Perfume close out 2021 with performances of “Polygon Wave” and that kung-fu card game song

Perfume did what they’ve done pretty consistently, and bowed out of the year with a couple of performances. One for CDTV! and another for the annual year-end Kohaku Uta Gassen. We of course got performances of “Polygon Wave”. And to nobody’s surprise, we got “Flash”.

“Flash” is like COVID. It ain't going nowhere.

Perfume - Polygon Wave CDTV Live! Live! New Year Special | © Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc.

Perfume - Flash @ CDTV Live! Live! New Year Special | © Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc.

I get that “Flash” was a big hit. But there is no more earth for which Perfume can run the song into the ground. It’s just magma now. Perfume’s team don’t even bother trying to keep “Flash” fresh. No cool visuals, no remote control screens, no drones, no new setups. Perfume stay refusing to acknowledge the album mix, and rightly so. But can we at least get a remix or variation of the song if we're destined to have Perfume perform it regularly?

Perfume x Elevenplay - Polygon Wave @ 72nd Kohaku Uta Gassen | © NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

This might just be one of the best performances of “Polygon Wave” to date, because it’s just different from what we’ve gotten before. The Perfume Live 2021 Polygon Wave gig performance was amazing. But we had gotten so many photos and trailers of it, and so many performances of the song between then and the gig hitting Amazon Prime Video, that it didn't feel as fresh as it should have. That was one performance I feel Perfume's team should have shown nothing of prior; but I get why they felt the need to show it, given the whole gig is named after the song.

I’ve not watched Perfume's Reframe 2021, but I'd wager a bet that “Polygon Wave” is in the setlist and that this Kohaku Uta Gassen performance set up was pulled from it, sans Elevenplay. Because as cool as it is to see Perfume perform with them, Reframe is really about Perfume and the Rhizomatiks, whom can control the screens remotely, just as they did for Reframe 2020. But here’s to hoping Elevenplay feature more in Perfume’s performances, as they add a nice new dynamic.

The only bad thing about I have to say about this performance are concerning Perfume's dresses. They looked horrendous, and had no correlation to the visuals or Elevenplay. The dresses being black and white or any of the colours of the visuals woulda made all the difference. It was the same when Perfume did their last performance with Daichi Miura, which also featured Elevenplay. Perfume's outfits just seemed out of place and touch with everything and everybody else.

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