Bratmobile officially reunited for their first gig in 21 years last week – check out footage below.
The riot grrrl band announced that they would be performing their first live show in more than two decades back in February – their last taking place in September 2002 – to headline Mosswood Meltdown in Oakland, California on July 2.
Vocalist Allison Wolfe and drummer Molly Neuman were joined by Rose Melberg (of Tiger Trap), Audrey Marrs and Marty Key. Original guitarist Erin Smith was unable to join due to “other commitments”, as they shared in a statement.
Ahead of their Oakland show, the band also performed a warmup gig at Zebulon in LA on June 26.
During their festival set, Bratmobile performed The Runaways‘ ‘Cherry Bomb’, for which they were joined by young rock band The Linda Lindas and the daughters of Neumann and keyboard player Mars, along with the children’s’ friends from rock camp.
Watch clips of the set below.
“It was funny because we did a warm up kind of unannounced warmups show in LA like last Wednesday, and they also came up for ‘Cherry Bomb,’ with the Linda Lindas,” Wolfe told Rolling Stone.
“We gave one of the mics to the little girls, and they were really cute, but they were kind of too shy to sing. So, I was like, ‘Hey, if they’re not gonna sing, we’re gonna give both mics to the Linda Lindas next time. They can be on stage and dance, but if they’re not gonna sing, we’re giving away the mics.’”
“So Audrey gave them like a stern talking to — and they really brought it this time!” Wolfe added.
Find more footage of their LA show below.
Announcing their return in a statement earlier this year, the band said: “It’s been more than 20 years since our last tour, and life has changed and grown in many ways. In 2019, we got the original lineup back together to play a big birthday party for our band sister, Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill. After the show, we talked about playing again, but it wasn’t the right time, and then… 2020.
“Now we are both living in Los Angeles, and when the opportunity to play this special show in one of our hometowns came up, we decided to go for it.”
The news followed Le Tigre recently sharing details of their first UK and European tour dates in nearly two decades.