Mitski headlines an all-star punk lineup at PhilaMOCA

Mitski | Photo by Megan Kelly | keganmellyphotography.tumblr.com

When I first walked into PhilaMOCA on a rainy Tuesday evening for the absolutely stacked quadruple-bill featuring I Tried to Run Away When I Was Six, PWR BTTM, Palehound, and Mitski, nearly everyone was sitting on the ground. I was confused – was I at the right show? Why aren’t people ready to mosh? Wasn’t this supposed to be a punk show?

It turns out that I was indeed at a punk show — the mostly twenty-something, denim-jacket-wearing crowd confirmed as much – but it didn’t have the raucous atmosphere I expected. Though the audience was forced to stand up and make room as more people trickled in through PhilaMOCA’s tiny doorway, the intimate atmosphere remained over the course of the entire evening.

From the moment queer-punk duo PWR BTTM jumped on stage, it was clear they meant business. Guitarist Ben Hopkins was decked out in a hot-pink turtle-neck/dress onesie featuring a prominent sequin butterfly on his chest, while drummer Liv Bruce sported equally prominent pink earrings and lipstick. It’s hard to say what was more impressive in the end – their grade-A stage banter, their wardrobe, or their actual music. The group began the night with some humor, encouraging the audience to “sing along if you know the words to our garbage music,” before jumping into their set that saw them perform almost the entirety of their stellar 2015 debut Ugly Cherries.

Stylistically, Hopkins and Bruce complement each other extremely well in a live setting. Hopkins acts as the duo’s crazier half, dancing around like a maniac and flailing his limbs about every which way, while Bruce is on the whole more composed. This personality difference was reflected just as much in PWR BTTM’s arrangements. Hopkins generally played guitar on more upbeat, shreddy tracks like “Ugly Cherries,” whereas Bruce switched to guitar on slower, emotional tracks like “C U Around” like “I Wanna Boi.” Though Hopkins and Bruce were occasionally joined by a bassist, whom they jokingly referred to as their intern, their set was heavy on drums and guitar in the best way.

PWR BTTM was followed up by Boston’s Ellen Kempner and her three-piece Palehound, who have garnered praise for their hybrid of genre-bending bedroom pop and punk. It was clear Kempner was ecstatic to kick off first night of her tour — a tour that she informed us was planned mostly over Facebook chat with Mitski — muttering to herself “I can’t believe this is even happening.”

Kempner’s understated white t-shirt couldn’t quite match PWR BTTM’s glitter infused wardrobe, but she certainly managed to match her predecessors musically with her delicate but dominant vocals and prolific guitar playing. Kemper really hit her stride toward the middle of her set, which featured some of the best tracks off Palehound’s recent release Dry Food, including the lovely finger-picked ballad “Dry Food” and smooth, water-logged guitar riffs of “Cinnamon.” Kempner finished off her set with a throwback to her 2013 EP Bent Nail, performing the whimsical track “Pet Carrot.”

When headliner Mitski finally jumped on stage, she was met with the largest cheers of the entire night. Having seen Mitski perform at Union Transfer in support of Hundred Waters back in March, I was surprised to see a much more talkative and comfortable Mitski at PhilaMOCA. Mitski herself spoke to her growing comfort zone as a performer, especially since she began headlining shows, saying, “It finally feels like I’m playing shows for my people, my audience, instead of bros that I would probably hate if I saw them at a party.”

This comfort translated to Mitski’s set, a tour de force that highlighted her 2015 LP Bury Me at Makeout Creek (highlights included “Townie” and the eardrum-busting “I Don’t Smoke”). Mitski’s gorgeous voice managed to float above the the grunge-y white noise of her trademark hot-pink bass, channeling both the angst of Angel Olsen and the fluttering falsetto of Joni Mitchell. Mitski finished off the set on a calmer note with “Last Words of a Shooting Star,” her intimate, disarming final track off Makeout Creek.

As Mitski walked off stage, the audience’s chants of “Encore!” drew her back, albeit somewhat begrudigingly. She joked that audiences always say they want an encore but never actually do.

Mitski could almost do no wrong on this night, but in this instance she was sorely mistaken. For the tender, chill-inducing new acoustic track she unveiled was the most moving song I heard all night.