Photo Credit: Andy Davies
Excitement was at fever pitch in Glasgow this Friday night as the Euros began with the Scotland team in action against Germany … we all know the result now so enough said about that! The big news for music fans was that the Riot Grrrls Bikini Kill were back in the city, playing Glasgow for the first time since way back in 1996 when they were supported by Glaswegians Bis at The Cathouse. The support for the gig brought up some questions as to why Bikini Kill didn’t take the opportunity to invite one or two up and coming punk/riot grrrl bands to support, a few names spring to mind immediately: Venus Grrrls, Lambrini Girls, Coach Party, Sprints … certainly a missed opportunity if you asked us. Anyway instead we got R.AGGS (Ray Aggs), a Glaswegian who sings, plays guitar and violin, perhaps suited to some of the younger members of the crowd but it wasn’t for us. 5/10
The standing area was at capacity in the beautiful O2 building, originally built as an Evangelical Church then the Bedford Cinema before being refurbished and opened as a music venue in 2003. Bikini Kill had been away for twenty-two years before reforming in 2017 with singer Kathleen Hanna citing “the election of Donald Trump as president and the #MeToo movement as good enough reasons to reform the band”. Hanna has recently published her memoir and it has proved a very popular book with many revelations around the early days of the band, we don’t want to give too much away but Kathleen herself inspired Kurt Cobain to write the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit after she wrote a message on good friend Cobain’s wall “Kurt smells like teen spirit”. Oh and the now 55 year old is responsible for coining the “Girl Power” phrase used later by band’s such as the Spice Girls!
The band consists of three original members – Kathleen Hanna (lead vocals, bass), Kathi Wilcox (guitar, bass) and Tobi Vail (drums, vocals) – with only Billy Karren missing, she decided not to re-join the band when they reformed in 2017, her place being taken by touring musician Sara Landeau. Uniquely all band members would swap instruments during the set proving that these USA Riot Grrls are serious musicians! The 2000 or so in the venue raised the roof as first track New Radio was played, they worked through the opening songs very quickly before drummer Tobi Vail swaps to vocals, Hanna on bass and Wilcox on drums. Unbelievable! They looked so relaxed on that stage tonight, playing without a care in the world, drummer Vail with her pink hair and sunglasses stood out like a sore thumb in the best possible way. There were a few more serious moments as they spoke about the situation in Palestine, how women need to stick together and calling out all men that do bad things to women, all these subjects being very important at this moment. Carnival is one of the best tracks of the set as Kathleen calls out men working at carnivals that behave inappropriately, Bikini Kill are a band that have never held back their anger and back in the 1990s sometimes that led to some troublesome moments with the fans at their earlier concerts.
Suck My Left One was short but sweet, the only criticism of tonight’s performance from us is the short length of most of the Bikini Kill songs, yeah they were recorded short back in the day but surely for live performances some of the better known tracks could have been extended a little to allow the fans to continue the high energy? The song title was taken from a phrase Kathleen’s sister used to say to boys that were harassing her! A few days after this show Foo Fighters would be in town for a gig at Hampden Park, the story goes that Kurt Cobain invited his then girlfriend Tobi Vail to join Nirvana but she politely refused and they broke up soon after. If we can imagine for a moment that Vail had said yes then maybe the Foo Fighters wouldn’t even exist.
The final song of the night was inevitable, Rebel Girl sounds just as good now as it did all those years ago, the fans went wild one last time with pogoing and fist pumping all around, incredible scenes and the icing on the cake of a 25 song setlist. The last of the four UK dates is in Birmingham on 16th June, thereafter they head home for a longer North American tour in August and September. Let’s hope that Bikini Kill don’t leave it another 28 years before returning to Glasgow! 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
