When I was 16, I was heavily invested in the world of punk rock. But it was the commercial version of it that was found on the local alternative radio station Live 105, 120 Minutes on MTV, and PBS documentaries of a bygone era.
Then I got a job at a telemarketing company, and a coworker began introducing me to the lovely world of riot grrrl. I was given tapes of music by Team Dresch, Sleater-Kinney, and Bikini Kill. The pure ferocity of it all spoke to me. It opened so many sonic doors for me, and helped me realize that I preferred listening to female voices—and found that women writers were easier for me to relate to than men.
Sleater-Kinney continued to put out music as I progressed into adulthood and remained a vital part of my life, so much so that I eventually ended up naming my daughter after Corin Tucker. However, both Bikini Kill and Team Dresch called it a day not long after my introduction to them.
2019 changed that, with both bands hitting the road for the first time in ages. After attempting to get tickets to the first LA show, I failed and decided it wasn’t meant to be. Then a second show appeared, and I was able to grab a ticket and book a brief trip to LA for this event.
I got to the venue about 10 minutes before doors, and there was already a sizable crowd waiting to get in. Once people entered, they did one of two things. They either bolted straight to the stage or to the merch line.
I felt bad for the bartenders, expecting them to make “sold out show” tip money, as nobody seemed to be buying drinks. And I was struck by the difficult decision of deciding between superfanning on the barrier and picking up souvenirs. Since Bikini Kill shows historically have had a policy of “girls to the front,” and knowing that my newborn really needed a Bikini Kill t-shirt to grow into, I went for the merch line. Which had become about 100 deep by the time I decided what to do.
OK. After picking up shirts for the family, as well early pressings of reissues of Pussy Whipped and Reject All American, which are due out May 28th, a found a nice spot on the floor, about 1/4 of the way back, with people around my size.
I made some friends with the folks around me, including a man named Kelvin who was visiting from the UK and didn’t really know the band. It turns out he had read a slew of glowing articles about the band and what they represent, and he decided he needed to check this out. I also met a couple from SF that did a wonderful job getting the folks around us amped up for the show. Settled and comfortable, we were treated to the opening band, The Linda Lindas.
The Linda Lindas are a band of young girls between the ages of 8 and 14 that had a bit of a viral hit with a cover of “Rebel Girl,” prompting an invite to this show. Their live show was very, very impressive. They played a combination of well known and obscure classic punk covers, all with a proficiency and confidence of a band that’s played together three times as long as these girls have been alive!
The songs came fast and furious, like a good punk set should. They changed instruments between songs, with everyone alternating guitars, keyboards, and bass throughout the set. They covered “Germ Free Adolescents” while embracing the irony that actual adolescence is in their future. They brought out Bethany Constantino and Bobb Bruno from Best Coast for a rendition of their song “When I’m With You.”
The Linda Lindas closed up with a blistering cover of Le Tigre’s “TKO” that got the crowd moving frantically. I was legit jealous of them.
Bikini Kill walked onstage one by one. First Kathi Wilcox, then Tobi Vail, followed by new guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle, who replaced original guitarist Billy Karren. Lastly, Kathleen Hanna came out and quickly reminded us of the importance of stretching before doing something physical .
The band then opened with an aggressive four songstretch of “This Is Not a Test,” “Don’t Need You,” “New Radio,” and “Jigsaw Youth.” It was such a workout that anyone who didn’t heed Hanna’s advice was definitely going to be feeling it in the morning.
The energy in the room was so intense that, even at just song 5, the slower-tempoed “Feels Blind,” the pogo pit simply slowed to a rolling mosh. The slight calming of the crowd allowed me to make a few observations. As expected, the majority of the crowd identified as women, so it appeared that they made a conscious decision to put female security in the barrier between the stage and audience.
Hanna is also famous for her vigilance in crowd safety, and when she wasn’t singing, she was watching the room pretty intently, often checking on people in the more active sections of the crowd, even grabbing security herself whenever she saw people starting trouble. In the section I was in, there was one specific guy that kept elbowing his way to the front after the band had already started, before managing to get ejected once Hanna noticed what was happening.
At this point, it seemed as if all of the audience trolls were cleared out, allowing the rest of the evening to be pure joy. Vail came out from behind the kit, taking over vocals while Hanna jumped on bass and Wilcox took over on drums, so Vail could sing “I Hate Danger” and “In Accordance to Natural Law.”
Vail stood behind the mic, exuding such an effortless cool that I immediately decided that my primary ambition in life was to be as relaxed and confident as Vail. Also, Hanna is such a larger than life figure that a lot of the more casual fans (as well as many critics) overlook . Yet, Vail’s songs are some of the boldest among a canon of material that is known for its intense honesty and directness.
The rest of the set continued this cycle of five Hanna songs, then two Vail songs. Every portion of their career was evenly represented, from their early demos to the Kill Rock Stars era that closed out their initial stretch. For the most part, despite being in a larger 4,000 capacity theater, this felt like the Bikini Kill life experience that I only knew from YouTube clips and zines from the ‘90s, only with much better sound.
There was surprisingly little banter from the band. Hanna is famous for both bold political statements between songs, as well as humorous thoughts about life in general. We got some, including a great bit about treating yourself to something when you’ve made it to the end of a big project, while showing off the band’s new water bottles they bought before the show. But for the most part, both Hanna and Vail simply expressed appreciation of the audience, the openers, and everyone that helped make these shows possible.
Oh and she scolded anyone that arrived late and missed The Linda Lindas. This was deserved.
Having not experienced this band live before, nor really hearing this band outside of my own bedroom, I didn’t really have a handle as to what the “hits” were. I was expecting the crowd to go nuts for “Reject All American,” yet the audience didn’t have any special spike in energy. However, the room exploded into a massive circle pit for “Carnival,” complete with people screaming along with the line “I’ll win that Motley Crue mirror if it fucking kills me.”
By the time the song that became a punk rock standard, “Rebel Girl,” came on, the energy was so intense you could’ve powered all of Los Angeles. The energy level stayed up for the encore of “Double Dare Ya” and “Suck My Left One.” The joy of chanting the title in unison with 3,999 other people was worth the price of admission alone!
The band ended their 26 song set with “For Tammy Rae,” which was the song that promoted this reunion to begin with, as they played it at a Raincoats tribute event in 2017, the first time they had played together in 20 years. Hanna said that this was the most fun she’s had, leaving me feeling hopeful that this will continue to happen. Because everyone deserves the cathartic release that is a Bikini Kill show.
