Concert Review: Gigi Perez (Charleston Music Hall)

BY TAYLOR STALEY

While Gigi Perez is spending much of this summer touring alongside Noah Kahan on his The Great Divide Tour, Charleston, SC was fortunate enough to land one of her highly anticipated headlining tour dates. As I walked up to Charleston Music Hall on Tuesday evening, it was impossible to miss the line of fans wrapped around the block. For many in attendance, this was a rare opportunity to see Perez outside of the larger arenas she has been playing lately.

The intimacy of this venue proved to be perfect for tonight’s performance. From the moment that Perez took the stage and opened with “Please Be Rude,” the crowd was mesmerized by her voice that carries such an emotional weight. Throughout the night, Perez was able to move seamlessly through a setlist that showed off not only her insane vocal ability, but also songwriting that can move anyone to tears. Songs like “Sleeping,” “At the Beach, in Every Life,” and “Fable” highlighted her gift of pairing deeply personal lyrics with haunting melodies.

For those unfamiliar with Perez’s story, much of her music is shaped by profound loss. Gigi Perez was born in Boston and raised in West Palm Beach by two parents that had immigrated from Cuba, alongside an older sister and younger sister. Perez experienced a life-altering tragedy when her older sister, Celene, passed away in July of 2020. Perez turned towards songwriting as a way to process her grief. This led to her sharing her music on Soundcloud and TikTok where it quickly found an audience. That growing online fan base eventually led to a record deal with Interscope Records and a rapidly rising career.

What makes Perez’s songwriting so compelling is her willingness to confront grief head-on and sit with the uncomfortable truths of loss. That emotion was on full display throughout the evening as it deeply resonated with anyone who has experienced loss, longing, or even just the challenge of moving forward after a life-altering event. Standing in a room of 700 people, her songs still felt intensely personal. It is a rare gift to make a venue feel both full and intimate at the same time, and Perez accomplished that with ease.

About halfway though the evening, Perez shifted into a portion of the set devoted to a handful of carefully curated covers. The first was “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Ray, a crowd favorite that felt tailor-made for Perez’s voice and artistic style. The song’s themes of longing, grief and nostalgia align perfectly with much of Perez’s own catalog. The second cover of the night was “In the Middle” by Mt. Joy, another song with themes, like uncertainty and self-reflection, that complement Perez’s. Perez and Mt. Joy have actually performed this song together at past festivals. She infuses the song with her own emotional intensity that transforms it into something that feels uniquely her own.

The audience was then treated to one of the night’s most heartwarming moments when Perez introduced her younger sister, Bella, to perform “Sugar Water” alongside her. Watching the two sisters share the stage brought a sense of joy and tenderness to the evening. Knowing the history of their family, the performance carried an added emotional weight to it. It was a beautiful reminder that while grief remains a central theme in Perez’s music, love, family and resilience are equally important parts of her story as well. As I watched the two sisters laugh and sing together, I found myself thinking of my own sister back at home and wishing that she could have shared this moment with me.

The evening began to wind down with Perez closing the night out with her breakout hit, “Sailor Song”. The audience was fully invested and sang every word back to her, turning this final song into a shared cathartic experience between an artist and their fan base. As the house lights came up, there was a lingering sense that Charleston had experienced something special - the rare chance to see an artist whose star is rapidly rising in the kind of intimate venue that she may soon outgrow.

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TAYLOR STALEY

Taylor Staley is a Charleston, SC, native who currently resides in Columbia, SC. In her free time, you can catch her tearing up the interstate going between Charlotte and Atlanta, looking for her next show to shoot. She has three animals, two cats and a dog, that keep her quite busy. Her favorite genres are pop, alternative, and indie but you can really find her listening to just about anything. Follow her on instagram at tay.atshows.

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