Peaches: Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool

Peaches live at Liverpool’s Invisible Wind Factory

A wholly justified feather in Evol’s cap as they bring Peaches to The Invisible Wind Factory for her 50th birthday party and Getintothis’ Emilia Bona was there to see a show like no other.

At the start of this week it felt like we were being told women didn’t matter. Our voices were not important. We did not deserve the right to choose what happened to our own bodies. Our sexuality was not ours to embrace, but simply there for someone else’s gratification.

Watching Peaches straddling a speaker dressed as a giant vagina would have felt like a revolutionary act whatever the wider context – but last night’s show at the Invisible Wind Factory felt like it was crucial in stating that women’s voices have value – we mean something.

Peaches’ 50^th birthday bash screamed, writhed and gyrated around the Invisible Wind Factory – which was the perfect venue for a night of sweaty, stick, sexual prowess from a resplendent queer icon at her absolute best.

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After coming on in a pink furry body suit and a vagina hat, Peaches stormed through Rub as her dancers thrashed around the stage.

Before bounding straight into her new single Vaginoplasty, the Canadian performer screamed: ‘This song is about my P-fucking PUSSY’. In a world where Donald Trump is the President-elect, watching a woman sing about how much she loves her own body in a defiant act of girl-power felt more important than ever before.

Peaches has been popularising the Kazimier’s kind of weird and wonderful aesthetic for decades now but the Invisible Wind Factory felt like it was made for the living-art-installation-come-sex-show that unfolded in front of a frenzied crowd. Not even leaving a minute for fans to catch their breath, Peaches smashed from one bass heavy hit into another as she bounded through a career-spanning setlist.

Tunes like Operate, Dick in the Air and Boys Wanna Be Her were met with deserved appreciation by the crowd, and Fuck The Pain Away provided an almighty crescendo to an evening of unapologetic filth.

It was like a prom for girls who were bullied at school.

Dancers spat champagne into the crowd to top off a decadent evening of dirty dancing.

The trio on stage powered through countless costume changes, with Peaches dancers working their way into a catalogue of fetish gear. From rolling around topless inside a giant inflatable phallus that extended into the crowd, to walking through her fans wearing a bra made out of prosthetic tits, Peaches show was as much about political expression as it was about dancing and shouting and celebrating.

We’ve never been to a show where we’ve been so engrossed by the scene on stage. With giant clitoris costumes and angry frenzied dance routines it was absolutely other-worldly. The encore ended with Peaches entourage invading the stage with streamers, party poppers and a suitably erotic birthday cake.

Faux Queens kicked off the after party with a set that was as sparkly as their backing dancers’ nipple tassles (no seriously). Throwing out a girl-heavy mash-up the pair set the tone for an incredible club night at the Invisible Wind Factory. Stealing Sheep followed after with expectedly boss attire and an ethereal set that held up the tone set by the bill-topping birthday queen earlier in the night.

The boys want to be her, the girls want to be her, but there’s no imitating Peaches – who remains unfalteringly and unapologetically divergent.

Photos by Getintothis’ Vicky Pea