By: Emil Jraissati
The ‘woo-ah!’ Queen took to the stage at 713 Music Hall on Tuesday, November 14th, to close out the North American leg of her Feed The Beast Tour. Kim Petras’ rise to fame this year cements her status as a pop icon, especially amongst the gays, and to no one’s surprise, Tuesday’s show saw no shortage of gays, girls, theys, and thems. In June of this year, Kim released her sophomore album, Feed The Beast, which combined her dance-pop roots, affinity for spooky sounds, and sexual prowess. With support from her friend and collaborator, Alex Chapman, Kim’s show started and ended with high energy and club-stomping bops.
By the time the lights went out, the entire floor was packed with glittery costumes. Kim arose on center stage, encased in a medieval coffin surrounded by smoke. As the coffin slowly opened, Kim stood posed, face covered by a knight’s face shield, with lasers shooting out from behind her, demanding the audience's attention. She began the show with the title track, followed by fan favorites Personal Hell and her latest single, King of Hearts. The crowd shouted every word back to her as she stood atop a rotating platform, ad-libbing over the instrumental and showing off her beautiful corseted, peplum mini dress.
As we move through Kim’s discography and sonic styles, we are greeted with the raunchy fortitude of her Slut Pop era. It doesn’t take much to get the crowd going, like lyrics that say, “Treat me like a slut, little dirty bitch, I love to fuck.” During Throat Goat, Kim swung a dangling microphone back and forth across the stage, grabbing it just in time to sing the lyrics, while the crowd cheered her on in excitement.
While spooky season is technically over, it didn’t stop Kim from performing hits from TURN OFF THE LIGHT, a collection of two horror-themed albums. There’s something about a crowd singing “There will be blood/Run for your life” while jumping up and down that might seem concerning in any other context, but at a Kim Petras show, it just works. She delivered stunning vocals on Wrong Turn and disappeared before returning for the final act.
She finished off the night with a triple encore, entering the same way she started the show, except this time perched on top of what can only be described as an erect disco ball-covered penis. She performed Alone, which required the audience’s help to rap Nicki Minaj’s verse perfectly. As she pranced around the stage in her “I <3 My P*ssy” shirt, flanked by her dancers in front of a giant rainbow, she sang Problematiqué and closed out the show with Heart to Break. To her surprise, her entire team joined her on stage in matching t-shirts, jumping up and down as she belted the final words to the song. It was heartwarming to see, and the audience cheered her on even more as she disappeared under the stage.
The Feed The Beast Tour delivered a night of spectacular performances, beautiful gowns, and a playful spirit that lit up the entire crowd from start to finish. Kim Petras heads to Mexico and Europe next, bringing this pop production across the world.
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