NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
As conservative movements globally try to turn back to a time when women had fewer rights (eg. The US Supreme Court invalidating Roe vs Wade), and the music industry continues to struggle with misogyny and regular sexual assault allegations, riot grrrl music pioneer Kathleen Hanna has brought her messages back, first with Bikini Kill touring earlier in the year and now with Le Tigre this summer (with their first tour in eighteen years!!). As they wind down their tour, they stopped by History in Toronto for a raucous affair.
Opening for Le Tigre was a New York band/art collective group calling themselves cumgirl8. Their outfits and performance are part punk and part raw sex, right out there daring you to comment. The crowd ate it up!! The set was pure punk, energy spewing everywhere and brash lyrics spit at you! This band is somethingl you have to see to believe. They do have a show at the Knitting Factory in NYC on the 28th if you can make it!
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Le Tigre took the stage and immediately outshone their openers with their bright colored outfits that look like they could have stepped right out of the Barbie movie! They kicked off the show with “The The Empty” and it seemed that eighteen years had not dulled this band at all. They were vivacious, engaging, and best of all, they sounded great! I separate punk into two groups: angry punk and happy punk. Le Tigre was very obviously the latter! I was happy to see even very young audience members, who could not have been old enough to listen to this band’s music when they first arrived on the scene, sing along to every song like they’ve known it all their lives. The subtext underneath the lyrics remain but the joy and bounciness of both the band and the crowd seemed to put that to bed for the time being.
Hanna did speak about continued and increasing women’s issues as well as the discrimination that LGBTQ+ member of society continue to experience. At the end of the day, Le Tigre was still a super political band wrapped in all the fun pop sensibilities. Hanna also said that, back in the 90s, she would get hate mail but people at the time needed to send physical letters and put a stamp on them. So at least she gave them an A for effort. That story led into “Shred A”. Hanna did request audience participation at one point, joking that she was going to pass around the mic so everyone could lick it. What a comedian! I guarantee there are fans who would have done it! The band went off-stage mid-set for an outfit change while “Get Off the Internet” played on the video screen. After the set finale “Eau d’Bedroom Dancing”, Le Tigre did the obligatory goodbye as the crowd chanted “One More Song!!”. They came back for a two song encore, ending with their big hit “Deceptacon” which the whole crowd sang along to. Hanna finished the song while jumping rope, an weird yet oddly appropriate end to a Le Tigre show!
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