Gelli Haha Turned Valley Bar Into a Confetti-Fueled Playground of Joyful Chaos
Photographer: Kili Goodrich
Inside the basement glow of Valley Bar, Gelli Haha turned whimsy into full-body performance art. Blow-up dolphins floated overhead, trampolines bounced beneath flashing red lights, and confetti rained down like the Gelliverse had cracked open directly above the crowd.
Gelli Haha
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Beneath the low ceilings of Valley Bar, the world of Gelli Haha unfolded like a children’s television program hijacked by glitter-fueled absurdity and total emotional freedom. I loved every second of it. The Phoenix stop was a temporary entry into the “Gelliverse.” A universe where embarrassment dissolves on impact, adulthood loosens its grip, and joy becomes a performance piece. Packed within the basement venue, the crowd looked ready to surrender to the beautifully offered strange little universe onstage. By the end, we did. Fully drenched in sweat, confetti, and joy.
Before the chaos fully bloomed, duo BIG SIS kicked the evening right off. Opening with a set so infectious it honestly deserved a warning label. Their music moved with the sugar rush energy of indie-pop built for dancing in parking lots at midnight. Sharp beats, punchy delivery, and enough charisma to immediately dissolve any stiffness left in the room. If you came to Valley Bar wanting to have a good time, BIG SIS made sure the night started with a loaded punch straight to the jaw. The crowd was already full to the brim with energy before Gelli Haha appeared… Or rather, before she escaped.
The performance began with flashing alarm computer graphics splattered across the stage. Members of Gelli Haha’s theatrical troop moved anxiously through the audience beneath heavy red lighting. They were searching for the evening’s missing star. Somewhere between performance art, sketch comedy, and fever dream pop concert, the bit stretched just long enough for the anticipation to explode. Emerging from the crowd Gelli rushed the stage as “Funny Music” burst to life. That’s when the true brilliant chaos of the Gelliverse broke free.
Gelli Haha exists in a fascinating lane of modern performance art-pop. Theatricality never overshadows sincerity. The project thrives on maximalism. Primary colors, absurd props, campy choreography, audience participation, trampoline antics, confetti blasts, inflatable dolphins, bubbles drifting overhead. All loaded fun. Yet underneath all the spectacle is an artist deeply committed to creating emotional release through play. Her world-building is intentional, tapping into something strangely vulnerable about adulthood and the gradual loss of uninhibited joy. Inside the Gelliverse, you’re encouraged to become unembarrassed again. What a gift that is. Muscles in your body you didn’t realize had been tense for years start to unclench. There’s permission to be ridiculous.
The music itself holds up remarkably well beneath all the visual overload. Tracks like “Spit” and “Normalize” landed with real force. Balancing jagged humor with punchy electro-pop production that kept the room in constant motion. Impressively, despite the nonstop stimulation happening across the stage, the performance never tipped into sensory exhaustion. Instead, it pulled the audience deeper inward. My eyes stayed wide the entire set. Surely, my eyes were mirroring hypnotic swirls. I imagined so. My smile stretched stupidly across my face, fully wanting to dive headfirst into whatever might happen next.
That’s the thing, something always did. There was that constant feeling of when you rub your eyes. When it feels extremely satisfying to the point of seeing colored spots, and vibrant speckles of glitter. That’s what Gelli Haha feels like to me.
Performers bounced between tiny, bottom painted, “G” and “Ha” trampolines while the crowd screamed along. Later came hoola hoops. Rainbow ribbons during “Pluto Is A Planet Not A Restaurant.” What can only be described as a deserved celebratory shower of confetti directly to the face was somewhere earlier in the set during “Normalize.” I carried that whimsical flare onward. Even through a wrestling match. Blow-up dolphins floated overhead while circular confetti spun through the air like toy-store snowfall. The sheer stamina required to maintain a performance this physical, this theatrical, and this relentlessly joyful deserves genuine praise.
Much of the night centered around material from her 2026 album Switcheroo. Songs like “Piss Artist,” “Tiramisu,” and “Gelliverse” carried the same playful unpredictability that defines her live show. Bouncing between surreal humor and surprisingly sticky melodies. “Dynamite” and “Johnny” kept the energy surging before the dreamy “Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep” floated the audience gently toward the night’s end.
Part of what makes Gelli Haha such an exciting artist right now is how fully realized the project feels. The Gelliverse isn’t aesthetic wallpaper lazily draped over pop songs. More so an entire philosophy of interaction. Her work pulls from performance art traditions, absurdist comedy, DIY theatricality, dance-pop, and youthful entertainment. I know I lit up like the sun when nostalgia burst at the sight of that primary colored parachute. Switcheroo came together through a period of experimentation centered around reclaiming playfulness and creative instinct without self-editing. That spirit radiates through both the album and the live show itself. Nothing over calculated. The messiness is intentional. The joy is too.
For a little over an hour in downtown Phoenix, Gelli Haha extended the gift of emotional release, then carried us off to the Klouds.
Article by: Kili Goodrich
Plug In. Tune Out.
Gelli Haha is the whimsical pop persona of artist Angel Abaya. Known for crafting a playful musical universe filled with shimmering synths, danceable rhythms, and theatrical flair. Creativity knows zero bounds. The Gelliverse feels free. Pulling inspiration from disco, avant-pop, and performance art, her sound is whimsical, futuristic, and slightly unhinged in the best way.
BIG SIS
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BIG SIS .𖥔 ݁ ˖
Plug In. Tune Out.
The duo, BIG SIS make music thats a little messy in the best way. Loud feelings, sharp one-liners, and hooks that stick around . Genres of fuzzy indie rock and punchy pop with the sickest beats. The duo needs a warning sign pinned to their music of being highly contagious. There’s a mix of humor and emotional honesty running through everything they do.