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King Princess performed a sold out show at the TLA in Philly on Monday, January 28th as part of her North American Pussy Is God Tour. The last time King Princess (aka Mikaela Straus) was in town was shortly after the release of her hype-worthy 2018 debut EP Make My Bed – this time around, she brought new music along with an even bigger (and more enthusiastic) fan-base.
LA-based (via Melbourne) songwriter/producer Banoffee was the opener. The Charli XCX–collaborator didn’t let the crowd in on the fact that last year she was part of one of the biggest stadium tours ever, instead opting to win the crowd over on her own. Despite calling out people who wear activist t-shirts as “basically all a-holes”, the crowd loved her especially after she dropped the bass on her set-ending performance of “Ripe“. After finishing up her dates with King Princess, she’ll be touring across the pond supporting Empress Of on her European tour.
Prior to King Princess taking the stage, the excitement building in the crowd was palpable with concert-goers jockeying for position near the stage and personal space diminishing with the quickness. The crowd exhibited unprecedented levels of gay exhilaration that I’ve ever experienced. As King Princess played through her set of new and previously released songs, bras were thrown, illicit substances were smoked (allegedly), and humorous-to-borderline-obscene banter was exchanged. In the middle of her set (and to the shock of the audience), Mikaela acknowledged a special individual in attendance that was actually her real-life (and one-and-only) ex-boyfriend (gasp!). When the time came for “1950“, Mikaela begrudgingly (yet jokingly) said to the audience that she hopes they enjoy it because it’ll be the one song she has to play for the rest of her life (to which the audience obliged with a full-crowd sing-along). Toward the end of her set, King Princess slowed it down for “Maybe It Will Change” and asked the audience to slow dance – I immediately felt left out to dry like Napoleon Dynamite at the prom, but it was a super sweet moment. She closed out her regular set with crowd-favorite “Talia”, which is exactly the kind of breakup song that my sappy ass lives for (watch the official music video below).
In recent King Princess news, she recently released a recording of “I Know” (featuring Fiona Apple). Listen to that track below and keep scrolling to see more photos (and the setlist) from the show.
