Last week local punk rockers Mannequin Pussy played their seventh consecutive sold-out show at Union Transfer. It all began in August of 2021, when the Marisa Dabice-led band opened the first three dates of Japanese Breakfast’s five-night run at the Eraserhood venue, marking the official/unofficial return of live music in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection (making Mannequin Pussy the very first band to play the room since the end of lockdown). That October they returned to UT to play their biggest headlining show ever.
Last Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Mannequin Pussy played three almost-immediate sell-outs at our former Spaghetti Warehouse, where they were supported by likeminded local hardcore punks Soul Glo. They were the band’s first local shows since the March 1st release of their John Congleton-produced (Chicano Batman, Bully, BAILEN) fourth LP (their second for Epitaph and first since 2019’s Patience), I Got Heaven, which The New York Times called, “A striking collection of songs about desire, control and resilience,” and Rolling Stone characterized as, “A perfect mix of rage and longing.” The appearances also marked the group’s first hometown headlining shows since guitarist Maxine Steen (who had been touring with MP since 2021) became a full-time member.
While the three shows seemed to boast similar (if not identical) setlists, I happened to find myself at Night Two, on Wednesday, May 22nd. Although the venue’s floor featured youngsters happy to rage in a pit for much of the 19-song, 75-minute, I found myself with my back pressed against the bar, along with a somewhat surprising mix of 21st Century riot grrrls, record-collecting nerds, and more punk rock bros than I would have expected, who were more than happy to rage in a more internal and less-obvious way.
The show kicked off with I Got Heaven’s three most recent singles: “I Don’t Know You” (a surprisingly melodic and synth-heavy song about a crush), “Sometimes” (a track reminiscent of the golden age of 120 Minutes), and “Nothing Like” (the band’s most likely contender for a summertime jam, which was apparently inspired by a night Dabice spent watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer stoned). While much of the first half of the set had Mannequin Pussy at their most playful (including the pop-punky “Drunk II” and title track of Patience), the second half of the night got notably louder.
The chorus of I Got Heaven’s “Loud Bark” provided the evening’s first scream-along, which reached all the way to the rafters of the balcony, before Dabice dedicated the album’s title track to anyone with God-fearing parents, proclaiming, “I respect no religion that doesn’t just let people live as who they fucking are!” The remainder of the set featured a number of additional wonderfully welcome punk rock rants, reminiscing about the band’s days playing basements in South and West Philly and warehouses in North Philly, and the most raucous numbers of the night, including the loudest tracks from their latest album, in addition to hardcore “classics” and their most sing-alongable punk numbers, which Dabice dubbed, “the cathartic part of the set.” However, she closed things out with the most sentimental moment of the evening, saying, “We’re a very humble bunch, but we’d like to point out that two Philadelphia bands went on tour and sold out every single show.”
