Review: Riot-grrrl heroes Bikini Kill thrill in St. Paul reunion tour stop

Where most Gen-X indie-rock singers shudder at the thought of becoming outdated oldies acts, Kathleen Hanna actually pined for it Thursday night at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul.

The full-capacity crowd's visibly visceral reaction to her band Bikini Kill's performance, however, proved that was just wishful thinking on her part.

"We're in our 50s now, and we're still punky," the feminist rock hero said toward the end of her '90s outfit's first Twin Cities gig in a quarter-century — as if she was surprised to still be in the fight.

"Sadly, I wish the songs were all irrelevant, and we seemed ridiculous right now," she bluntly added.

After hearing Hanna and her bandmates tear through such sexism-lampooning, equality-bolstering songs as "Alien She," "DemiRep" and "Carnival" — and hearing her often riveting comments in between about the idiocy/patriarchy that inspired them — it was clear the singer wasn't kidding. She truly appeared peeved that her band's material remains so applicable and applaudable in the year 2023.

Thursday's all-ages audience sure seemed to appreciate Bikini Kill being back out on the road, though.

A flagship band in the riot-grrrl movement from Olympia, Wash., the minimalist but manic punk rockers broke up in 1997 and remained sidelined for all of the 21^st century right up until the Trump administration. Then when they did finally start a reunion tour in 2019, they got sidelined by COVID-19.

Thus, there was an extra dose of "at last" enthusiasm as young fans too young to have ever seen the band live pressed up against the stage and jumped around the packed floor with fervor, starting in the opening tunes "New Radio" and "This Is Not a Test." Older Gen-X-age fans watched with knowing admiration and broad smiles from the balcony.

As raw and scrappy as Bikini Kill's music generally was, it also always sounded cleverly biting, bawdy and boisterous — all traits that proved ageless as the band pushed deeper into its catalog with "Capri Pants" and "I Hate Danger."

Drummer Tobi Vail — who came out from behind the kit to sing the latter tune and several more — gave the first of several shoutouts to the Twin Cities' own pioneering all-female punk band Babes in Toyland. She recalled first seeing the trio perform when she was in an earlier group with a couple of men and thinking, "I'm in the wrong band."

Hanna later sang Babes' praises, too, recounting how drummer Lori Barbero helped her book her first-ever tour.

"Lori was the blueprint I was looking for, another woman in music saying, 'Hey, I'll help you!'" she said. "Really, it was Lori who started the riot-grrrl thing."

In an ultra-revealing moment, Hanna also pulled the curtain back on her own origins in becoming a musician. She recounted how "burnt out" she got facing the daily horrors of working with abuse and rape victims at a women's shelter after high school.

"I realized I couldn't do that kind of work without having something fun to do on the side," she recalled. "So I started writing lyrics and poetry."

With co-founding bassist Kathi Wilcox and new guitarist Sara Landeau also playing along — all of them switched places/instruments a few times in the 90-minute set — Hanna still burned brightly as Bikini Kill's primary frontwoman. She twirled and jumped along to the pounding beats and delivered her often vitriolic yet sardonic words with a wicked twinkle.

This was one show with the best saved for last. "Suck My Left One" ended the regular set with an unhinged energy, then "Double Dare Ya" kicked off the encore with a tight wallop. The band finaled with its best-known anthem, "Rebel Girl."

"When she walks, the revolution's coming / In her hips, there's revolution," Hanna snarled as the audience let loose like there'd be no tomorrow. Sadly or not, it sure sounded like a song for the ages at that thrilling moment.