There’s no doubt that Rhinestone Cowboys and camp Country & Western aesthetic is currently dominating the popular-culture zeitgeist, with bedazzled cowboy hats, costumes draped in a frenzy of fringing, and flashy chaps (of garment and person), soundtracked by artists such as Orville Peck and Chappell Roan further concreting the intersections of old-school masculinity and colourful queer culture. Florian Wild’s Midnight Rodeo is no exception.

Self-described “RSPCA-certified Show Pony” Florian Wild has rounded up a gang of ‘circus sharpshooters, comedy desperadoes, cabaret vixens, and burlesque bandits’; a rotating cast of some of Australia’s brightest queer talent, transforming the Ukiyo into a sensational saloon where audiences will hoot and holler for the night’s entertainment. As emcee, singer, and costumière Wild handed the audience fiery vocals, devastatingly funny characters, and hand made couture that walks all over mainstream fashion and art with their tall, plaid boots.

First out the gate Lachlan MacDonald lassoed us in with impressive feats on a mighty aerial rope; climbing, suspending and tumbling from the sky, all with an ever cheeky wink. It is a clichè to describe aerial performances such as this ‘gravity defying’, but it truly did seem that Lachlan simply charmed his way into convincing gravity to look the other way even just for a few minutes, to have his moment to charismatically swing into the hearts of the crowd.

Introduced as a ‘pocket rocket on stage, and Polly Pocket off’, Florence Fable sure packed the promised punch as the feathered, fringed and fulgurating feisty femme, who would surely command her way in any raucous saloon of old. A small but mighty crowd did not dull her fierce burning energy, packed like a railroad cart full of TNT bursting in a mighty cloud of pink and diamond shimmer.

South Australian local taking the country by storm; any show the sharp-shooting draglesque extraordinaire Dorian Courtisan appears in is one you want to see. Not just a pretty face, this gender-blending performing prodigy will slink around investigating the desires at hand, close the case with their leather holsters laden on his hip, and tackle any plot-twist with charm and smile.

The final draw of the deck for the night’s show; Bella de Jac emerges as the embodiment of the cheeky and impish joker, a sucker for love inquisitively searching out all the hearts they can find. A cracking performance clad in camp costume, this curiously enchanting, whip-cracking little devil delighted (and frightened!) their way to win the bouquet, and our hearts.

So gather your girls, gays and theys, boots, hats and chaps, and ride at dawn becuase the sun sets on Florian Wild’s Midnight Rodeo this Sunday night. Until then, they’re taking this town.

Florian Wild’s Midnight Rodeo  March 3-8 2026
Ukiyo, Gluttony
Tickets here
4 stars
By Arthur N