Bianca Del Rio is back on the road and no one is safe – thank gawd!
The RuPaul’s Drag Race superstar is kicking off her latest tour, Dead Inside, with 60 stops across the United States and Canada. The tour kicks off on Feb. 12 in San Diego, CA and is currently booked until May 2024.
After finishing up her last tour, Unsanitized, in 2022, Del Rio is excited to get back on the road. “I’ve had some time off,” she tells Out. “I thought I would be doing a lot more television and film, but there was a little thing called the Writers’ Strike, so not much went on in that world. But I’m excited to get back on the road, and there’s so much to discuss again, with the world as it is. You know, it’s been a year. That’s a long time for a drag queen to hide.”
Between tackling the post-lockdown world with Unsanitized and going back on the road with Dead Inside during a presidential election year, the queer community once again needs Del Rio’s irreverent, audacious, and unyielding sense of humor to come together and share a laugh.
“It’s an election year in America, which means there’s going to be endless sh*t to discuss,” she says with her signature laugh. “I think it’s important to discuss it. In these trying times, we need to laugh at it. We need to laugh at ourselves. I mean, for Christ’s sake, I’m the biggest joke there is. But we’ve got politicians that are getting kicked out for being a hot mess, like Ms. Santos. There’s so much to cover. Hopefully Mitch McConnell’s funeral, let’s hope.”
When I mention that I’m a Floridian, Del Rio immediately quips back about Ron DeSantis: “Her with the heels! The nerve! Her wearing those heels and saying that drag queens can’t perform. Oh, I can’t wait for Florida. I can’t. No one ever says that, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Besides the upcoming presidential election, 2024 is also ringing in the 16th season of Drag Race. As the winner of season six, there’s now been an entire decade of seasons between Del Rio’s time on the show and the current cycle of the flagship series.
“In some ways you go, ‘Oh my God, that was 20 years ago.’ And in some ways you’re like, ‘That was yesterday,’” Del Rio muses. “I was grateful for those seasons early on, because we were the only franchise that was on television for quite some time. We really got it good in the early years. I’m grateful that I still get to work. I’m grateful that the show is still around. I’m grateful that drag is brought into people’s living rooms.”
She jokes, “It also does make it a bit confusing. Something like DragCon, when endless drag queens say, ‘Hey girl, hey girl,’ and I don’t know who the f*ck they are or where they came from. But they’re always very nice.”
I bring up that Bob The Drag Queen has recently been saying in the Sibling Rivalry podcast that it’s wild how she can no longer recognize most of the drag queens working in New York City.
“Oh god, yes!” Del Rio reacts. “Right after Drag Race, we had many viewing parties and I was still in New York City. Literally within a year, two years, three years, you’re like, ‘Who the f*ck is this? What happened to her?’ And at my age, they all go, ‘Girl, she died.’ That’s when I start to realize I’m an old person. I’m glad that Bob is feeling the heat now [laughs].”
As she prepares to hit the road with Dead Inside, Del Rio reflects on what she’s most excited about going on a new tour. “Just seeing people again… it’s been a hot minute,” she says. “A lot of the Drag Race alumni, and that’s using very big words for these other c*nts that are from Drag Race, complain about meet-and-greets. I absolutely love the meet-and-greet part. I meet 150 to 200 people a night, and it’s the best part of the night because you get to cackle with these people who are interested in you, who enjoy you, who paid to f*cking see you.”
Del Rio adds, “I used to work in a bar where nobody even showed up on certain nights. There’d be two people a night. Sometimes two, sometimes a hundred. It’s the humbling part of all of it. You realize people are there to support you, and how lucky you are. Not to mention they give you the best gifts and the best f*cking material. Within the first 10 minutes, you know everything about these people. They can’t wait to tell you. They’re like, ‘Oh girl, we brought my friend here and she’s got this and that.’ And I’m like, ‘Perfect, it’s all stuff I can then use on the show.’”
Truly no one is safe with Bianca Del Rio on tour, and we love every single minute of it!
For tickets and more information about Bianca Del Rio’s Dead Inside Tour, you can visit TheBiancaDelRio.com.
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