Peaches is heading back to the Fonda Theatre, and this time she's helping the Hollywood Boulevard landmark blow out 100 candles. The electroclash pioneer headlines the venue's 100th anniversary celebration on Saturday, October 17, bringing her raw, confrontational brand of performance art back to a stage where she first made noise a quarter-century ago.
Peaches has performed at the Fonda Theatre numerous times over the years, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Her history with the room dates back to 2001, when she headlined her first tour behind her breakout album *The Teaches of Peaches*, released in 2000. During two nights of an anniversary tour celebrating that record, she invited audience members to sing the backing track to her signature song, “Fuck the Pain Away” — a moment she has described as the best of the recorded audience singalong performances she's done.
The Fonda has left its mark on her work beyond those singalongs. Peaches has used the theater's side boxes during performances and even installed lights in them, and footage filmed at the venue appears in a music video for a song from her second record, per the same Daily News account. She says the building, located on Hollywood Boulevard, has long offered an atmosphere conducive to experimentation.
A Century of Reinvention on Hollywood Boulevard
The theater's own transformations echo that spirit of experimentation. It opened in 1926 as Carter DeHaven's Music Box, a venue built for theatrical productions and musical revues, backed by early Hollywood investors including silent film stars John Barrymore and Mae Murray, according to Wikipedia. Architecture firm Morgan, Walls & Clements designed the 31,000-square-foot building in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, adding to a portfolio that also includes the El Capitan, Belasco and Mayan theatres, as ThrillZing notes.
Over the following decades, the building served as the CBS Lux Radio Theatre broadcasting studio in the 1930s and 1940s and later operated as a movie house under the names Guild, Fox and Pix Theatre, hosting original Hollywood premieres for *Jaws* and *Rocky*, according to TicketNews. The Nederlander Organization reopened it as the Henry Fonda Theatre in February 1985 following a $1.2 million renovation, naming it for the late actor whose children, Jane and Peter Fonda, attended the dedication ceremony.
Today the venue carries an official standing capacity of roughly 1,200 and has been operated under a long-term lease by AEG Presents subsidiary Goldenvoice since a 2012 relaunch. Per the Daily News, the Fonda has also hosted Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan over the years, cementing its place as one of the city's most adaptable rooms — from live revue hall to radio studio to film house to modern concert venue, as the Fonda Theatre's own centennial materials describe it.
New Music, Familiar Stage
Peaches, born Merrill Beth Nisker in Toronto in 1966, arrives at this show with more than 25 years in her career and a new record behind her. She released *No Lube So Rude* in February via independent label Kill Rock Stars — her first full-length studio album in more than a decade, exploring post-menopausal identity and bodily autonomy, according to FLOOD. She selected Gelli Haha to join her for the Fonda show after the two connected at a small backyard gathering in Los Angeles, the Daily News reports.
Peaches isn't planning an entirely different production specifically for the centennial, according to the Daily News account, but she wants audiences to experience the same surprise, extravagance and raw expression that have defined her live shows for decades. She has said audiences are part of the show itself, and she hopes the night will prompt people to celebrate Los Angeles and value its creative spaces — spaces she believes are increasingly important as communities face commercialization and development pressure. “Communities need spaces to express themselves,” she has said, calling for creative spaces to remain available.
Preservation Meets Performance
That call lands against a backdrop of real preservation work at the century-old building. In May 2025, structural update and seismic retrofitting permit applications were filed with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to protect the aging structure within the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District, according to Elearning. The review was designed to modernize the building's infrastructure without compromising its historic architectural status.
The Fonda's lobby and bar area still carry some of that old character, featuring a mural inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's *The Garden of Earthly Delights*, depicting surreal musical instruments from the painting's hell panel, as the Daily Bruin has reported. The October centennial lineup built around that history includes Suicidal Tendencies, Father John Misty, Remi Wolf, Matchbox 20, Cuco, Mac DeMarco, Flying Lotus and Animal Collective alongside Peaches, following a kickoff in March when Sir Paul McCartney performed two surprise, phone-free concerts at the venue. Hoodline previously reported on McCartney's surprise gigs that set the tone for the anniversary year.
