“This is my favorite song. Thank you for getting it,” Kim Petras shouted into the microphone, about halfway through her headlining set of New York City’s LadyLand Festival. She was introducing “Jeep,” the indietronic stomper from her latest album Detour.

“Jeep” isn’t exactly inscrutable avant-garde, nor is anything from Detour. But I know what she means when she thanked the crowd for “getting it.”

Detour is technically Petras’s third album, but if you ask her, she’d call it her debut. It’s her first full-length since leaving Republic Records, a partnership that gave Petras big hits at the cost of long-term creative mismanagement. Free from major label’s influence, Detour is maximalist, playful, and yes, a bit more esoteric than, say, “Coconuts.” The album has more at stake artistically and personally.

And at LadyLand, Petras certainly had an audience who “got it.” The album has been out for only a month, but everyone near me had studied up on Detour. “Everything before was just pretend,” the crowd shouted along to the title track, a kiss-off towards Petras’s earlier, major label-driven albums. As I watched the crowd sing “DTLA,” I made a mental note to never again underestimate the gay capacity to internalize pop girl lyrics with stunning speed and accuracy. 

Petras tore through the Detour tracklist in order until “Need For Speed,” when she ended the song halfway through and played the four track Pretour EP. Earlier this year, Petras dropped Pretour bit-by-bit in the leadup to Detour. The crowd wasn't as familiar with the Pretour tracks, which were never officially released on major streaming services besides Soundcloud. “I don’t know this song! I thought I listened to the whole album…” I overheard a man in a Dirt Femme Tove Lo tank say to his friend nearby. The energy died down, and I was hesitant of her setlist choice. Then, I realized Petras was playing 3D chess, and the Pretour segment was in fact a…detour from the album. Fair play, Kim.

The show had a minimal production design: just Kim strutting across the stage in Barbie-esque, white-rimmed sunglasses and a latex top. Her long blonde hair billowed in the wind. Behind her, three screens played an endless parade of grainy, VHS-quality videos including but not limited to: a humpback whale jumping up from the ocean, a bolt of lightning striking a house on fire, various scenes of road construction. Kim looked like she was having a blast, proud to perform music that actually reflects her prowess as a pop star. 

Petras approaches her stage presence from a place of cheekiness and humor. She lightened up the career existentialism of “Korea” by reminding the crowd to “Stan Loona," a stan Twitter meme. A slow-motion video of a bald eagle played as she performed "Jeep," complimenting the song's kitschy Americana. She toyed with a sampler between songs, loaded up with samples of Cupcakke lyrics like “I’m rolling with the LGBT” and “Look at that gay boy." Later, she introduced the SOPHIE-produced track “Basketball," with “I heard the Knicks did something recently…” to a polite cheer. The Kim Petras Pride concert might be the one place in New York City where a Knicks reference wouldn’t elicit an ear-splitting roar. 

Petras mostly avoided her older material. On the one hand, I don’t blame her for ignoring, say, Slut Pop. Detour is certainly her best work, and she’s clearly excited to showcase it live. At the same time, LadyLand Festival is as much a general Pride event as it is a Kim Petras concert. There’s nothing wrong with a crowd-pleasing hit. I’d be curious to see how Petras could reposition the best of her older material and bring them into Detour’s world.

She did play two older songs: the 2018 single "Can't Do Better" and 2020's "Party Till I Die," from her Halloween-themed TURN OFF THE LIGHT project. "Can't Do Better" was a sweet callback. LadyFag — the New York City nightlife promoter who started the festival — described Petras's performance at the first LadyLand in 2018 in an interview with Justin Moran:

"I was standing on the side of the stage, feeling like a nervous stage mom and being so stressed for her. It actually turned into the most amazing thing. Had it not rained a little, it wouldn’t have been as special. It started to rain, she started singing 'Can’t Do Better' and held her microphone out to the crowd. Everybody started singing back to her. I remember standing there and thinking, This bitch is going to be a fucking star. And here she is. She’s a star. Now she’s coming back to headline the festival. The festival is bigger, she’s bigger and it feels very symbolic of what LadyLand is all about. It’s this beautiful full-circle moment for both of us."

You could call it full-circle. I'd call it redemption. Petras returned to LadyLand in a position not dissimilar from her debut at the festival eight years ago: an independent artist making flashy pop and destined for adoration from gay guys. After a long detour, Petras is back on track.