Subtle angst mixed with beautiful sounds– I knew what I was walking into on Tuesday night when I entered the Fine Line, having seen headlining act Mannequin Pussy one time before, but I don’t think I remembered just how much I loved seeing this band live. I know that sounds terrible, but when you do this night after night, the shows become a blur. I have lost count of how many times I’ve watched a band, thinking it was my first time experiencing them live, only to find out I had covered them multiple times before. Although that’s not exactly the case when it comes to Mannequin Pussy, the feeling was kind of the same. I stood there in wonderment as the band powered through a lengthy and perfectly curated set. I’m getting ahead of myself, though– Sure, it was Mannequin Pussy’s show, but let’s talk about the opener before I really get into the headlining slot.
I feel like, if you’re reading this blog, chances are you know what the MPR Tiny Desk Concert series is. If not, here’s a quick run down– bands pack into a small MPR studio and perform. What makes this so unique is the lack of space. Rather than an entire stage, bands are given a small corner sectioned off by shelves of music. It’s a time for bands to get intimate- and show a softer side, but that’s now how Soul Glo played it. When they performed on the Tiny Desk Concert series, this Philadelphia-based band didn’t hold back and was the first band to have the staff of MPR engaging in a mosh pit in this small and intimate studio. They were the first hardcore punk band to grace the Tiny Desk “stage” and, after what they pulled off, surely won’t be the last. There’s so much more to this band than just this, but I feel like a lot of the hype surrounding their set on Tuesday night was due to this newfound fame from this small moment in their storied career.
Soul Glo, as mentioned, is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has been around since 2014. Although they seem to just now be getting the recognition they so much deserve, this band has been putting out powerful punk anthems since their beginning. Sure, maybe calling it just punk isn’t quite the right way to describe their music as there are elements of hardcore and rap rock woven into their intricate sound, but rather than spending my whole post talking about their unique sound, I’d instead just call it punk and move onto the intense magic they unleashed on a sold-out Fine Line.
It seemed to take a couple of minutes for the audience to really understand what was happening with Soul Glo’s set. I blame this on the stark contrast of brutality and intensity that Soul Glo brings to the stage and the more subtle angst of Mannequin Pussy, but once the audience caught on, it was game over. People in the audience were pushing and shoving their way through the set with the little space they had given this was a completely sold-out show. The members of Soul Glo seemed to push the audience to move a bit harder as the set went on, creating a sense of dynamics in the audience’s listening journey rather than just in the music. The passion that radiated from the stage was palpable. When mixed with the energy from the audience, I was left with a set that left me both exhausted and full of life. Honestly, at the end of their opening set, I knew I could have left then and there and was completely satisfied with the way my night turned out, but we still had the headlining act to get through.
Vocalist Marisa “Missy” Dabice has this way of pulling you into this band’s world with ease. I wish I could tell you what it is about her, but I can’t. There’s something almost eerie and threatening about her presence. She didn’t say much towards the beginning of the set but, instead, let her passion for the music speak volumes. That sentiment was clearly shared across the stage. Each of the members of this band seemed to be in their own world, giving the audience exactly what you go to a live show to witness– passion. That passion hit the audience like a tidal wave, and, within the first song, it felt like everyone in attendance was singing and dancing along to the infectious beats booming from the PA. Although the intensity wasn’t as evident as it had been with the sweaty pit that formed during Soul Glo, there was no way to ignore the intensity that Mannequin Pussy brought to the stage and room.
