt less like a celebration and more like a collective exhale.
Next Steps for Fans:
If you missed the Franklin show or want to keep up with how she’s handling the tour, keep an eye on her official "Your Neighbour's Favorite Pop Star" site for ticket lottery updates. Also, if you’re in Middle Tennessee, go see Coqueta or Miss Alexia Noelle at their regular gigs in Nashville—supporting the local scene is literally what Chappell asked everyone to do before she left the stage.