MILWAUKEE — Influencer Trisha Paytas delivered a high energy show Sunday night to a sold out Riverside Theater at the final stop on the Midwest leg of her “Eras of Trish Tour.”
You might ask yourself what Gerard Way, Troy Bolton and Glinda all have in common. The answer, of course, being that Paytas has cosplayed as each of them on the internet during the many eras that make up her digital footprint.
The show began with a video montage of Paytas’ online history, from her YouTube beginnings to iconic quotes and her viral “King Tut” TikTok. Over the course of the night, Paytas performed her way through six different eras, including her “Disney Channel Era,” “Postpartum Princess Era,” “Fat Chicks Era,” “Sad Girl Era,” “Musical Theater Era” and “Hits Era.”
The theater, filled with a mix of chronically online Gen Zers and visibly confused theater staff, buzzed with energy and excitement. Attendees dressed as various versions Paytas, including “Van Gogh” music video Trish, “Gerard Way” Trish, “King Tut” Trish and fast food worker Trish — which prompted Paytas’ impromptu costume change when said attendees passed a Culvers apron and visor up to the stage.
Paytas opened with the song “Bet on It” from “High School Musical 2” while her remake of the music video played on a screen behind her before transitioning right into “What Dreams Are Made Of” by Hilary Duff.
From the start of the show to the very end, the crowd enthusiastically danced and sang along, cheering Paytas on as she told personal anecdotes in between songs and dance sequences by her four dazzling backup dancers.
At one point during the show, Paytas addressed rumors about Pope Francis being reincarnated into Paytas’ third child, who is due in July 2025.
While Paytas told concert goers she was a little put off at the reincarnation rumors during her first pregnancy, she leaned into the joke this time around.
“Right here, there’s the pope,” Paytas told the crowd, pointing to her stomach. “The pope might be coming soon, I don’t know.”
When Paytas was pregnant with her first child, Malibu Barbie in 2022, she gave birth just days after Queen Elizabeth’s passing, leading to a firestorm of memes claiming her child was a reincarnation of the queen.
Paytas added that someone had left a sparkly cheesehead hat and a cake that said “Pope Francis Paytas” in her dressing room.
“Milwaukee is so wild,” Paytas said. “No other theater has ever done that. They’re wild.”
" data-width="0" data-height="0" data-align="" />
Paytas also expressed her love for the Midwest and acknowledged the years it took to get her career off the ground, thanking the crowd for all the love and chaos.
“You can take the girl out of the Midwest but not the Midwest out of the girl,” Paytas told an impassioned crowd. “We are literally in the Midwest, we are all mids.”
The show closed out with her “Hits Era,” during which Paytas performed “I Love You Jesus” and “Freaky,” both of which have 10 million and five million streams on Spotify, respectively.
While Paytas’ talents are at times questionable, you cannot deny that she embodies authenticity and makes up for any deficits with passion. Despite the many ups and downs of Paytas’ career, this show was the epitome of what dreams are made of.
Anna Kleiber is a former state news editor and arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has written in-depth on elections, legislative maps and campus news, and lead reporting on the fall presidential election. Anna will spend the summer as the 2025 Sharon Stark political reporting intern with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has previously interned with WisPolitics and Madison Magazine. Follow her on X @annakleiber03.
