Baddie City: A Mannequin Pussy Concert Review

Graphic by Julia Norkus

By Malia Welham

On September 23, my friend and I entered Baddie City. 

Rain fell outside the Worcester train station as we made our way to see Mannequin Pussy. We hopped over puddles, discussing our personal stories of how we discovered the band, reveling in our teenage angst in anticipation for the show. 

The quietness of Worcester contrasted the chaos of Boston. We approached the venue, the lights from The Palladium’s sign shining through the rain. Despite the emptiness outside, the historic concert venue was nearly filled, the crowd creating a semi circle around the stage. 

We made it just in time to hear the last few songs of Heart to Gold’s set, an alternative/indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The clear Midwest emo influence made their performance both dancey and nostalgic. After Heart to Gold, the grunge duo Softcult was on. Bringing a new sense of energy to the audience, they did not shy away from social commentary. They dished out attitudes of angst, bashing the patriarchy and freeing the crowd from any other societal expectations to which they were confined. The riot-grrl-esque performance ended with the lead singer, Phoenix Arn-Horn, holding her guitar with one arm above her head and screaming. The energy created by Softcult was the perfect segway for the punk and indie-rock performance that Mannequin Pussy was soon to bring to the audience. 

After thirteen years of making music together, Mannequin Pussy, which consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Marisa "Missy" Dabice, drummer Kaleen Reading, bassist Colins "Bear" Regisford, and guitarist Maxine Steen, has amassed an admirable audience with 540,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. They began their set with their most streamed song, “Romantic,” and immediately, the venue was filled with catchy guitar riffs, gut-wrenching vocals, emotional bridges, and crashing drums. 

My friend and I made our way through the tightly packed crowd until we reached our final destination, Baddie City, which we labeled as such soon after. The pit was almost entirely made up of young women; however, it wasn’t until Mannequin Pussy began playing “Drunk II” that Baddie City gained a new and deeper meaning. Before, all of us—the Baddies—were drawn together by the love of music and expression through dance. But as we all jumped around and joined Missy for “Drunk II” singing, “I was getting swept into emptiness.” I felt as though I had gained a deeper understanding of those around me. There was a shared desire, anger, and sorrow exasperated through the lyrics and our screams. I saw myself in the people surrounding me. With all the chaos of us scream-singing, moshing, and throwing our bodies into each other, there was an unexpected comfort. Mannequin Pussy had created a space for us, which we named Baddie City, where we could—just for a moment—escape the demands forced upon us as young women. We could fully relish in our emotions, both good and bad, and exist together outside of any expectations the world had for us. In all the chaos both internal and external, we found peace in Baddie City.