Audio By Carbonatix
Peaches, Drums of Death
Granada Theater
June 12, 2009
Better than: the last show I was supposed to review for DC9.
It’s fitting that the most climactic moment of Peaches‘ nearly two-hour set at the Granada came before her two encores, as she finished her main set by launching into her breakthrough electro-clash hit, “Fuck The Pain Away,” probably the first Peaches single that many in the nearly sold-out crowd ever heard.
Peaches and Sweet Machine, the backing band on her current tour, went on to play several other hits, sure, but the crowd’s enthusiasm and intensity never fully returned after singing along with the performer for her biggest song.
It was the, um, climax of the night.
The opening act, Drums of Death cranked out some undeniably
danceable banger beats to open the show, but the raucous vocals from the man who helped produce Peaches’ latest release came off a bit pitch-y at times. Still, with his face painted black and white–a bit gimmicky a la
Insane Clown Posse–and with his logo projected
onto the big screens it was tough not to take notice of his performance (even if he was wearing his own band shirt).
For
the first half of his set, it seemed that the majority of the crowd was
trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Yet, despite a
non-responsive audience, Drums of Death continued performing, flailing
his arms energetically in an attempt to whip the crowd into a frenzy.
After about 30 minutes of flailing, the crowd started to give in.
Were they warming up to the act? Or had their drinks finally started to
kick in? It’s hard to say. Because, not long after people finally took
his bait, the set ended with Drums of Death diving into the crowd.
And in
the moments before Peaches took the stage, the temperature in the
Granada seemed to be escalating along with the crowd’s increased anticipation. Then, at 10:15 p.m. sharp, a recorded cover version of Divinyl’s “I
Touch Myself” filled the theater.
The eager crowd sang along.
So when the projection screen that covered the stage lifted, and Peaches was revealed standing behind it, she was welcomed by a roaring audience.
While sporting a lurid
getup somewhat resembling a pink Japanese lantern, or maybe even a
chewed up piece of bubble gum (needless to say, it was enormous, pink
and all-encompassing), she ironically opened with “Showstopper” off her
latest album, I Feel Cream, belting out the lyrics while jumping on top
of her drummer’s bass drum. It was an early indication of how energetic her
set would be.
She performed her next song “Trick or Treat,” while
still atop the bass drum. At that moment, though, she pulled back the head
piece of her costume revealing her blonde mullet, leaping off the drum
and landing legs spread, the first blatantly sexual gesture of the
night. All the while, she vamped, “There’s nothing wrong with a little bit
of… uh… uh…” as the crowd responded, rapturously, in dance.
The
first costume change of the night occurred during the performance of
her third song, where Peaches peeled off her pink fluff, revealing an
equally gaudy black-and-gold leotard. From this point onward, her
costume changes were frequent.
But, despite her reputation for
stripping down completely, Peaches did not reveal all to the receptive
crowd at the Granada Theater last night.
In fact, there was hardly
any smut at all. With the exception of a few phallic gestures made with
her microphone and some overly-sexualized exaggerated pelvic
thrusting, it was, all in all, a clean performance. Peaches’ shock-antics
were nowhere to be found; rather, she dazzled the crowd with a vastly
entertaining, high-energy performance.
She danced around on stage,
played the guitar, preformed smack-dab in the middle of the crowd and,
at one point during the night, scaled the right rafter, while
performing suspended two stories above the stage.
(Wait–she’s still a 40-year-old
former school teacher, right!?!?!)
Her energy was infectious, too–and
this became wildly apparent during her performance of “Shake Yer Dix.”
Not 30 seconds into the song, nearly half of crowd peeled off their
shirts. While most were content to swing their garments over their
heads, chanting along with the singer, some took it further, flinging
their shirts onto the stage.
And though she ended the night with two
encores, she still left her crowd wound up and wanting more. After last nights
performance, it’s safe to say that Dallas loves Peaches.
Critic’s Notebook
Random Note: This is the first show I’ve been to where I’ve personally
witnessed a guy fall over a ledge in a drunken stupor, faceplant, and,
within seconds, jump to his feet and start dancing like nothing
happened.
