Nashville Pride weekend's top musical moments: Chelsea Cutler, Billy Porter, Tinashe perform

Pride Month in Nashville came to a pinnacle on Saturday and Sunday as a star-studded lineup of LGBTQ+ performers—and musicians with queer fanbases—hit the stage in Music City.

The Nashville Pride Festival saw performances from Slayyyter, Shea Couleé, Tinashe, Billy Porter, Icona Pop, G Flip and many more. All the while, across the city, Chelsea Cutler played an intimate Saturday show at the 1 Hotel and DJ Sam Gee turned tables at The Basement East.

Here's our rundown of five of the weekend's biggest musical performances in honor of Nashville Pride.

Shea Couleé struts and belts on Bicentennial Park stage

Drag queen and musician Shea Couleé—and a three-peat "Rupaul's Drag Race" contestant and fifth season winner—performed an early evening show in Bicentennial Park.

R&B and pop singer Couleé hit the stage as part of the city's Pride Festival, braving the heat to bring her own fire to the stage.

The "Cocky" singer said, "Yasss, Nashville! What's good? Happy Pride, girls! We out here being gay...I love it."

"Literally my favorite thing in the whole world is to get in full drag and go out in 95-degree heat, in direct sunlight, and perform in front of all you guys," she added. "I'm so excited!"

With charm, Couleé told the crowd to stop photographing her after two numbers because she knew she'd soon be "sweating like Latrice Royale in a well air-conditioned room."

Then, wearing a rainbow wig and a colorful daisy-covered bra and skirt, Couleé performed hits including "Collide," "Crème Br?lée," "Divine" and New Phone Who Dis?"

Couleé's two rainbow-clad backup dancers strutted and gyrated alongside Couleé, who brought her signature "style like Kim and curves like Nicki" as she sang and danced.

Chelsea Cutler delivers intimate, fan-driven show at 1 Hotel

As Couleé's set wrapped up across town, Chelsea Cutler was gearing up to perform on top of the 1 Hotel downtown at Harriet's Rooftop.

The indie-electronic singer-songwriter, producer and queer icon hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. as the sun began to set behind her.

Unlike the crowded Bicentennial Park Pride celebration, the rooftop only held a hundred-or-so die hard Cutler fans who chose to sport all-black looks and trendy fashions over the rainbows and glittery styles across town.

Known for songs "Your Bones" and "you were good to me," Cutler and her band were all smiles as they kicked off their Pride show.

The show had a casual feel—Cutler's fans even held up lyrics for her at one point on an older song she added to the setlist impulsively, she told the crowd.

Before Cutler performed, she shared her Pride Month wisdom with The Tennessean.

"I think the cool thing about there being almost eight billion people in the world is that there is...a pocket of friends who are going to bring out the best in you and make you feel comfortable and empower you," she said. "If you don't have those people around you yet, they exist."

She continued, "It's an awesome time to be part of the queer community. I saw a TikTok about these girls in college talking about hooking up with other chicks...and when I was in college, it was really not cool."

"(It's) a great time to be young and queer!"

Tinashe brings her hip-hop best as Saturday night festival headliner

R&B singer and dancer Tinashe took the main stage at Bicentennial Park as the Pride Festival's Friday night headliner.

The multi-platinum musician, known for songs "Nasty" and "2 On," donned a white t-shirt with a black vest on top and hit the stage with four backup dancers wearing jerseys.

Tinashe delivered her hip-hop best as she performed songs "Unconditional," "Story Of Us," and "Sunburn," dancing in front of a background showing neon, trippy flashes of color.

On song "All My Friends" by Snakehips, which features Tinashe and Chance the Rapper, the crowd went wild as she sang, "All my friends are wasted / And I hate this club / Man I drink too much."

"You guys have been such an amazing audience...It really means so much to me, seeing all you on the crowd singing all the words," Tinashe said. "It’s been such a crazy ride especially these past couple of months."

At one point, Tinashe brought out members of the Iconic House of Ebony to dance alongside her before bringing the house down with her biggest hits.

Icona Pop delivers chic Swedish electronica DJ set

Synth-pop duo Icona Pop, comprised of Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt, came all the way from Sweden to perform at Nashville Pride.

Though they had to start 45 minutes late due to storm delays, the two DJs hit the stage at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday evening.

The two sported a matrix-vogue look, wearing all black and sunglasses. They said, "Nashville, happy pride! Are y'all ready to party with us? We came all the way from Stockholm!"

"We haven’t been here in like 10 years. That’s too long. But we know this crowd, we have high expectations," Hjelt said into the mic.

They started with song "I Want You," their tune with producer Galantis, as rainbow psychedelic screens glittered in the background behind them.

The crowd danced along to their set, which included song "All Night," remixes of "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & The Papas, Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," ABBA's "Gimme Gimme" and Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry on Their Own."

They even played a techno remix of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton.

With ground shaking bass, the duo closed out with their biggest song, "I Love It," which features Charli XCX.

Billy Porter brings Broadway flair to Bicentennial, closes out Pride

Billy Porter—Broadway's finest—graced the main stage of the Nashville Pride Festival for the final performance on Sunday night, which was also pushed back due to rain.

The "Black Mona Lisa" singer wore a silver corset top and beaded pants and started his theatrical R&B, Broadway-pop fusion set with song "Children (What Time Is It)."

Alongside four backup dancers in white and black looks, Porter showed off his vocal chops and dancing expertise. He leaned into a funky disco feel with song "Broke a Sweat" and new single "Leap."

The highlight of Porter's set was when he performed some tunes from the Broadway musical "Kinky Boots," for which he won a Tony Award in 2013. Porter portrayed the leading role Lola, a drag queen and cabaret performer who helps save a high-heeled boot business.

As Porter belted, he went down into a runway that ran through the crowd, singing while he touched arms with fans who flocked to the barricade.

During the song, Porter shouted angrily, saying that state representatives were trying to take away LGBTQ+ rights as he alluded to the State Capitol behind him. The crowd cheered in support of Porter, who urged the audience to act in defiance.

Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Top musical performances during Nashville Pride: Chelsea Cutler, Billy Porter, Tinashe