Only an exceptional artist can deliver on the promise of an ”all-ages” show, and Bikini Kill upheld its reputation as among the very best at the excellent second show of its two-night stand at The Fillmore Silver Spring.
Kathleen Hanna explicitly took aim at the capitalist forces that wedge us apart and spoke of the wisdom that older and younger folks have to offer, while bandmate Tobi Vail elaborated on Hanna’s point by sharing experiences and observations about our capacity for learning, correcting, growing and contributing to the more inclusive communities we know are possible.
Kathleen Hanna and Mannequin Pussy singer Marisa Dabice both marveled at the intermingling of Gen X, millennials, baby boomers, Gen Z and Gen Alpha in the packed venue, with a significant number of fans up front who most likely hadn’t even encountered Bikini Kill when tickets for the show originally went on sale in 2019.
We held on to our tickets for tonight’s sold-out show at Franklin Music Hall through four postponed and rescheduled dates (May 13, 2020; Nov. 21, 2020; Oct. 5, 2021; and July 13, 2022), but when a conflict arose that kept us from seeing the Philly performance, we opted for driving down to Silver Spring a night earlier.
It turned out to be a great decision, with Hanna inspired to reminisce about her youth in Rockville, Laurel and other Maryland locales, as well as about playing outside the Capitol with Fugazi to protest Supreme Court conservatives and the threat to abortion in 1992.
Another plus of hitting the Silver Spring show was getting Philly’s own Mannequin Pussy as an opener. With sick riffs and a collective primal scream, they transmogrified the crowd’s energy into catharsis and electricity that added up to something bigger than our own struggles.
Both bands were well-matched in coming out of the depths of hell to heal fractured and fragmented teen, adult and elder spirit into a holy whole—and they both absolutely killed it.
Highlights: Bikini Kill’s “Suck My Left One,” “Carnival,” “Resist Psychic Death,” “This Is Not A Test” and “Rebel Girl”; Mannequin Pussy’s “Control,” “Patience,” “Pigs Is Pigs” and a new song still in test mode
—M.J. Fine; photos by Chris Sikich
