Live Review: Peaches @ The Gov

How do you know when you’re staring into the face of greatness? Is it the things they say? The way they carry themselves? The causes they stand for? Or is it the giant vagina hat that they’re wearing on their head? In this modern era (one that seems to get more frightening by the day) people are looking for a hero. A gender norm destroying, queer as hell, electronic dance queen hero. Well, her name is Peaches and she’s been tearing sh*t up since 1990.

At the age of 50, Peaches is continuing to bring her amazing spectacle of a show all throughout the world. Having established herself in the Berlin electronic scene of the late ’90s and 2000s, Peaches subsequently rose to prowess with unapologetic lyrics stripping away gender norms and sexual taboos, with seriously contagious dance beats to match. Her show at Adelaide’s The Governor Hindmarsh was a party of sensory overload, insane visuals and brainmeltingly fun music. In fact, one particular event that occurred on the night was so profound, Peaches declared it as one of the most beautiful and amazing things to have happened to her whilst on stage. But we’ll get to that later.

“…if you think Lady Gaga’s meat dress was noticeable you should have a look at Peaches’ boob outfit.”

Honestly, to think of it as any other casual concert is not really selling it right. Peaches is an experience. It’s a performance piece. It’s a dancefloor sanctuary for the weird and wonderful, guided by a fluorescent high priestess with an oddly beautiful mullet. You don’t just see a Peaches concert, you are swallowed up by it.

It began with a dance by two hair monsters (her two dancers dressed akin to that of a yeti), prancing around to a harpsichord track. As they warmed the stage up (kind of like when a cat kneads it’s next resting space), the crowd armed themselves with glowsticks and dusted on an extra layer of glitter. Then Peaches made her entrance, and what an entrance! One of the teaches of Peaches (and there are many) is that if one wants to make a memorable entrance into any setting, wearing a vag as a hat is most certainly a good way to do it.

This was just the beginning of Peaches’ expansive wardrobe. Honestly, if you think Lady Gaga’s meat dress was noticeable you should have a look at Peaches’ boob outfit. Peaches and her dancers gyrated their way through an expanse of tracks from her various albums, everything from her debut ‘Teaches of Peaches’, to ‘Fatherfucker’, ‘Impeach My Bush’, and most recent release ‘Rub’.

Specifying highlights of such a show is hard, as every moment is out of this world (in a good way)… unless of course you have epilepsy, because then you’d be in a seizure not 15 minutes into the show. There’s nothing quite like seeing two people doing tribal dance moves whilst wearing masks that look like a combination of Ooga Booga from Crash Bandicoot, and a…well, a vagina, whilst the strobe light is blaring and a half-naked queen is waving a feather boa in the air. It’s kind of mind melting.

“She’s clever, she’s funny, she knows what she’s doing, and she’s never shied away from it, and that’s a true sign of greatness, vagina hat or not.”

There was no short supply of gimp masks, whips, chains, leotards, neon colours and nudity. A real standout however was the performance of Dick In The Air, one of the singles off of 2015’s ‘Rub’. This was mainly because of the giant, inflatable appendage that was projected over the crowd and which Peaches performed inside of. Yes, she performed in an actual dick in the air. Honestly, what more could you want?

Peaches’ stage presence is nothing short of mystical. She walked across the crowd like they were water, and she was Jesus. Not in a metaphorical way, that is literally something she did. She actually had the hands of gig-goers holding her feet as she walked on top of the crowd. Her mullet brushed the ceiling and everything. That’s some messiah level sh*t going on there.

Her two biggest hits, Boys Wanna Be Her and Fuck the Pain Away, were of course earth shattering moments. But the best came towards the end of the show, where an audience member at the front barrier bared her naked chest and sprayed her breast milk all over Peaches. Like a hose, of breast milk. Peaches subsequently yelled, “Oh my god, the most beautiful thing just happened! I have always wanted someone to spray their mother’s milk onto me!”.

It was declared as one of the best moments of her entire stage career and the woman, who had basically just become a much queerer version of John the Baptist, was brought onstage. It was a truly unifying experience for everyone. So much so that Peaches and her team stuck around for two encores.

Peaches and her show is such an important and wonderful thing to celebrate. It’s a place where openness, liberty, and art can be freely expressed. Through her music and craft she has fostered a voice of insurmountable strength. She’s clever, she’s funny, she knows what she’s doing, and she’s never shied away from it, and that’s a true sign of greatness, vagina hat or not.