Perfume announce their first show in London in almost 10 years, Code of Perfume

So, I was gonna do a post about Perfume releasing some watches for their Perfume Closet collection, how they must be making good money with this shit to still be doing it, and wondering why this release did not come with a remixed or reworked version of “Time Warp” and a promo shot which references “Sweet Refrain”. (Amuse. Universal. Get your fucking shit together). But then Perfume decided to drop a bombshell right after, which is that they will be playing a show in London in June.

This won’t mean shit if you’re not in the UK. But as somebody who is, I was ‘gagged’ as the kids say. Which was followed by anxiety when I saw the date, because it’s the day before I see Beyoncé on her Renaissance World Tour. I’m too old to be out gigging all weekend chile. Especially with me being the type who gets the fuck up and dances at shows.

It has been almost 10 years since Perfume last performed in London. And almost 10 years of me cussing Perfume out for not bringing their Cosmic Explorer: World Tour 4th tour to London. (And also cussing out their music). But it’s finally happening. After 8 years. And in the words of Melissa Jefferson. It’s about damn time.

In the breaking of ‘World Tour’ tradition, and also because this really isn’t a world tour, their UK gig is titled Code of Perfume. They shoulda just called it Perfume no Okite. But, whatever. The cool thing is that because this show isn’t tied to an album, we will get a career spanning setlist. And Code of Perfume will mark the first non-album show that Perfume have done post the release of Plasma. Plasma is actually decent, so I wouldn’t mind if the setlist was a little Plasma leaning. At the very least, I hope we get “Polygon Wave” and “Spinning World”. I do not want to hear “Saisei”, but I know they’re gonna perform that shit.

The setlists for World Tour 2nd and World Tour 3rd were pretty decent, and in both instances Perfume performed songs I did not expect them to. “Seventh Heaven” on World Tour 2nd knocked me sideways. And “Party Maker” and a performance of the DV&LM remix of “Spending All My Time” on World Tour 3rd made my wig cap slide off.

Perfume fans in the UK are undoubtedly excited. But it has also caused their fans across Europe, particularly in France, to ask when they are taking their mismatched shoes and budget dresses to Paris. It is possible that Perfume may announce additional European dates, given that they are performing at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain on June 1st and June 8th. So, definitely stayed tuned for more info.

But for now. For all my fellow UK based Perfume fans, details and links are below.

🎫 Get’cho tickets: Perfume’s tour link page | The official o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire website

This show being at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire is unfortunate. This is where World Tour 2nd was held in London, and the venue is a shit hole. Perfume still turned it out, but the venue was crusty then, and it’s still crusty now. I think they’ve at least made the stage bigger. But the venue is still raggedy, AND it’s a smaller capacity than the Hammersmith Apollo, where they held World Tour 3rd. The o2 Academy in Brixton would have been a great venue choice. But maybe it wasn’t available at that time. It’s unfortunate. Because, the venue looking like it’s from The Last of Us aside, it has a smaller capacity than both the Apollo and the Academy. So perhaps Perfume’s team went for it to be on the safe side. But Perfume could definitely pack out a much bigger venue. In an ideal world Perfume would announce a tour at The o2, and give me the dome experience. But I know this ain’t ever happening.

I’m not sure how long ago this was planned, or what Perfume’s timelines are. But hopefully we get more activity from them this year which doesn’t involve a new single. I really like how ‘go with the flow’ and unpredictable Perfume’s rollouts have been since 2020 – which of course, was a by-product of the pandemic (which we are still in). But it’s been really cool. And whilst it’s highly likely we will get a new single by the end of Summer, before they start kicking off anniversary shows from August through to November, I actually wouldn’t mind Perfume just relishing in their existing discography a little more and playing with it. Maybe shooting another video for a song off of Plasma. Or doing what they did for “Fake It” and shooting a video for an old B-side. Or releasing a remix album. I think Perfume are in a position where they could be a little more free with how they do things and change the template a little – something which has been fun to watch Hikaru Utada do since the release of Bad Mode, which they are still promoting a year after its release, which is uncommon for a Japanese album release.

HENNYWAY.

It seems Perfume have no intention of slowing down this year, so expect frequent news of newness so stay dropping until the end of the year. And if you are a fan who plans on attending Perfume’s London show, if might be worth signing up for o2 Priority to get access to the pre sale. Tickets will be sold on the tour (which is absolutely wild, and shows how little faith Perfume’s team have in them being able to sell the bitch out), but I would not risk waiting until then. And I can’t imagine who would be crazy enough to do such a thing. Although I guess it’s a handy option if you get a cancellation at the last minute and want to try your luck.