LIVE REVIEW: Piri’s Tour is as ‘Extra Hot’ as it sounds
Written by Elsie Oulton Edited by Eve Moat
On Friday 3rd November, Piri took to the stage at Project House, bringing her ‘Extra Hot Tour’, and the masses, to Leeds. The 24 year old Yorkshire native shimmied, she sauntered, she pranced, all whilst filling the new ex-warehouse venue with her infectious, pop-inspired drum and bass.
Other than her March run of intimate, spontaneous shows on ‘The Piri Pop Up Tour’, this is her first proper UK outing as a solo artist (having moved away from ‘Piri and Tommy’, the duo with her ex-boyfriend, and creative collaborator). The pair remain close and collaborate regularly – he joined her on this tour; popping on stage occasionally with a guitar, and shuffling around whilst beaming with an endearing, boyish charm.
The show started with ‘Fumble’, her impeccable Sudley collaboration released this summer, and what followed was an hour of sugary, accomplished dance pop, beach balls, and sunbeds: it was a raucous victory of a live show. Two dancers joined Piri for the majority of the songs, combining regimented choreography with looser, fluid movements, encouraging and riling up the crowd. Piri strutted around the stage with a casual confidence, calmly juggling the combination of the backing tracks, choreography, and her vocals; she has natural ability to hold the room amidst the chaos, and genuinely excite an audience.
In the second half of the gig, Tommy joined her for an short acoustic set, excitedly dubbed the ‘Jazz Café’ section by Piri when introducing it. Red velvety tables and crude electric candles were hauled in from the sides of the stage by the dancers, yet more ridiculous, ‘on the nose’ props, which added to Piri’s tongue in cheek attitude towards the show’s ‘low budget’. Once ensconced, they performed ‘Settle’, followed by their bright summer single ‘Lovergirl’, and new release ‘Bluetooth’. This section subtly showcased the strong musical foundation the two of them share, and allowed Piri’s bright, shimmering voice to stand alone from the full throttle dance production its usually interpolated with. Following these three tracks, Piri had a Yorkshire love in (naturally), before surprising the crowd with a gloriously well executed cover of the Arctic Monkeys’ ‘When the Sun Goes Down’, rounding off the ‘Jazz Café’ interlude in an the most gloriously unexpected way.
One of the highlights of the show was a walloping mashup of Jorja Smith’s ‘On My Mind’, ‘Pain’ by PinkPanthress, and Crystal Waters’ ‘Gypsy Woman’ (a classic Piri live cover) – the perfect combination for the rave-ready, expansive new venue. This epic juggernaut of a mashup was proceeded by a cover of garage classic ‘Flowers’, neatly setting the tone for this section. Despite consisting entirely of covers, this part of the show wove in seamlessly to the ‘Extra Hot’ set, mirroring the bountiful joy of her original music, whilst simultaneously showcasing her musical influences and inspirations.
The show culminated with ‘Soft Spot’ (the song which initially garnered Tommy and her recognition), followed by ‘On and On’ (cowbell n all). These revved the crowd up to such a degree that quite frankly no one could get enough of ‘Crazy Frog’, when it blasted through the speakers once ‘On and On’ had finished. It had reached peak rave, with Piri and Tommy even rushing back for a quick boogie on stage, and this crowd feel at the end was a testament to the sheer power of a Piri live show.