Bikini Kill
The Warfield, San Francisco
August 19, 2024
Photos by Raymond Ahner
Few bands have a reputation like Bikini Kill. Pioneers of the riot grrrl movement through the early-to-mid-90s, the band originally broke up in 1997 with the members of the band going on to pursue other musical endeavors. Now an entire generation that never had the opportunity to see the seminal band live in concert has the chance to see the quartet live, the band having reunited in 2019. The band played two shows in a row at The Warfield, their first shows in San Francisco since they played at the same venue in 1995, and I attended the second one in eager anticipation to see the band.
You can usually tell what kind of band you’re seeing based on the members of the audience around you. However, people of all ages, sexes, and subcultures were in the audience, showing how far-reaching the music of Bikini Kill has been over the years. And once the lights dimmed in The Warfield, everyone in the audience let out a collective roar of anticipation. Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, Tobi Vail, and Sara Landau entered the stage and after a short introduction from Kathleen went straight into a set that would see the band playing over twenty-five songs from their back catalogue.
Despite the fact that the band had been disbanded for over two decades, the four members launched into “Double Dare Ya” with the energy and enthusiasm of a band that had never taken a break from putting out music or performing. Song after song came, one after another, with the band never losing steam, seemingly daring the audience to keep up with the breakneck pace of the rapid-fire succession of the setlist. It was truly a sight to behold. Personal highlights for me were “Reject All American,” “Carnival,” and “In Accordance With Natural Law.”
There were two parts during the set where the band members switched instruments, with Tobi Vail taking center stage to sing lead on a handful of songs. One of the songs was the slower “For Only” from their album Reject All American, a song that is probably my single favorite by the band. By the time that it was played the show was nearing its finale and I, just like most of the rest of the crowd, was still being swept up in a fervor by the band and was stopped dead in my tracks by the song. If there was a performance of a specific song during the show that I’ll never forget, it’s probably going to be “For Only.”
Following a blistering performance of “Jigsaw Youth,” the band left the stage and returned after a brief wait for an encore. “Suck My Left One” was first up, the song being performed with just as much fury as when it was released in 1991. And then it was followed by the band’s biggest song, the aforementioned “Rebel Girl.” The crowd still had enough energy to roar back at Kathleen “Rebel girl you are the queen of my world!” A good chunk of the audience probably wasn’t alive to see Bikini Kill when they were initially together as a band, and those fans were treated to the most energetic and intense show I’ve seen in a long time. Hopefully it isn’t another thirty years before the band comes back to San Francisco.
Opening the show was Frightwig, the San Francisco punk band that started in the early 1980s. An inspiration to bands like Bikini Kill, L7, and Hole, the band performed with as much ferocity as they did forty years ago. Mostly focusing on material from their most recent album We Need To Talk and its subsequent B-sides, the newer material still fit in perfectly in the set next to tried and true classics like “American Express” and “Crazy World.” The band has a few local shows coming up that I’m going to have to make an effort to attend.
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