On a cold September night in San Francisco, only the coolest of art pop enthusiasts piled into Great American Music Hall to reconnect with Perfume Genius as he was set to perform his 2014 record Too Bright in full — 10 years and 1 day after its release. The historic venue was packed tight, and I was finding it hard to maneuver through the dozens of men over six feet tall to get a good view.
The room was warm and humid, but the gorgeous detailings of the ceilings and pillars kept me wonderfully distracted while waiting for the opener, Julianna Barwick, to come on. Hailing from Louisiana, the electronic loop artist created a soft and ethereal environment, with ambient synths and soaring vocals washing over the audience. The songs would build and build, until it was heavy and you could feel the bass in your chest. It was a lovely taste for what was about to come.
The audience held their breath with anticipation for Perfume Genius to come on, and once he hit that stage, he had the room’s attention on lock from beginning to end. As it goes with an album anniversary tour, the setlist was quite predictable, as the showman even joked about using their usual closer, “Queen,” as the second song was strange for them. However, this made no difference for us. It was a fun, powerful, and borderline psychedelic rock tune that had us all bobbing in time. He would routinely switch between standing center stage or his piano, and the fourth song, “No Good,” was one of those. Gorgeous, moving, and a little devastating, it deeply resonated with the crowd as I saw dozens mouthing each word.
Track five, “My Body,” was haunting — heavy, fuzzy, and almost western, leaving us all in suspense. Following tracks like “Grid” and “Longpig” took us to the climax, building and building on this powerful and eerie sonic world. As the album section of the show finished, we found catharsis but only in the way Perfume Genius could — in a slow, gut-wrenching fashion leaving us hanging on to every word, and every note. Album closer “All Along” had the audience resonating to the poignant lines “you wasted my time / a heart long desperate” with a gorgeous full band outro, taking us into the encore.
Starting this part of the set off with a Mazzy Star cover, the audience was pleasantly surprised to hear such a dazzling rendition of “Fade Into You.” This was followed by a cover of “Birds on the Wire” by the iconic Leonard Cohen. With those out of the way, we were blessed with performances of the bonus tracks released on the 10th anniversary edition of the album! My favorite was easily “My Place,” a song with a bombastic first half followed by a softer organ outro. Before the night ended, after being teased about “Queen” being their usual closer, we actually got a reprise of the iconic single to close out the show, leaving the crowd open-mouthed and amazed by the artistry presented to them over the course of the night.
Thank you, Perfume Genius, for 10 years of Too Bright, and for breathing so much life into the art pop scene. I was happy to leave the venue sweaty, happy, and hungry — already remembering a night I will never forget.
Review and photography by Jaida Berkheimer
