While the dreaded nor'easter (luckily) didn't cause as much havoc as was initially expected in New York City this weekend, it still shutdown a lot of the planned festivals in the area which, in turn, resulted in a lot of last minute surprise shows throughout the city. Mannequin Pussy were originally supposed to play the CBGB Festival taking place Under the K Bridge, but had already tacked on an extra show at Music Hall of Williamburg on Sunday and it proved to be one final hurrah for the weekend. With the entirety of the band decked out in solid white outfits, save for lead singer Missy Dabice who wore a blood red dress, the band were amped up and ready to bring the weekend out to a close after Saturday's pop-up set at (le) poisson rouge. Hitting the stage, the band eased into their set with a soft and rumbling "Sometimes" which slowly built up the energy, Dabice's whispering vocals warming up the crowd and baiting the rage that would soon follow suit. As the band ripped into some of their heavier sets, their grungey guitar riffs began to ecselerate the night and push things into hyper drive. Barking at the crowd to keep the hype flowing, the band didn't wait long to play the hits to get the pit moving and for people to take flight and crowd surf their way to the stage. Dabice's wicked howl invigorated the audience as the band unleashed their primal roar as their triple guitar attack laid into the room with raging force. "I Don't Know You" was a mellow track that helped give everyone a bit of a breather before they picked up again with "I Got Heaven," their visceral snarl of shredding guitar and thunderous bass amplifying their already enraged sound. "This one is for all my girls and trans-girls" Missy shouted before launching into "Control" as she shouted out her sisters in the crowd who are forced to live in a world that rejects them at every turn. Throughout the night, Dabice made political remarks and calls for justice, inspiring the crowd to fight back against the fascism at hand and to do everything in our power to keep fostering art and community to make safe spaces where we can all feel included. "OK? OK! OK? OK!" revved on the gas as the intensity lit up and the crowd once again broke into chaos. After trading his bass for Dabice's microphone, Colins "Bear" Regisford gave it up for the Black and Brown folks in attendance before shouting out the immigrants that make America great and showing love for the LGBTQI community as well. He ended, of course, with chants of "FUCK ICE" "FUCK THE COPS" and "FREE PALESTINE" for which the room erupted in cheers universal solidarity. Banging through "Pigs Is Pigs," it was yet another moment for the rage in the room to reach a new height and the energy carried on for the final closing numbers of the night. As things finally hit the finale, Dabice engaged the crowd in a killer speech about fighting back against the lies of America that have been force fed to us for our entire lives as she decried our rights to more autonomy and our needs to strip control from the evil billionaires that make up the 1% of the wealth. She was riddled with passion and spoke with clear, direct intentions, hopefully inspiring the capacity crowd to join together and make change, to keep the pressure on Zohran Mamdani (while also keeping him safe) and to always fight for what's right. "Loud Bark" took things home and with resounding force, bring the end to a night of impassioned punk rock that felt not only needed but absolutely necessary.
Set list:
02 "Nothing Like"
03 "Softly"
04 "Drunk II"
05 "I Don’t Know You"
06 "Split Me Open"
07 "I Got Heaven"
08 "Cream"
09 "Material Gains"
10 "Everything"
11 "Control"
12 "Aching"
13 "OK? OK! OK? OK!"
14 "Pigs Is Pigs"
15 "Emotional High"
16 "Romantic"
17 "Loud Bark"
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