Where have you been Peaches? It has been awhile since I last saw Peaches at the Avalon in December of 2006. I Feel Cream is Peaches latest release on XL Recordings which was crafted with the production assistance of Drums of Death, Digitalism, Soulwax and Simian Mobile Disco.
The main reason for going to see Peaches is the spectacle that she brings to the stage. I can only imagine what she could do with a larger budget. Their was a reason why Peaches sold out two nights at the Henry Fonda theater. Peaches delivers her electro glam rock like a high speed out of control freight train. You either hop on board or get out of her way.
Drums of Death
In the true fashion of paying it forward, Drums of Death opened for Peaches. While he does bare a resemblance to the Joker with his makeup, his beats were no laughing matter. It was difficult to specifically keep track of his own crafted songs and various samples that were incorporated into his mix.
Drums of Death was emphatically trying to get the crowd involved by jumping down into the photo pit and walking along the barricade before hopping back onstage to tweak the knobs on his AKAI controller. It is a tough gig to open for Peaches but Drums of Death tried as best as he could.
Peaches
It is a bold statement to have your website named peachesrocks.com but I couldn't agree more. Strategically opening with the fiery "Show Stopper", the dark waves of synth bass poured over the audience accompanied by rapid fire lyrics from Peaches. It was quite crowded in the photo as some cameramen were filming for Carson Daly's show. It will be interesting to see how much they edit/bleep out of her X-rated performance.
After a few early costume changes after the first two songs, pandemonium occurred as Peaches jumped into the pit and walked along the railing in front of her fans during "Hit It Hard". Peaches would later stage dive into the audience and crowd walk while not missing a beat on the vocals. The chaos continued when she hopped on the speakers and later jumped into the alcove.
The new songs from I Feel Cream sounded great with their '80s tinged synthesizer patches. Peaches did dip back into her older material with "Operate" and "Hot Rod". In the gratuitous moment of the evening, Sasskia (Guitars) busted out a sloppy but sweet guitar solo on her flying "V" guitar. Peaches later got into the guitar action herself by adding some extra dirt to "Boys Wanna Be Her".
Shunda K from Yo Majesty would later jump onstage to assist Peaches for "Billionaire". The set would "wind down" with "Set It Off" and "Kick It" before Peaches took a small break. It was impressive that Peaches came back for 3 encores. "I Feel Cream" had an evil techno/acid house synthesizer riff underlying Peaches high falsetto.
The second encore had the channeled the familiar sounds of an 808 with dueling keytars for "Tombstone,Baby". The dance party finally came to a close as Peaches ended the evening with "Take You On". Besides being a great show, the people watching factor was off the charts as it was one of the more eclectic crowds of the year.
