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Perfume At The Hollywood Palladium: Show Review

Coral Rucker |
November 16, 2014 | 6:32 p.m. PST

Staff Reporter

(@dr2k / tumblr)
(@dr2k / tumblr)

Perfume, a technopop trio from Japan finally arrived to Los Angeles to perform their first American concert at the Hollywood Palladium.

During the time of their concert #prfm was trending on Twitter and Tumblr, also the well-known band Ok Go attended the concert as well. So what was all the commotion about? Luckily, I was there to get a front row seat to what everyone was talking about with this international pop group.

Many fans from all over the world were waiting in line for hours to see Perfume perform. The line for the show queued around the block of the Palladium. It amazed many Japanese fans, who didn't expect so many Americans to come see the girls perform.

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The doors opened at around 6:45 and after some hiccups with security, we were in. My friends met up with me in the crowd and we waited anxiously for the girls to come out. During the wait we talked about our excitement and did a little dancing and rapping to the music that played in the background to pass the time. After about 30 minutes, the show began.

As the curtain began to lift, everyone was screaming. We couldn’t believe that it was actually happening. We were finally going to witness the greatness of Perfume, in real life. There were lights flashing all around us and the girls were standing right in front of us. Fans were screaming and crying. It was official. Perfume is here.

After their opener "Enter the Sphere", they went right into "Spring of Life." Everyone screamed again and continued jumping and singing along to their iconic hit. In the middle of the performance one of the group member’s A-Chan, started to tear up. A sudden feeling of joy overcame her because their dream came true. Their dream of performing to a packed house in the USA. She kept her composure and finished the performance with her dance moves forever on point.

They transitioned to "Cling Cling" next. During that performance, the audience sang along to the part, "I will cling to your chest," which almost made yet another member, Kashiyuka, tear up with joy. She fought back the tears and kept performing with the group while the crowd continued to cheer and chant.

Not even 10 minutes into the concert and the passion the American audience showed to the girls already had them overjoyed. The next song began to play and the cheering became even louder than before. It was as if everyone was letting out a bloodcurdling scream like they were trying out for a scary movie; it was great. We all raised our hands in the air like the girls did for the "One Room Disco" dance. We jumped around and cried to the song. I could see the third member of the group, Nocchi was holding back her tears during the performance. Her face scrunch up like she just ate a lemon and thought it was a grape. We really made those girls happy. 

After that opening set, it was MC time and the girls talked to us about American showers and practiced their English with us. It was hilarious to watch Kashiyuka give up and just read from the piece of paper (It’s okay girl, English is hard). Perfume gave a thank you to Ok Go for letting them make a guest appearance on their new music video, "I Won't Let You Down." A-Chan then talked about eating an In-N-Out burger and then divided the crowd up. One side would cheer if she said, "Cheese" and the other side would cheer if she said "Burger." 

(@thevirginmarysue/tumblr)
(@thevirginmarysue/tumblr)

The girls finished up that break and went hard into the next segment. They performed, “Ijiwaru na Hello” (Naughty Hello), giving us spectacular choreography of high-kicks and jumping in heels. The girls brought it back with a song of theirs from 2007 called, “SEVENTH HEAVEN.” The song had everyone tearing up, except for me and my friends. We were hella dehydrated at this point of the concert but we all persevered so we didn’t miss one second of this historical event.

Perfume performed "Hold Your Hand" next which, thanks to half the lyrics being in English, everyone sang along. After that performance, Perfume walked off stage and everything went silent.

We didn’t know what was going on. Was the show over? Is it time to go home?

Nope, the concert was just getting started. The intro for, “Spending All My Time (DV&LM Remix)” began and we all gawked at the visual effects that covered the stage. The girls came back out in the middle of the visual presentation and was ready to serve us more edgy pop perfection in a hand basket.

The projection behind them began to spell out the word, GAME, which only meant one thing...They were going to play “GAME” next. The visuals became a lazer show that you’d witness at a Tomorrowland festival, it was amazing. The girls then whipped out bright light sabers and posed with them when the beat waned down and picked back up again. They worked those light sabers like they were the inventors who introduced them to George Lucas.

Next up was "Dream Fighter," a song that had touched people’s hearts and Perfume's too. It was their theme song for the night. A dream they had for over ten years finally became a reality-- playing to a packed house in the United States.

(@deaneslist / tumblr)
(@deaneslist / tumblr)

Perfume took another break to MC and A-Chan started singing “Let It Go” from Frozen. Yes, “Let It Go” from Frozen. They later on told us that they love Disney. After that Nocchi gave us a funny anecdote about Dental hygiene and A-Chan transitioned us into the last segment of songs.

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“PARTY MAKER” started playing and at that moment the crowd became a mosh pit. We all lost it to “PARTY MAKER." They then performed “GLITTER” and a crowd favorite, “Chocolate Disco.” I was so exhausted and dehydrated during "Chocolate Disco," it was showing in my face and in the middle of the performance, one of the member’s A-Chan saw me and looked worried. I smiled and put up a peace sign to her. She smiled back and screamed, “YEH.” I was slayed.

The last song they performed was their breakout hit, “Polyrhythm,” the song that made their career and is famously known to be featured in the Disney movie "Cars 2." The girls finished up and left the stage, leaving the crowd to want more. We all started to yell, “encore” for about five minutes until the girls decided to come back out and do two more songs for us.

(Perfume Official/Facebook)
(Perfume Official/Facebook)

They burst onto the stage with “Fake It” and got the whole crowd hollering. The girls yelled, “jump, jump” over and over and the crowd did just that. Most of the audience members in the front yelled, "jump, jump" it back at the girls and they jumped along with the crowd. It was amazing. The final song they played was, “My Color,” a song most known from its usage for a Google Chrome commercial. Perfume officially left the stage and the announcer stated that the concert was officially over. Everyone left with their entire bodies sore and numb but it was all worth it to see our favorite pop group come to America and play to a sold out venue. It was extraordinary.

Along with the visual effects, great music and nice fans, it made the whole concert amazing. The fans were a huge part of what made the concert experience a lot better.Most concerts I've gone to people are rude to one another and fight to get the entertainers attention. Luckily, the Perfume fans were really considerate to others. The day of the concert, they went around to make sure the line was clean, gave out refreshments and snacks for the fans who waited, and during the show they did their best to make sure shorter audience members could see the performance. It was also cool to see such a diverse group of fans, young to old, college student to CEOs.

The Perfume concert in LA was a life-changing experience and I highly recommend everyone to go to a Perfume concert next time they're in the United States.

Buy Perfume’s music on iTunes

Contact Coral Rucker here or follow him on Twitter here.



 

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