If Hadreas was the queen of the night, Interpol were the kings, bringing their powerful guitars in full action and having a triumphant night. The crowd was so enthusiastic, they had to come for a second encore, and, toward the end of the show, some puissant girls pushed people to get in the front, and even started a serious brawl just behind me
rock nyc is ground zero for Perfume Genius, we love him so much it is sickening. Not just me, though it is me who is going to see him at Studio 58 on Thursday, but Alyson Camus as well. She wrote this (here) about his LA show last October: “Several times during the show, I discretely looked at the young guy who was standing next to me and I saw that he was crying, crying real tears, and it broke my heart a few times… But this is the incredible power of sincere music…” I don’t think I’ll be crying but, who knows?
rock-pop stars have always wanted to wear stuff for shock value, decades ago many rockers found it was really cool to wear Nazi propaganda, from Sid Vicious to Scott Weiland, Lemmy, Jimmy Page,… while in the 90’s Axl Rose went on stage every night wearing a Charles Manson shirt and that was really stupid
Paul didn’t play the nostalgia vibe too much, of course there were plenty of old songs, but some new ones too, and his dynamism on stage and simplicity while talking to the huge crowd was so comforting. From my seat, he looked like a tiny ant at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but he ignited the sea of people, and the sing-alongs were heart warming
The battle here isn’t internal, it is against forces outside Mike Hadreas, perhaps the social bulling for those out of step, or perceived out of steppedness with the world, the otherness of sound and vision reckoning sideways into the Low-Fi of Bowie and Eno except in 2014 it sounds commercial
There’s certainly something unique that transpires from each Perfume Genius’s video, may be it is the cold stare, the red lipstick, or the manicured red nail polish, but I can’t stop watching and I am not even gay!
When I left the club, I realized I was wearing a Queens of the Stone Age shirt, and I asked myself, how could I possibly love two opposite sides of the male spectrum such as Mike Hadreas and Josh Homme?
Both “Queen” and “Slow” are razor sharp self portraits that among the top 20, maybe not Top 10, songs of the year. “Human Sadness” is ten minutes long and if it can work, anything can work –by the middle you’ll be surprised how beautiful it is. And “Intro” is a perfect overture.
The album is filled with brief songs transcribing an impressive range of raw emotions with gorgeous piano melodies, melancholic strings, experimental synths, electronic violence, piercing screams, noisy beats and Hadreas’ fierce and touching vocals.
Among the dead ones, Woody Guthrie had the terrible degenerative neural disorder called Huntington’s disease, Frederic Chopin had cystic fibrosis, and Miles Davis had sickle cell anemia! The problem is that musicians have to tour to make a living, illness or no illness, plus we have to consider that many of them can’t afford a nice health insurance!
