Musician, producer, iconoclast. For over two decades, Peaches has been regaling fans with music that is as transgressive as it is undeniably fucking fun.
If you’re (somehow) unfamiliar with Peaches’ iconic body of work, her distinct sound is a familiar feature in pop culture classics like Sex Education (‘Fuck The Pain Away’) and Mean Girls (‘Operate’). Her most recent album and subject of her tour, No Lube, So Rude, is her first release in over ten years, bringing her famous fierceness back at a time when it’s sorely needed.
“When the world is friction, lube isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. It’s how you turn that friction into pleasure, into power, into pride. I want people to understand that they can still have a voice no matter who they are or what the world says about them. Now more than ever, there are so many forces that just want you to give up and be quiet. If this album can help you resist that, then that’s what it’s for.” – Peaches, on ‘No Lube, So Rude‘
Swathed head to toe in swinging dicks, Peaches opened the set to ecstatic applause with the first track from her newest album, ‘Hanging Titties’, and, despite the album being released only two months ago, the crowd sang along with every word rapturously.
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen 
Peaches in Manchester – photo by Kristy Eighteen
After ripping off her plush layers, she ascended a smoky podium like a preacher in a freshly revealed fur-suit, as the seductive title-track from 2015’s Rub instructed the clamouring crowd to ‘rise for me’ as they screamed the refrain into her outstretched microphone.
The impact of her decades of provocative and unashamed exploration of sex, gender and queerness are evident in the devoted, generation-spanning crowd dancing euphorically to ‘I U She’ and hot and heavy ‘Fuck Your Face‘. Peaches’ own supporting dancers delivered high-energy and genuinely joyous crowd engagement, with stunning outfit changes and incredible choreography.
Dedicated to her ‘big fucking vagina’ and the ‘big lips [she was] blessed with,’ ‘Vaginoplasty’ (featuring Simonne Jones’ instantly recognisable piercing vocals) dripped with self-adoration and her signature celebration of the raw, unadulterated human form. And the vagina was definitely celebrated tonight. Appearing in an electric blue Balenciaga suit holding Peaches dismembered head, or emblazoned across a giant tutu, it was, as ever, front and centre.
Similarly taking centre stage was Peaches’ fearless and timely politics, as she tore off multiple body suits to reveal ‘Pubes Over Profit,’ ‘Gay for Palestine,’ and ‘Trans Rights Now’ during a raucously-received, seething rendition of ‘Flip This’. Never one to shy away from using her platform as a protest, the entire show was as much an act of resistance as it was a party.
She is also never one to shy away from a self-described ‘diva moment.’ Climbing across a sea of adoring arms to 2015’s haunting ‘I Mean Something’, Peaches rolled across the audience before disappearing from the back of the room. Reappearing among awe-struck fans on the spotlit balcony, the crowd below were submerged into darkness and the scene was transformed from a dazzling gig to steamy, intimate party vibes, with revellers turning towards each other to dance to the thumping and raucously-delivered ‘Fuck How I Wanna Fuck’ and ‘Not In Your Mouth None Of Your Business’.
The set continued with intense energy as she weaved through the crowd and danced with enraptured fans, flanked by roving dancers leading the way with head torches, before taking a more vulnerable turn with No Lube, So Rude’s haunting and heartfelt ‘Take It’, a track that is as melancholy as it can be with a bass-line this good, followed by the album’s similarly tender ‘Be Love‘.
After delivering fan favourites ‘Dick In The Air’ and ‘Fuck The Pain Away’ to a euphoric crowd, the set ended with a wonderfully jarring moment of intense sentimentality with a stunning cover of Barbra Streisand’s ‘People’. It might have been ten years since her last album but if Peaches’ mind-blowing show tonight proved anything it’s that she is back and more iconic than ever.