Magic & Mirages: Thank God for a Night with Semler

3.22.26 - Chicago, IL

The venue was as simmering with energy as queer folks from the Chicagoland area gathered in anticipation for Semler’s Mirages Tour.

Semler fans talking with Semler’s dad at merch table

Many fans held roses and wore their own Semler merch creations, if not dressed in official Semler merch, some of which were unique pieces handmade by their dad, titled “dad merch.” I overheard fans talking to dad at the merch booth about how late they were up the night before ironing the letters to their shirt.

Semler has enthusiastically encouraged fans to attend this run of shows, not only to join and sing Semler songs together, but notably because the opening lineup includes an artist local to the city they’re performing in, as well as a local magician. That’s right, a magic act to open the show. Abby Segal, Chicago magician, took the stage as the room filled with applause. The crowd was thrilled and thoroughly entertained as Abby turned three separate ropes into one, called on audience members for help clicking through Wikipedia pages as Abby read their mind, and even invited Semler to the stage for a few card tricks. Opening with a magic show brought energy and connection to the room, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

Janeece

Janeece is a Chicago born and raised musician who writes indie pop songs about love, loss, and self-discovery. Janeece took the stage armed with nothing more than her laptop of backing tracks and a microphone in a gingham orange flowing skirt. With a smile on her face, she opened up her set with songs from her most recent album The Sun Will Come Out.  Janeece addresses how many of her songs are about a past toxic relationship, particularly her personal favorite “Fuck Around & Find Out”. The room filled with a choir of “boos” as she acknowledged this toxic relationship, laughing quickly she reassured the crowd “it’s okay it got better!” as she pointed to the engagement ring on her left hand. Janeece’s set alternated through unreleased songs that are to be on her next album, and songs from The Sun Will Come Out, throwing in a gorgeous cover of Gigi Perez’s “Sailor Song,” which the crowd loved. She sang of themes of new love, past hurt, queer joy and whimsy, one of my favorite lyrics being from her unreleased song “Love Wasted” - “is it inevitable that a piece of ourselves falls away when we fall in love?”. Janeece wrapped up her set with “Fat Chance”, another recent single, before the crowd erupted in applause and cheers for her talent as she left the stage.

Grace “Semler” Baldridge is well-known for being a queer, Christian artist - something many traditional folks would consider antonyms or even not possible. By speaking openly online about the queer Christian experience, Semler has created a unique community that almost feels like a family when you’re gathered around the stage. Queer folks from all backgrounds, varying identities, different generations, coming together to “Praise & Rage” (Semler’s tagline). 

Semler opened with a set of songs from their very recent album Mirages, but fans already were singing along to every word despite only being released a week and a half ago. Semler introduced the next set of older songs, the first of which being a mashup of their recent release “Math” and a 2019 released demo “The Werewolf”. “Late Bloomer”, “Don’t Tell Anyone” and “I’d Show Up” followed, songs from Semler’s 2021, 2022, and 2023 EPs respectively. 

Semler

While the energy was already high in the room, jumping into an Evanescence cover (“Bring Me To Life”) was an unexpected but effective way to crank it up even higher. Semler introduced it by remembering their childhood, raised by a preacher, full of almost exclusively Christian music, thus informing the room that it is in fact a Christian song if you listen closely. 

Back to their original songs, Semler mentions the theme of love and longing in their music, “if you love someone, you should tell them, and you should never be scared to love”. Something that resonated with everyone in the room I’m sure, but especially a message to the queer folks that may have been raised to be ashamed of their love.

Semler introduces their song “Chyna” next, and finally the dots are connected as to why the audience came armed with roses. Joanie “Chyna” Laurer was a WWE wrestler in the 1990’s. She fought her way to the top of WWE fighting men, becoming the first woman to be the number one contender for WWE Championship in the late 90’s. Chyna passed at the age of 46 from a drug overdose years after being removed from the WWE (the assumption is this was because she asked for equal pay as the men at her level).

As aforementioned, Semler was raised in a Christian household and wasn’t exposed to any media that was not distinctly Christian, but she got glimpses of Chyna on magazine covers and through conversations on the playground, finally exploring deeper in adulthood. Chyna has not been inducted into the WWE hall of fame for her solo career, the industry providing a variety of excuses including her death, and this is something Semler has grown to be very passionate about, thus the subject of the song. Semler prompts the audience to throw their roses to the front if they brought them, to give Chyna the flowers she never got but has always deserved. 

Closing out the night with their encore set of one of their biggest songs “Jesus from Texas”. The night ended with what Semler referred to as “the gayest worship song ever - Thank God for That”. The room erupted with “I’m fucking gay and thank God for that” as the audience rejoiced and celebrated in their identities that brought them all together on a Sunday night. 

“This Little Light of Mine” - Semler