Alaska serves drag anthems and gets comfortable with the audience in Manila show

MANILA, Philippines — Drag queen Alaska 5000 brought stunning costume reveals, sang a megamix of drag anthems and broke down the barrier between the artist and the audience in one night.

Alaska was back in Manila for the second time last Thursday to hold her show called "An Evening with Alaska," an unexpectedly generic name for a drag show of a known marketing marvel but strangely apt for a gig which, she said, changes and adapts to whatever mood the night brings. 

And whatever the evening has in store, fans are red-y.

The drag queen who embodies the persona of a campy extraterrestrial from the planet Glamtron started the show with the hit "Your Make Up is Terrible," a brilliant satire on the formulaic style of the dance music genre that got her hailed as a potential heir to the drag diva crown of RuPaul.

She also sang other fan-fave hits with tongue-in-cheek topics like "Walk into the Club," which sprung after fellow campy queen and "Drag Race" Season 8 winner Bob the Drag Queen commented how scenes or lyrics about walking inside a club have become quintessential in modern dance music. 

Alaska's knack for finding humor in everything mirrors "Drag Race's" mantra not to take life that seriously.

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Her set also included hits like "Nails" and "Stun" while other music in her repertoire like "Valentina" was included in a megamix of songs pitched in by the audience.

In the middle of her show, Alaska treated the crowd to an opportunity to get more comfortable with her as she roamed around the hall taking in questions in a portion called "Can I Asssssk You a Question?" — which harks back to a segment she hosts during the countdown to the coronation of the winner of "Drag Race."

But before she said byeeeeee in her classic valley-girl drawl, she had an encore of two more songs after loud chanting from the audience which she wittily initiated as part of a bit. The fans, however, really didn't need the prodding anyway as they shouted and chanted for her to return to the stage.

She indulged the children who are waiting for her to sing her iconic lines in the "Read U Wrote U" challenge, strutting around the concert hall as fans ran to the aisles so they can snap a selfie, taking cue from her earlier encouragement to just take one after one audience member asked her about it. 

She ended with her 2016 hit "The T," which was released after she won Season 2 of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars," a song where she spilled truth bombs about her exes, drama during her stints in the reality drag competition and other scandals.

In the end, all who spent the evening with Alaska were left gagging. — Mikas Matsuzawa