The fourth instalment of Girlhood’s art show launch and gig proved to be a popular Friday night choice. It was cold and rainy and there was a line outside of the Old Bar, with a one-in one-out door policy being adopted. Complaints about the wait and the weather funnelled down the line, but once punters were inside, it was well and truly worth it.
Crop Top set the tone for the evening, with the band holding nothing back and interacting freely with the audience. The art exhibition upstairs added another interesting layer to the night, featuring impressive works centring on what it means to be a girl, ranging from the deeply personal to the overtly political.
The bandroom filled out as Chelsea Bleach took to the stage and delivered a standout set. With three guitars and tempo changes galore, the music of the relative newcomers never stagnated for too long, as they ran through numbers ranging from punk to fuzzy pop. The band’s first and only single to date, Public Safety,received the best response from the crowd, and others including Eat Your Heart Out and Baked/10 (or Baked Out Of Ten) show that the five-piece is no one trick pony. Shrimpwitch follow Chelsea Bleach with their high tempo, high gain style, and whilst crushing their set too, they didn’t quite reach the high bench mark set.
In a social climate where misogyny still runs rampant in some parts of the community, the fact that events like this are so well supported offers some hope for a more serious move towards gender equality in what is still a deeply antiquated country. Also, it was a killer rock’n’roll show, so there’s that too.
WORDS BY ELIJAH HAWKINS
IMAGE BY ANNA MADDEN
LOVED: The incredible lineup.
HATED: That events like this still need to happen.
DRANK: Nothing
