Mike Hadreas and his band bring the electrifying Perfume Genius live show to Aotearoa this winter, performing in Auckland at the Powerstation & Wellington at San Fran this June.
The bold and tender artistic practice of Perfume Genius embodies fragility and empowerment, love and sexuality, trauma and triumph, with emotional honesty and rock-star swagger.
Opening for Perfume Genius will be Hand Habits, aka Los Angeles musician Meg Duffy performing songs from their brilliant art-pop album Fun House (Milk! Records / Remote Control 2021) with a full band for the first time in New Zealand.
Banished Music & Strange Sounds presents
PERFUME GENIUS
With special guest Hand Habits
Monday 6th June | Powerstation | Auckland
Tuesday 7th June | San Fran | Wellington
Banished Music presale 9am Friday 22nd April (Sign up here)
General tickets on sale Monday 25th April
Auckland tickets from AAA Ticketing
Wellington tickets from Banished Music
Press Release:
Returning to New Zealand for the first time since 2018, where he performed two mesmerising festival performances alongside Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius will be sharing songs from Set My Heart On Fire Immediately (Matador Records / Remote Control 2020), his beloved previous four albums, and his upcoming album Ugly Season (out June 17).
Set My Heart on Fire Immediately saw Perfume Genius explore themes of queerness, with homages to 80s pop, classic rock, synth-pop, funk, shoegaze and many other genres. Appearing on 2020 end of year lists by TIME Magazine, New York Times, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, Billboard, The New Yorker, Vogue, NPR, Stereogum and many others, the album was produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Blake Mills and features contributions from musicians Jim Keltner, Pino Palladino, Matt Chamberlin and Rob Moose. It was recorded in Los Angeles, where Perfume Genius settled in 2017 with longtime partner and musical collaborator Alan Wyffels. The album explores and subverts concepts of masculinity and traditional roles, and introduces decidedly American musical influences.
In the wake of Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, Hadreas appeared on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!, played a global live stream from The Palace Theater in downtown Los Angeles and announced the publication of Immediately, the book companion to the new album featuring iconic portraits of Perfume Genius by celebrated French photographer Camille Vivier. Perfume Genius has also appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert performing ‘Whole Life’ for their #PlayAtHome series and on Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he performed ‘On The Floor’ and ‘Jason’.
These shows in Aotearoa will be an incredible opportunity for fans to hear their favourites, as well as get an early live preview of songs from the upcoming record.
PRAISE FOR SET MY HEART ON FIRE IMMEDIATELY:
“13 tracks of unfailing intensity and poetry, expressed via a sonic template that is thrillingly diverse.” – Barnaby Smith, Sydney Morning Herald ★★★★
“Hadreas wears his heart on his sleeve and unapologetically celebrates life with such sincerity and warmth that these tunes will inevitably touch the hearts and minds of listeners.” – Guido Farnell, The Music ★★★★
“Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is an excellent collection of storytelling and expression.” – Scott Hudson Beat 8/10
“His vision is fuller, his musicality is grander; if his earlier works were coming-of-age records, Hadreas sounds fully complete now.” – Conor Lochrie, X-Press 8/10
“At once gentle and fierce, this dichotomy is the very essence of Perfume Genius, a formidable talent who continues to break the mould of what it means to be an artist.” – Holly Pereria, STACK
“It’s an absolute tour de force, a record full of drama and emotion and pleasure and pain. If this is Perfume Genius quest for senation, then his latest is absolutely fizzing with it.” – DIY ★★★★★
“Rich, fascinating and moving” – The Guardian, Album Of The Week ★★★★★
“If the early albums were coming-of-age records, this is Perfume Genius, of age. The music isn’t any one thing. It’s everything, occasionally at once, playing with the ideas of hard and soft, innocence and danger, chaos and control, vastness and intimacy, leather and lace. The characteristic — thrilling — strangeness remains, particularly when Hadreas indulges the deeper registers of his singing voice.” – The New York Times
“‘Describe’ is Perfume Genius at their finest as Mike Hadreas takes us through a trip of multiple dimensions, unveils a screeching guitar and unleashes a heavy rhythm section on this ‘90s rock-feeling single” – Billboard
“… a thing of beauty and wonder” – Daily Telegraph ★★★★★
Note: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.