Mannequin Pussy
live in Allston (2019)
Brian Shultz
I arrived at this sold-out Sunday night gig as California punks Destroy Boys were wrapping up their set. They were doing a damn solid job of warming up the crowd, who looked thrilled and packed out the front bopping along. The band even orchestrated a wall of death for one of their last songs.
The obvious attraction, here, however, was Philly’s Mannequin Pussy, appearing in Boston on their first “official” headlining tour (according to vocalist/guitarist Marisa Dabice, it’s not official until it’s arranged by a proper booking agent). They’re out in support of their third album and Epitaph debut, Patience, which is pretty fucking great, adding more tortured, emotional indie/alt-rock melodies and moments to their sound while occasionally retaining their super aggressive hardcore tilt of yore. For me at least, it’s a top-3 album for the year so far.
With the short lengths of their songs, they managed to squeeze in around 20 total songs from all three of their full-lengths (I’m actually not familiar with their first two, admittedly, so the setlist below is accurate to the best of my knowledge and notes taken). And the range was great. “High Horse” and its spare beginning with just Dabice singing and strumming was stark and desperate, especially when it climaxed soundly on its bridge. The fantastic “Drunk II” (possibly my favorite single from any band this year, and judging by the crowd's reaction, theirs too) was a bit more raw and ambling than on record but still an obvious highlight. At the onset of one block of songs that threw back to the older side of the band’s catalog, Destroy Boys’ Alexia Roditis joined up on guitar, allowing Dabice to roam freely with the mic and get wild; but they stripped down to a four-piece anyway for most of this quick block of more hardcore-leaning ragers.
The crowd was VERY into it and basically pogoing for the entirety of the set, straight up -- just jumping up and down, and when they weren’t doing that, they were probably push-moshing to the more aggressive songs.
Dabice gave a vulnerable and raw, emotive performance throughout the set, and it would have been a perfect mood to throw in the excellent “Fear/ /Desire” from Patience, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Regardless, she gave it her all, and her band were certainly more than capable players in accompaniment while she provided the energetic thrills front and center. She was also extremely appreciative of the crowd for rolling up and selling out the venue, and gave an impassioned speech encouraging everyone in attendance to express anger they might have stored up in creative and non-destructive ways. Clearly she’s done it herself with her band in increasingly great and compelling ways for several years now.
Set list (10:39-11:37):
1. Patience
2. Who You Are
-----
3. Emotional High
4. Cream
-----
5. Pledge
6. Romantic
-----
7. Drunk I
8. Anything
9. High Horse
10. Denial
-----
11. Control [new song]
12. Drunk II
-----
13. Kiss [?]
14. Meatslave One
15. Everything
16. Ten
17. Sneaky
-----
18. Clams
19. F.U.C.A.W.
20. In Love Again