Glory saw singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas fronting a thunderous return to the indie-rock scene after an experimental hiatus in the form of 2022’s industrial chamber pop record, Ugly Season. The new album harnesses the deep, rumbling guitars and furiously delicate vocals that make Perfume Genius’ discography so singular and identifiable.
He appeared at Manchester’s New Century Hall, a recently reopened venue featuring a striking LED ceiling that, slightly annoyingly, was switched off for the duration of the performance. He submerges himself in the dense power of each song as he crawls over chairs, rolls around on the floor, and balances on equipment trucks. If, somehow, you are unconvinced by the music, there is another feat to marvel at: Hadreas’ core strength.
Hand Habits (Perfume Genius’ own Meg Duffy) opened the show with a commanding, guitar-heavy set. Duffy revealed, two songs in, that they are part of the main act’s band, and this explains the apparent similarities between their sounds. “We’re here all night!” they joke, a faceless silhouette against subdued blue lighting. Duffy has also played guitar for the likes of Weyes Blood, The War on Drugs, and Sasami as a session musician, but they shine both as a frontman and lead guitarist later in the evening.
During their set, Hand Habits references the use of their song ‘4th of july’ in Netflix’s Too Much (S1E2): “Introspective indie-folk song continues” reads the subtitles as the song plays in the background of a dominatrix breakup. Additionally, the song ‘Slip Away’, with which Hadreas mesmerises an elated crowd in the first half of his set, as well as ‘Just Like Love’ from the 2017 album No Shape, both soundtrack pivotal scenes in Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart (2019) and ‘Otherside’, another highlight of the setlist, scores the trailer for the cinematic adaptation of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch.
Over the past decade, the music of Perfume Genius has found itself frequently utilised in the accompaniment of various forms of visual media. And it is no mystery how the relentlessly evocative soundscapes that Hadreas constructs are able to prick up the ears of music supervisors and directors across creative industries. Thus, it may initially appear to be a waste that the set design for the Glory tour was relatively minimalist.
But from the moment that Mike struts into the centre of the stage, it becomes obvious that any elaborate props or backdrops would merely detract from his remarkable, effortlessly audacious stage presence. Note should also be made of the use of lighting throughout the show: during ‘Otherside’, pounding strobe lights and a short period of echoing silence created a visceral scene as Perfume Genius dances slowly to nothing at all.
When performed alongside each other, it is clear to see how Hadreas’ early work has come together to form Glory. The structure of the setlist is largely reverse-chronological, starting with a selection of new songs and ending with ‘Queen’ — his breakout hit. This created the effect of showing the audience the new album, before taking it apart and focusing individually on all the different musical elements that it is comprised of – and all of the lessons learnt that have brought us to this point.
‘Left For Tomorrow’ and ‘In a Row’ are surely the strongest songs from the new record, and are both suitably emphasised in the live show, with the latter being the song that opened the main set. The lesser-known new tracks nonetheless stood their ground alongside the album’s two brilliant singles, ‘It’s a Mirror’ and ‘No Front Teeth’. In the encore, Perfume Genius covered Big Star’s ‘Kanga Roo’, and Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’, before performing perhaps his most well-known song, ‘Queen’, taken from 2014’s Too Bright. To a soaring guitar solo, Mike Hadreas exits the stage, and the room – for the first time since he walked into it – stops shaking.
