REVIEW: Bikini Kill w/ Hurry Up | 3.30.23 @ Marathon Music Works [PHOTOS]

Bikini Kill
w/ Hurry Up
Marathon Music Works; Nashville, TN
March 30, 2023

Review by Philip Obenschain. Photos by Mary-Beth Blankenship.

Announced mere weeks before Covid closures began, reunited riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill were initially set to make their return to Nashville in the fall of 2020, a show eventually rescheduled to last summer, only to be pushed once more due to a Covid outbreak amongst the crew. Good things are worth waiting for though, as the punk outfit finally recently made it back to Music City for the first time since 1994 to kick off their latest tour with a headlining show at Marathon Music Works; a dazzling, fierce, and inspired performance which felt like it picked up right where the band left off when they split more than 25 years ago. We’ve been eagerly awaiting this show- which also featured fellow Pacific Northwest punks Hurry Up– for the three years since it was first announced, so of course we were there to witness the iconic band in all their glory and intensity. Read on for our full review and photos!

As a child of the late ’80s, Bikini Kill are one of many seminal ’90s bands who split just as I became aware of them, and throughout my teens and twenties seemed like an act whose moment had passed, who I’d never get to see live. I’ve seen singer Kathleen Hanna’s post-Bikini Kill outfit The Julie Ruin a handful of times, and though they do feel something like a spiritual successor, I was floored and surprised when out of nowhere, Bikini Kill themselves announced a handful of reunion shows in 2019. I was able to catch their headlining appearance at Chicago’s Riot Fest late that year, and though it was an amazing sight to witness, and would’ve been enough just to see them that once, it did leave me wishing to really experience the band in a more intimate setting with an audience made up of strictly their fans. Which is why this very such show is one I’ve been counting down the days to since 2020, and why it was even more special and unforgettable than that bigger, grander outing in Chicago.

Openers Hurry Up weren’t really on my radar, but upon realizing the trio featured Kathy Foster and Westin Glass of The Thermals and Maggie Vail of Bangs, I was stoked to see them in action. A fitting pairing for Bikini Kill, the band’s scrappy, Pacific Northwest entrenched, no-frills flavor of punk had me immediately hooked, as did their commitment to social justice, which they spoke about between songs, donning wigs and mustaches. I wish I’d listened to them more ahead of time because I loved everything I heard, but I didn’t have much of a reference point for their material, other than it being a perfect way to start the show.

I was shocked that this didn’t sell out (and I’m pretty sure it had before the rescheduling), but by the time Bikini Kill took the stage, the room was filled with a diverse array of fans, many of whom looked like they’d been listening to the band since the original riot grrrl days, but just as many more appearing young enough to almost certainly be seeing the reunited rockers for the first time. The group- vocalist Hanna, bassist Kathi Wilcox, drummer Tobi Vail, and touring guitarist Sara Landeau of The Julie Ruin, replacing original guitarist Billy Karren- were met with a rapturous response when they took the stage, launching straight into bombastic opener “New Radio.” 29 years ago, the last (and seemingly only?) time they played Nashville was at famed former record shop and DIY punk venue Lucy’s, which was roughly the size of Marathon Music Works’ lobby. It’s always so fascinating to see bands like this whose reputation and influence only managed to grow in their absence, and though Bikini Kill-esque bands are quite common today (just look to Nashville’s own Bully and Vera Bloom), seeing the originators, the trailblazers, the band who help bust the door open to create a space for young women in punk and beyond, especially after years of hindsight for just how important they are, felt like such a transcendent experience, and one everyone in the room seemed to appreciate as such.

Having seen Bikini Kill once a few years ago and Kathleen Hanna even more, I roughly knew what to expect, and just as before the band faithfully brought their classic songs to life, with all the youthful angst and punk attitude and social urgency they had in their heyday. The set was a balanced mix of cuts from their entire career, and based on crowd response, the room was clearly full of a lot more diehards than I was among at Riot Fest, as even the deeper cuts elicited an enthusiastic response. And of course tunes like ‘This Is Not a Test,” “Carnival,” and “Demirep” prompted huge singalongs. True to their punk roots, the group’s production was tastefully minimal, with functional staging and low-key lights, leaving the focus on their music and message. Just like the last time I caught them, the band traded instruments many times throughout the show, particularly for drummer Vail to take lead vocals, and at one candid moment she even cut her performance of “Tell Me So” short, chalking up forgetfulness to a recent bought with Covid.

Though she left plenty of space to address our country’s sociopolitical turmoil, Trump’s fresh indictment, misogyny, and the rise of anti-queer legislation, it felt like Kathleen Hanna was in a particularly fun and nostalgic mood at this show, as she also told stories about her evolving (and questionable) taste in music as a kid, finding a love of performing through poetry readings, singing at a family wedding and being encouraged by her cousin to make music (Darcelle XV, the oldest recorded drag performer, who recently passed away and is the subject of an upcoming documentary Hanna is helming), and song inspirations like her sister’s use of the phrase “suck my left one” to ward off catcalls, as well as shouting out longtime friends and fans, and commenting on how their audience has changed for the better upon their return, evolving from a hostile, exclusionary, misogynistic relic of the ’90s punk scene to one of inclusion and intersection.

Amidst Nashville’s rich live music landscape, it’s easy to get jaded or inundated or to not take the time to appreciate the full weight and legacy and rarity of a show like this, but to see a band who made such an important mark during a relatively short-lived run, who split for many years longer than they’d ever existed, not only choose to return, but for that reunion to last long enough and to weather a global pandemic to make it to Nashville for an intimate club show, feels like a truly special, historic thing, one which I never expected I’d have the opportunity to experience, and a performance which will sit with me for many years to come. I don’t know what’s next for Bikini Kill, but whether it’s more shows, more music, or going back to simply existing in the punk rock history books, seeing them roar back to life one more time in Nashville, a generation after their legendary outing at Lucy’s, was a truly, truly special thing to be apart of, and a reminder as to why they’re one of punk’s most important bands. (Now if Le Tigre want to follow suit with a Nashville performance, you won’t catch up complaining.)

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All photos by Mary-Beth Blankenship.

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Setlist:

New Radio
This Is Not a Test
Don’t Need You
Alien She
Feels Blind
I Hate Danger
Carnival
Resist Psychic Death
I Like Fucking
Capri Pants
Outta Me
For Only
Demirep
Reject All American
Jigsaw Youth
Sugar
Rah! Rah! Replica
Hamster Baby
Tell Me So
Magnet
Lil’ Red
Suck My Left One

Double Dare Ya
Rebel Girl