Holy Peaches Christ: When Electro-Punk and Showtunes Collide

Nothing screams it’s Christmas (or perhaps the Apocalypse) like Peaches, the Canadian-born Electronic-Punk musician, performing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. Whether it be the end of the world or the Second Coming, store up on water and rations because this is happening.

Peaches, well known for her gender-bending, fist-pumping, screaming, vodka-fueled shows, began performing the one-woman rendition of the rock opera earlier this year. Aptly titled Peaches Christ Superstar, the performance is a stripped-down version of the epic 1970 musical featuring Electro musician Chilly Gonzales on piano and Peaches performing the rock opera in its entirety with no additional music backing.

It really makes you wonder, but why?

Peaches:

“When I was sixteen I often sang the whole musical to myself all alone in my room. It tells an entire story without spoken text, only with vocals, in the style of a rock opera. I’m a performer, my concerts are extravagant and play with exaggerations. This project allows me to do without all this. I want to confront this task totally exposed, because it is a possibility. It’s a question of stamina.”

I had the chance to go to one of the shows in Chicago. Walking into it you feel like you’re about to witness your run-of-the-mill dirty art performance, the type where you spend the whole time trying to figure out where the bar is and how fast you can get there, but somehow it works. By act two of the show, when Peaches comes out on stage in a giant gold lamé jacket and tights, you couldn’t imagine leaving.

A far cry from her traditional performances during which she has been known to walk on audience members and pour vodka on herself, this performance is fantastic in its absurdity.

Compare her performances below:

Old School Peaches

Peaches Christ