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| Le Tigre,
The Garage, London |
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| Live,
Dan Wolff,
15 January 2001 |
Rating: F4
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The word feminism, especially in rock music, usually sets off alarm bells. This is mostly because in the early nineties there was an ill-advised movement called Riot Grrl backed by the odious Huggy Bear who thought the only way to get their views across was to invade The Word and hit Terry Christian. Not a bad thing in itself but the just the wrong way to prove a point. This is where Kathleen Hanna comes in. The leader of Riot Grrl band Bikini Kill who split 3 years ago after their Reject All American album, she did a solo album straight after under the name Julie Ruin and has now produced her best work to date with Le Tigre.
This time round, despite preaching to a more than converted audience, she is more focused than ever. Aided by zine writer Joanna Fateman and film maker Sadie Benning they run through a number of tracks on this years' self titled album along with some new ones. On one of the new songs they encourage the crowd to count to 41 to signify the number of rounds fired at unarmed immigrant Amandou Diallo by four police officers who were later aquitted. Tracks from the album such as Let's Run, The The Empty and Deception are given a new lease of life in a live environment with Hanna leaving some of the singing to her rabid following while dancing and bouncing non stop. To stay true to her roots, My My Metrocard, a song about New York, is dedicated to 60's feminist Valerie Solanas who was the front runner of the SCUM (Society of Cutting Up Men) manifesto and ended up shooting Andy Warhol.
After a brief but to the point 45 minute set, plus a one song encore, they are gone leaving a sold out crowd more than happy. Having been only one of a few to have weathered the Riot Grrl hype unscathed and stronger than ever, Kathleen Hanna is even more important today than she was 10 years ago. Thanks to the scary rise of acts such as Eminem and Limp Bizkit, misogyny has become an acceptable part of everyday life which is now seen as normal. It may seem like an unlikely David and Goliath situation but at least she is doing something she believes in and long may she continue to do so.
27 NOV 2000
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