MANNEQUIN PUSSY AT THE CONCERT HALL IN TORONTO
The newly reopened historic venue/retired Masonic Temple, The Concert Hall, was one show of a completely sold out tour for acclaimed American bands Mannequin Pussy and Soul Glo. Originally the show was booked at the now defamed Horseshoe Tavern due to limited capacity. Maybe it worked out for the pro-Palestine bands as the owner of the famous tavern had emails exposed about his conflicting views of the Free Palestine movement, and everyone is now aiming to avoid booking the venue. Plus the jump from 400 people to 1200 is an awesome jump in numbers for the bands.
Soul Glo, a hardcore punk band from Philadelphia, has had building acclaim since their 2022 album Diaspora Problems. Riding the hardcore wave, they even hopped on the My Chemical Romance reunion tour with Turnstile in their hometown. The members of Soul Glo casually arrived on stage and lead singer Pierce Jordan took to the mic and began speaking to set the tone of the night. “[...] The white supremacist agenda. That’s why my country and ya’ll country is so invested in it [war on Palestine].” Ending his speech with “FREE PALESTINE!'' which was met with rounds of applause and shouts of agreement. The Palestinian flag proudly hung on the biggest speaker on stage. Then, very instantly, they bursted into their manic hardcore roots and all the energy of the audience erupted in the pit. After the first three songs, the music was stopped as the band noticed some members of the crowd flagging down staff to check in on a man who collapsed on the floor. As the man was being attended to by an EMT, they stayed on stage watching in concern, but left after it was taking a bit to attend to. The man was wheeled out on a stretcher and the audience clapped as it wrapped up, and the DJ awkwardly started back up and the vibe settled back to normal; as normal could get. The band thanked staff and EMTs and returned to their set.
Toward the end of their high energy set, they began to play “If I Speak (Shut The Fuck Up)” and its slow build beginning started a parting for the “wall of death”. When the song was supposed to drop into the chorus, Pierce said, “Man, only on this tour this song makes a wall of death and I don’t know how this became a thing or if someone made an agreement on Reddit or something but ya’ll just be doing it, it’s weird, where did ya’ll-? I don’t even wanna know.” The chorus finally dropped and the mosh commenced. They ended their set with their most well known song “Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)” in full HC fashion. Pierce stood on the barricade to mic the fans trampling each other to have the chance to yell into the mic. As the song was rounding out, the bassist of Mannequin Pussy, Bear, came on stage to shout his heart out of the chorus, “WHO GON BEAT MY ASS?” It showed the good vibes and friendship these bands have on this tour. Such high energy after their set, no wonder they were the only opener.
There was a change of pace in the beginning of Mannequin Pussy’s set as they opened quietly with “I Don’t Know You”. Diving into their setlist, they touched on their indie grunge roots to their newer hardcore inspired tracks, but each song gained more and more energy like the night wouldn’t end on a calm note. Lead singer Missy would bounce between breathy whispers and fantastical, loud grit in her banter between songs. During “Loud Bark” Missy wanted to experiment with dividing the crowd where one half sung one melody and the other half another. Left side, “ByyyyYYeeee” and right side, “A LOUD BARK, DEEP, BITE” which may or may not have been successful as everyone wanted to sing everything! Nearing the end of their set, MP’s political time was to shine as Missy took 10-15 minutes to speak (or whisper and shout) on subjects about the bible dictating the state of America (although it’s incredibly outdated), pro-Palestine sentiments and how America always has enough money for massacre, the American-dream being a fantasy that no longer or ever existed, how most people stuff down their feelings and it manifests in people’s actions, and lastly about how the whole tour is sold out and in upgraded venues (she was very genuinely choked up in happiness about this). In this banter and in her singing, her voice was incredibly versatile. It went from gentle in a whispery ASMR sense to brazen and full of power; hardly a mic needed to help project her voice. Towards the end of their set, playing their more HC-inspired songs like “OK? OK! OK? OK!” and “Of Her”, Missy brought up the topic that the band has a tradition of having everyone give their loudest “primal scream” on a countdown, and they did as such. “If you don’t let it out, it will make you bitter and resentful,” she said. The last three songs in the encore were the best energy of the night; guess the primal scream really helped people let loose.
These two bands are perfectly complementary to each other in sound and ideology, and are on a complete high while remaining grounded. What a winning year for this tour and these albums. I couldn’t imagine this tour in a 400 cap venue now. They reminded me that it’s important to stand up for anything that makes you feel uneasy in these trying times and to shout it from where you can.