At the Free at Noon this Friday, Philly’s Mannequin Pussy took the stage by storm, transporting the sold out crowd out of the mundanity of mid-day and into a punk-rock-filled seventh heaven. I Got Heaven, their highly-anticipated fourth album, comes out March 1st on Epitaph, but this week at World Cafe Live we got to hear a slew of unreleased cuts, and a few first performances in this journey through their new discography. These fierce musicians took the stage amid a cheerful crowd, a wonderful hometown welcome for the group.
Their set which began with by far the most subdued song of the afternoon, the second single of the new album, “I Don’t Know You,” where drummer Kaleen Reading swapped out her typical wooden sticks for wire drum brushes to play subtly and let the roaring riffs from guitarist Maxine Steen shine. The charismatic Marisa Dabice brought her iconic and barbarous lead vocals out to play on “Sometimes.” They grew in intensity on “Loud Bark,” and its reverberated cry of a chorus filled the room with excitement. The first half of their set was full of new and unreleased songs, Dabice jokingly saying “I blacked out a bit during that,” after one of the song’s performance debuts.
Mannequin Pussy | photo by Paige Walter for WXPN
Mannequin Pussy is a band full of passionate energy, and even in the midday, they can pack a house and get them riled up. Following the 2019 release of their third album Patience, Mannequin Pussy has only released an EP, 2021’s Perfect. They toured that release a ton and added guitarist Steen to the band’s official lineup, along with Carolyn Haynes as a live member of the band contributing additional guitar and synth. The second half of the band’s set was packed with ragers. The “dee dee dee’s…” at the start of “I Got Heaven” cut off the crowd’s wishful demands for Dabice to do her typical chaotic runs on stage, after she admitted to toning it down for the air. But to be tame is a hard feat with this band whose final songs unleashed the chaos.
“Of Her” and “Aching” from the new album were full-on explosive, with faster tempos and Dabice in her charismatic punk rock element, with energized bassist Bear Regisford joining in on vocals for “Aching.” Dabice introduced final the two songs with a heartfelt message about creating the art you wish to see in the world and not giving up on your dreams, a reflective statement to their fans to engage with the world passionately.
As Mannequin Pussy continues to make waves and Philadelphians proud, they prepare to go on the road this spring following the release of the new album I Got Heaven. If you weren’t able to make it to Free at Noon, you can catch Mannequin Pussy at Union Transfer in May — the first night, May 22nd is sold out, while tickets remain for the May 23rd show — and you can see them kick off tour April 4th at Phantom Power in Millersville. See photos from today’s Free At Noon show in the gallery below.