Perfume Genius Celebrates Album Milestone at Music Hall of Williambsurg
Perfume Genius ā Music Hall of Williamsburg ā September 17, 2024
The unfortunate truth about being alive is that joy can be evasive. But the flip side is that when it surfaces, it can be transcendent. Perfume GeniusĀ is expert at mirroring that high-low. The music of Mike Hadreas, his vocals that waver between pain and pomp, exists in that liminal space. And itās why his live sets are so exciting, so vivacious.
On Tuesday night, for the 10th anniversary ofĀ Too Bright, PG played the album top to bottom to a sold-out crowd. Hadreas was as evocative as ever, still the perfect messenger for a record that hasnāt lost its shape in the passage of time.Ā In a shimmery shirt-jacket, unbuttoned just so, he began with the piercing opener,Ā āI Decline.āĀ (āI can see for miles / The same old line / No, thanks / I decline.ā)
But, overall, there was a certain lightness to the evening: After the hitĀ āQueen,āĀ he joked about the oddity of playing it second, when for 10 years theyād closed with it. In between a couple tracks, he whispered something to his guitarist, then turned back to the crowd, saying, āJust a little secret.ā Hadreas was an alluring flirt, his body shimmying and moving lithely through the music and his coy smile never far behind. But the sex is tempered with an ear so stupendous and songs so brilliantly composed that they defy easy stereotyping. TakeĀ āMy Body,āĀ a short, dark-edged treatise that lives more in metal than pop. Or the following track, the spare piano balladĀ āDonāt Let Them InāĀ that quakes with vulnerability.Ā
The pleasures of Perfume Genius are many, and among them were the performance of two songs Hadreas noted didnāt make it ontoĀ Too Bright. (āHow?!āĀ one might ask and/or exclaim.) Another pleasure: A closer ofĀ āSlip AwayāĀ (No Shape,Ā 2017) into ⦠āQueen,ā again. This proved almost too much for the gentleman behind me on the rail, who could barely contain his joy, nearly taking flight into the crowd.
Tuesday proved a special night for the listeners at Music Hall, but it should be memorable for Hadreas, too. His craft not only deserves the revisit but also the celebration. I hope he shared in it with us all.Ā āRachel Brody |Ā @RachelCBrody
Photos courtesy of Savannah Lauren | @savannahlaurenphoto











