A couple of weeks ago Messed!Up left for their annual super festival weekend in Barcelona when we visited one of Europe’s biggest festivals, Primavera Sound, and got an overdose of amazing gigs. On the first festival day, we ended up at a crazy Mannequin Pussy gig and when we realized they’d play at home turf in Hamburg a couple of weeks later, we just knew we had to be there.
Mannequin Pussy released their newest album I Got Heaven in March this year and shortly began their touring, first in the US and then across the Atlantic, in Europe. And honestly, their latest album is just as electrifying as their previous works (if not more) and explores new sonic avenues – more rock, less punk.
Although it was Wednesday and the German holiday period was still a few weeks away, Molotow was sold out and that means +50 in the club – or +12 in the backyard as the Hamburg weather got stuck in late winter. Team Messed!Up picked the backyard and a few beers while the support act, Swains, played just to make sure we were hydrated enough before the show started.
Mannequin Pussy started the show with the acoustic strums of “I Don’t Know You,” a slower synth song from I Got Heaven and one of my personal favorites from the album. The song explores how sweetness and simplicity can devolve into madness as it switches to an accusatory, regretful ballad, mixing punk with shoegaze. Love that kind of mix. That humming, fuzzy opener was quickly followed by its album-mate “Sometimes” and another album track called “Nothing Like”. As a frontperson, Marisa Dabice is difficult to peel your eyes from, a shuddering, flailing star who can whiplash between soft fluidity and punk-style power stances on a dime.
After starting off in the latest album I Got Heaven, the band returned to their third album Patience, and played the amazing title track, and went even further back in their back catalog, to “Control” off the 2021 EP Perfect. As she hopped and flounced around on stage to the cheers of a moshing pit, Dabice complimented the crowd in, believe or not, (almost) flawless German.
A few songs down the road, and after a long introduction, Dabice introduces I Got Heaven which finally got the crowd moving a bit, and this was also a sort of divider. The first half of their set primarily consisted of their “slower” songs, presumably to leave the second half of the night to their more exhilarating and mosh-pit-worthy numbers. And off we went!
The second half of the show officially began with “Of Her” lasting a little over 90 seconds and full of yelling, feverish guitars, and feedback permeating throughout the venue. The crowd began to jump and mosh, especially as “Aching” tumbled after “Of Her,” which consisted of another 90 seconds of chaos as Dabice and bassist Regisford screamed the lyrics together. They tore through a series of their heavier numbers including “Clams,” “Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!,” and “Pigs Is Pigs”, structuring the show much like I Got Heaven with a pop-heavy front half and annihilatory second, ending with “Romantic”.
It was a set with two different faces – slow rock music and intense hardcore songs – and with the amount of energy the band put into the show and drew out of the crowd, there was no question that it was a perfect combination as we couldn’t stand the heat at Molotow anymore.
Whenever you get the chance to watch Mannequin Pussy live, take it. You’re in for a treat!
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Photos: Kevin Winiker