.alice bag @ johnny brendas

Alice Bag!

Alice Bag is a punk feminist icon from the 1970s. I feel horrible for not knowing anything about her until now. When I saw The Julie Ruin in August, Alice Bag performed at PhilaMoca on the same night. She came back in the fall but I missed my chance. Thankfully she told my friend she would be back in spring and she kept her promise! At first I was hesitant to attend this because of state testing going on at work but let me tell you, this is my favorite concert so far of 2017. The three opening bands kept things moving along before Alice came out later on.

Full Bush

The first band was Full Bush. I really dug their drummer. The second band was Pretty Greens. They were okay. The final opener was Shellshag. The coolest thing about their duo was this incredible mic stand that had their name cut out of a clear plastic circle which makes it look like ice. The guitarist had a quote written on his guitar from one of their songs called "Carry On." They were a lot of fun. Alice Bag came out and commanded the stage. Before introducing each song she went into some background about why the song was written and spoke a little bit on the topic. She talked about "No Means No" which is an obvious song about date rape. Then she discussed "Programmed" about how she left teaching since the system is out to fail the kids and there's no more creativity in teaching. 

Pretty Greens

I was in awe the entire night. The crowd was rough at certain points, I won't lie. Some young guys started moshing and at one point I got the wind practically knocked out of me when they slammed into my back from behind. The same happened to my friend and another girl up front. During the last song Alice asked us all to think of a person we hate the most and to scream their name when she counted down. She brought up two girls (one my friend) on stage to sing the chorus "We will bury you." I was so excited my friend was up there I started snapping copious pictures that to my dismay came out blurry since my hand was shaking from excitement. 

Shellshag

After the show we both bought a tee-shirt and talked to Alice. I told her I am a teacher and agreed with what she said. She and I talked for a minute or two and it meant so much! I definitely want to check out her book. Making it my mission to inform more people of Alice Bag. Someone filmed the entire show which you can watch here.