Review | The ‘At The Beach, In Every Life’ Tour with Gigi Perez

The first time I was shown a Gigi Perez song was her track “Please Be Rude.” I was struck by her precise choice of words and incredible imagery: “It’s easy runnin’ through your hair / like fields of poppies in salt air … / … My interest is to bathe with you / To soak you in and let it stew.”

It was fitting that this was the song she started off the night with at The Wiltern. The Jersey born singer-songwriter blends pop and indie, and sings with a striking voice that sounds deeply emotional and lived in. Her music touches on a lot of themes (that she talks about during her shows): grief, love, and identity. At the start of the show, the drawings of two girls that she has made herself for her music, were on top of the red curtain that hit the floor of the stage. Perez’s guitar also had the drawings, and she walked out holding it as the rest of her band joined her. After “Please Be Rude,” she played “When She Smiles,” “Sleeping,” and “Fable,” the latter being a favorite among fans. 

Perez spoke about how music and the community it has given her has been a saving grace after the passing of her sister in 2020. “Fable” saw her paying tribute to her, singing “Stars blink like my sister’s eyes … / … I dream of eternal life.”

As someone who sees a great number of shows, it was really unique and touching to see an artist be so vulnerable and blunt about their life and experiences on stage. Perez spoke with a hopefulness, alongside the heaviness that clearly was present. Not only sharing feelings and her journey with her sister’s passing, she also brought out her other sister to sing with her for their song “Sugar Water.” She made a joke about how her sister hesitated at first to sing on it, saying she wanted to go to the gym instead. Perez also brought out her opener Hannah Jadagu for a cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” and spoke of how special it was to be joined by Jadagu and get to know her on tour. 

Highlights of the night included “At The Beach, In Every Life,” “Normalcy,” and, of course, her hit “Sailor Song,” closing out the evening. “Oh, won’t you kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor? / And when you get a taste, can you tell me what’s my flavor? / I don’t believe in God, but I believe that you’re my savior. / My mom says that she’s worried, but I’m covered in His favor. / And when we’re getting dirty, I forget all that is wrong, / I sleep so I can see you ’cause I hate to wait so long.” The song has amassed more than a billion streams, a beautiful and important feat for a song that speaks about the struggles of queer love and religious trauma. 

Perez and the band paused halfway through the song, to say a few words. “I don’t have an answer to a lot of things … [these feel] exactly like the songs I needed when I was 20 years old. I never thought I’d find a way to express the deepest pain … that didn’t have a face to it. I couldn’t identify it. It took hundreds and hundreds of songs to get to the point … everyone’s going through something, getting through something, or about to.” Then, she finished the song.

Perez is proof that your deepest pain can bring the biggest light to your life, and vulnerability can band people together, even during the most isolating times in your life. It was one thing to know it logically, and another to see it with my own eyes.