Peaches

Outside, streaming down Kentish Town Road, is a mixture of fashionistas and freaks. Inside are some rubbish support bands: whoever thought * Humanzi *was adequate support for *Peaches *should be orgasmatroned to death, Barbarella style. Where is Mignon when you need her? It’s easy to see why Peaches has attracted the kind of crowd she has, though: she is one third freak show, one third glamour girl gone ballistic, and a final third rock goddess.

The ‘60s version of_ ‘Downtown’, as sung by Petula Clark, is piped through the PA system. The crowd sings along. Then Peaches appears, but not onstage: she is towering above the crowd on a flight of stairs, like a b-movie robot monster. When the lights go up, it’s clear that she’s gone one step further with her image, as instead of wearing less she is covering up with a silver sequined niqab and matching metallic hotpants. She launches into _‘Tent In Your Pants’, one of the highlight tracks from recent album Impeach My Bush; the audience are dancing, cheering and laughing as she begins to hump down the banister, crotch first, and shows us just how flexible she is. The next song,_ ‘Fuck or Kill’, involves Peaches jumping up on stage and getting the audience chanting _"Impeach my bush, impeach Bush!" Then, with the advent of ‘Stick It to the Pimp’, it becomes clear that Peaches has assembled a rock supergroup as her backing band for this tour.

On keytar/sequencing is JD Samson of Le Tigre fame; on bass is Radio Sloan from queercore band The Need (who has also played with Courtney Love and Le Tigre); and lastly there is Samantha Maloney. Having proved her worth in Mötley Crüe and Hole, Maloney cuts the mustard for Peaches by playing a kit with two bass drums, that when lit up look a bit, er... like breasts!

The look of Peaches’ live show has evolved more towards rock than electro, and her onstage antics and posturing are reminiscent of Iggy Pop’s kind of value system. Through the power of rock, Peaches wields her guitar like a true hellraiser, but not before she has cranked out ‘Two Guys For (Every Girl)’. Then completely rock-out she does, with ‘Rock Show’ and_ ‘Rock the Shocker’. Turning back to electro, and a ten-foot giant penis, she goes into _‘Lovertits’ _and then ‘Shake Your Dix’. By the time she launches into ‘Slippery Dick’_, the inflatable biggun has disappeared.

Other highlights include ‘Fuck the Pain Away’, ‘Downtown’ - where the audience are literally invited to go down - and_ ‘Operate’_, which involves this playful Canadian getting carried offstage via a stretcher.

Peaches makes it back for a three-song encore, hands out medals for her band and herself during her Speaches, then bundles off into the night. It’s been fun watching Peaches and her crew: they give out enough entertainment to swat dead a week of dull bands; they provide electro songs to strut to and rock songs to freak out to. Who could want more from a live show?

_Photograph by Peter Herbert

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