{"id":48908,"date":"2025-06-18T19:24:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T23:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=48908"},"modified":"2025-06-18T19:24:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T23:24:21","slug":"review-perfume-genius-the-royale-6-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/06\/18\/review-perfume-genius-the-royale-6-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Perfume Genius @ The Royale 6\/12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Cody Critchloe<\/span><\/p>\n

Review by Jonny Maylon<\/p>\n

Michael Alden Hadreas, who performs under the name Perfume Genius, is currently on tour for his most recent record, \u201cGlory,\u201d released in March of this year. Urika\u2019s Bedroom is providing support for the majority of the tour and started this show off with a great set. They were set center stage, providing lead vocals and switching off between playing electric guitar, acoustic guitar, or electric bass depending on the track. Flanking them on either side were two additional guitarists, who swapped specific instruments depending on the needs of the song. A drummer locked down the groove stage right and it sounded like the occasional additional production flourish was provided by an amorphous backing track. The set was a blend of influences that largely defy a genre definition. It was all tied together by consistent hip-hop inspired drum grooves and a feeling of nostalgia for the musical landscape of the 90\u2019s and early 2000\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following their set, Perfume Genius\u2019 supporting band took the stage, which consisted of a guitar player and a bass player stage right, with the bass player behind the guitarist, and a keyboardist and drummer stage left, with the drummer similarly set up behind the keyboardist. which consisted of a guitarist and bassist occupying stage right, and drummer and <\/span>keyboardist soundly<\/span> on the left. This left a lot of room center stage for Hadreas to move around, which he did. The stage set up was deceptively simple, but included five main props: a mic stand, chair, step-ladder, large exercise ball, and a rotating circular elevation on top of the stage toward the rear. However, as soon as Hadreas took the stage, he used all of these simple and somewhat unexpected tools to deliver one of the most captivating performances I have ever seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Depending on the energy of the song, he would move from sitting in the chair, rolling on the exercise ball, knocking over the mic stand, kicking the exercise ball, and writhing on the ground or over the chair as it spun hypnotically on the rotational stage element beneath him. Dressed in a baby tee, low-rise boot cut jeans, and cowboy boots, the way Hadreas moved along with the music was equally captivating without the props. He flowed along as if the various rhythms were propelling him as a long strand of seaweed pushed by the currents at the ocean floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

All this is to say nothing of Hadreas\u2019 vocals, which were pretty unbelievable. Many of his songs are fairly demanding vocally, but nothing I have heard of his recorded music could have prepared me for the impact of his live vocals. I was stunned by the control, consistency, and range of his vocals, not to mention their incredibly emotional and intimate nature. All of this culminated in a sound and a visual that was completely enrapturing. Everything felt very well rehearsed, but still raw and improvisational at the same time. The band swelled with the different tracks, adding vocal harmonies as needed, while interacting with one another and Hadreas seamlessly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The set started out with a few tracks from \u201cGlory,\u201d namely \u201cIn a Row,\u201d \u201cIt’s a Mirror,\u201d and \u201cNo Front Teeth,\u201d before highlighting what is likely Perfume Genius\u2019 most recognized album, \u201cNo Shape.\u201d After \u201cValley\u201d and \u201cSlip Away\u201d from that album, the set returned to \u201cGlory,\u201d with \u201cLeft for Tomorrow,\u201d \u201cMe & Angel,\u201d and \u201cClean Heart.\u201d These tracks were followed by a few more tracks from previous albums, \u201cOn the Floor,\u201d \u201cDescribe,\u201d \u201cWreath,\u201d and \u201cOtherside,\u201d which Hadreas played largely alone at the keyboard, with the band joining at the climactic moments and for the transition to the last song played from \u201cGlory,\u201d \u201cCapezio.\u201d The set ended with \u201cEye in the Wall\u201d and \u201cMy Body.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the set, Hadreas kept chatter in between songs to a minimum, often with just enough time in between songs to take a drink of water or quickly thank the crowd for being there. The notable exception was following \u201cWreath\u201d where Hadreas self-deprecatingly and jokingly apologized for not having a truly powerful vocal flip like Maria from \u201cThe Sound of Music,\u201d which felt entirely unnecessary as I\u2019m sure everyone there felt similarly awed by his performance. Hadreas didn\u2019t make us wait long after finishing off his set, and appeased the cheers for an encore with a beautifully reimagined Perfume Genius style cover of \u201cFade into You\u201d by Mazzy Star, followed by \u201cQueen\u201d to conclusively finish the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, I was very impressed with the performance. It was incredibly dynamic, but felt tied together by Hadreas\u2019 honesty and vulnerability in his music. It all felt like an intimate view into his thoughts and experiences, expressed beautifully through his songs. I was stunned by his truly impressive vocals and captivating stage presence. As someone who has previously been a fairly casual Perfume Genius fan, I cannot recommend Hadreas\u2019 live show enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Cody Critchloe Review by Jonny Maylon Michael Alden Hadreas, who performs under the name Perfume Genius, is currently on tour for his most recent record, \u201cGlory,\u201d released in March of this year. Urika\u2019s Bedroom is providing support for the majority of the tour and started this show off with a great set. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22960,"featured_media":48909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[47,2447,2448,2449],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48910,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908\/revisions\/48910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}