At 9 p.m., Peaches toyed with my trepidation. She limped onstage, leaning onto a walker, a pussy hat on her head and a skimpy one-piece bathing suit barely covering her body. She cracked her neck theatrically, accompanied by exaggerated sound effects on the speakers. Then she pulled a microphone out of her purse, yelled, “Miami, I want to party!” and kicked her walker across the stage before rapping, “Motherfuckers want to get with me/Lay with me, love with me/All right.”
For the next two hours, the Canadian artist didn’t stop shocking or rocking.
Perhaps she’s a New Times reader and read yesterday’s article wherein Club Space (where the Ground is located) promised equal-opportunity dancing regardless of gender. During the opener, “Set It Off,” Peaches did what many male rock stars take for granted: She shucked her top and performed bare-chested.
“Too soon?” she asked the crowd. “I mean, it’s only the first song.”
She had plenty of tricks besides letting her breasts hang out. The last time I saw her perform, it was just Peaches and her groovebox sequencer, this time she had a troupe accompanying her. A guitarist in fishnet stockings shredded their axe, drummers were brought out from time to time to kick a powerful beat, and dancers performed in various states of undress. Still, it was hard to keep your eyes off Peaches. Whether she was reciting X-rated lyrics, standing on the palms of her fans, or ending the night with a hammy, foul-mouthed rendition of Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” Peaches knows how to hold an audience’s attention throughout a two-hour show.
The tour was advertised as a celebration of her 2002 electroclash debut, The Teaches of Peaches. But Peaches didn’t perform the songs in the same order as they appeared on the record; she interspersed the 11 tracks with songs from her two-decade career, highlighted by an arena-rock-meets-glam-rock rendition of “Boys Wanna Be Her,” off 2006’s Impeach My Bush.
For “AA XXX,” she stood atop the bar and asked who’d buy her a drink before leading a call and response where she chanted “Double A!” and the crowd yelled back “Triple X!” During “Diddle My Skiddle,” she sported a leotard emblazoned with the words “Thank God for Abortion.” And then, as the night ended, she swore she’d played all the songs from The Teaches of Peaches.
“No, you didn’t!” a couple of diehards yelled.
“I made it. I know what’s on it and what I played,” she teased before walking offstage.
Of course, she returned to play the album’s opener — and The Teaches of Peaches‘ most emblematic song: “Fuck the Pain Away.” Her entourage joined her, most of them topless, as all the anarchy and fun of her 2002 debut was brought to life.
Setlist:
– “Set It Off”
– “Hot Rod”
– “Cum Undun”
– “Diddle My Skittle”
– “Keine Melodien”
– “Sucker”
– “Rock Show”
– “Suck and Let Go”
– “Sex (I’m A)”
– “AA XXX”
– “Lovertits”
– “Felix Partz”
– “Shake Yer Dix”
– “Bodyline”
– “Boys Wanna Be Her”
– “Talk to Me”
– “Pussy Mask”
– “Vaginoplasty”
– “Operate”
– “Dick in the Air”
Encore:
– “Fuck the Pain Away”
Encore 2:
– “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”
Read More: Concert Review: Peaches at the Ground August 30, 2022