Perfume Genius in All His 'Glory' at Chicago's Vic Theatre

The relationship I've had with Perfume Genius' new album Glory in the two and a half months since its release has been interesting and unexpected to say the least.

I can't pretend to be the world's biggest Perfume Genius fan. Hell, I had never heard of them before April of this year. And when asked what their music is like, I really don't know how to answer. You won't find a single hook or pre-chorus that demands top 40 airplay or even to be shouted along with tens of thousands of others at a summer festival. To say it's pop music is way to broad of a definition and seems misleading. But when you say something like 'singer/songwriter' it tends to conjure up visions of Bob Dylan or Cat Stephens, which is also very much not the case.

So we have an artist I'd never even heard of 90 days ago with a new album of songs that I can't really describe to you. What an awesome job I'm doing of selling you, right?

There is a method to my madness. I wanted to set some context so that when I tell you that Glory is one of my absolute favorite albums of 2025, you can appreciate the uphill battle the album had to climb to get on my radar. But once it did, it seeped its way right into my brain and hasn't left since.

A big part of what initially drew me into the album was the striking cover art:

This image is a lot like the music on the album: at times disoriented, complex, messy, and something that demands your attention. Are the extension cords a metaphor for our inability to connect with each other without the help of temporary solutions, which mostly just lay around unused without making any of the connections they were originally designed for? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that I cannot stop looking at this picture.

Bringing the Glory Tour to The Vic Theatre in Chicago with urika's bedroom in support, Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) would put on a performance in the truest sense of the word.

I went into this show knowing very little about urika's bedroom, and I came out of it still knowing very little other than the fact that they put on a heavy show. Heavy backlighting. Heavy shadows. Heavy riffs. But the weight had a groove to it, best experienced during the extended opener 'Junkie'. Taking one of their most popular songs and stretching it into a marathon opener while still keeping the audience totally engaged is quite the feat, pulled off immaculately by the band. Even as different songs would fade in and out throughout the set, the urge to sway and nod your head, to get really shoegazy with it, only subsided during the choruses that demanded head banging.

Prior to Perfume Genius taking the stage, it looked like a production hand had used the space to unpack a bunch of gear and the promptly forgotten to come back and clean up the mess. The stage contained randomly placed objects, including an aluminum chair, an exercise ball, and what looked to be about half a dozen extension cords. Calling back to the Glory album cover even more was Hadreas himself, wearing a slightly different too-small t-shirt and what looked to be the exact same jeans. And while he stood in one place during his performance of the night's opener 'In A Row', it was one of the only times throughout the night he would remain stationary.

When I mentioned Hadreas putting on a 'performance' earlier, I meant it. And yes, I know that technically every concert is a performance by definition, but Perfume Genius shows are truly a performance. Following 'In A Row' with two more Glory tracks ('It's a Mirror' and 'No Front Teeth'), Hadreas sprang into action. With the deliberateness and occasional sloppiness that are hallmarks of improvisation, he interacted with everything onstage as he sang each song in his trademark sound that is somehow both barely above a whisper yet holds the weight of the world. He'd check on his bandmates, occasionally sit on (and slip off of ) the exercise ball, and writhe his body around the stage floor until it looked like he'd never be able to get untangled from the extension cords.

But none of it was distracting. The fact that none of his actions felt choreographed made them all flow naturally in and out of the 18 song set, leaning heavily on both Glory as well as 2017's No Shape. Incorporating a bold lighting setup, a slowly rotating pedestal, and copious amounts of fog to create a truly theatrical experience, the show mirrored the kind of feelings and themes in Perfume Genius songs: discomfort, anxiety, general uncertainty. But much like the props so mysteriously placed onstage before the performance, sometimes uncertainty can lead to the most unexpected surprises as outcomes. Sometimes all it takes is picking up a new album with an arresting image on the cover, just like the old days.

Closing his set with the back to back firepower of 'Queen' and a cover of Mazzy Star's 'Fade Into You', Hadreas and Perfume Genius left the audience in a much better place than they found it. Sure, they didn't solve any of the problems and factors causing extreme anxiety and fear about the future that our generation is facing. But sometimes it's enough of a help just knowing someone else is out there feeling the same things, and channeling those feelings into songs and a live performance that expresses those things perfectly.

The Glory Tour continues through the end of June. Dates and tickets can be found here.

Perfume Genius at The Vic Theatre Setlist - 6.17.25

In a Row
It's a Mirror
No Front Teeth
Valley
Slip Away
Left for Tomorrow
Kango Roo
Me & Angel
Clean Heart
On the Floor
Describe
Wreath
Otherside
Capezio
Eye in the Wall
My Body
Fade Into You
Queen