MANNEQUIN PUSSY BRING BOTH TOUGH PUNK AND SOFT SHOEGAZE TO THE BELLWETHER IN LA
On a night when much of Los Angeles was enjoying all the city can offer - seeing Weezer at the Kia Forum, catching Jack White at the Mayan for a light-minute surprise show, or even witnessing the Dodgers in Game 5 fighting to get to the World Series - punk rockers Mannequin Pussy still managed to sell out the Bellwether and put on a show you can’t help but tell your friends about.
Before Mannequin Pussy took the stage, energetic punk trio Margaritas Podridas - a frequent opening act for MP - set the tone of the show early by speaking Spanish to the crowd first and translating English second. Singer and frontwoman Carolina Enriquez wore a slip dress and possessed a complex delivery reminiscent of Courtney Love fronting Hole in the 90s. The Mexico-based band felt comfortable on stage, playing a nearly 50-minute opening set with flashing lights, nonstop punk rhythms, and plenty of riot grrl-level screams. It was one of the more extended opening sets I’d seen in years, but the audience seemed entirely on board with Margaritas’ whole oeuvre.
After the opening act and plenty of cheers from the bar made their way throughout the venue (the Dodgers had won!), the Philadelphia four-piece Mannequin Pussy rolled in. As a band that I feel can kick anyone’s ass and take anyone’s name, MP brought a sizable amount of joy to their performance. Most of the band’s setlist was filled with songs from their fourth and most recent record, I Got Heaven.
Early fans of MP might characterize the group as a straight-up punk band with some melodic tendencies; though, since the pandemic and the last few records, Mannequin Pussy has taken on new vulnerability and softer tendencies. Singer Marisa Dabice brings those two identities to the forefront in their live performance. Dressed in a mummy-like bandage dress, Dabice floats across the stage elegantly and stomps her boots into the hardwood with vigor during opening tracks, “I Don’t Know” and “Sometimes.” Soft harmonies and dizzying guitar effects bring a shoegaze quality to the band’s sound that they manage to perfectly pair with more aggro moments too, particularly on “Loud Bark,” “Softly,” and the titular track “I Got Heaven.”
During these more intense sections of songs, the audience roared and sang along. The crowd - refreshingly a mix of 50/50 men and women - loved the punkish back and forth between Dabrice and bassist Colins Regisford during the Nirvana-esque “OK? OK! OK? OK!” The crazy brief but badass 90-second “Aching” felt like the night's anthem as everyone sang along with Dabrice singing, “I want to feel it from the top / so what / I want to feel it from the top.”
Mannequin Pussy’s daring approach to mixing raw punk with soft dream pop feels both radical and refreshing, mainly when performed live. When other acts are doing a lot to keep themselves in a box to define their sound easily, MP is mixing things up, showing multitudes, and not afraid to push the boundaries of their sound. The extra element they bring to their live shows proves they’re a band that will undoubtedly stick around and be remembered for their vulnerability and fearlessness.