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| Olivia Jean and Cindy Wilson |
Strong women ruled at the
Marquis Theater on Thursday night. Their powerful musical abilities and unique fashion styles were on full display. The crowd was small, but mighty as they soaked in the punk, rock, and pop sounds of the evening. It was very clear who in the crowd showed up for what act. The older patrons were there to see an icon of the ultimate party band
The B-52's Cindy Wilson. Younger mostly bearded guys attended to see
Third Man Records phenomenon
Olivia Jean. The others showed up to participate in the shenanigans of local political punk rock trio
Battle Pussy.
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Battle Pussy - All photos by
The Rock and Roll Princess |
The show started before the doors opened when
Battle Pussy ran through the entrance and high-fived everyone in the line waiting to get into the venue. When the real show eventually started, gladiator helmet wearing
Suzanne Slade lead the trio through songs titled
Tweety Tweet, You're Fired, and
No Trump. I got a strong sense these songs were not endorsed by the MAGA community. Two male dancers joined them on stage to add to the spectacle. The chorus boys stripped down to their underwear and proceeded a get audience members to jump rope while the band rapped
Betty The Beat. The timely Standing Rock Tribe song
Water Is Life was played with distain after Slade announced the news about the recent
Keystone Pipeline leak in South Dakota.
Battle Pussy ended their set with
Revolution getting the audience to shout, "Fight, Fight, Fight" ensuring the band and the concert goers will
not be on the White House Christmas card list anytime soon.
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| Olivia Jean |
Third Man Records has been utilizing
Olivia Jean's talents for a number of years. She led the all girl gothic garage group
The Black Belles, played with
Wanda Jackson,
Karen Elson, and even
Jack White (my lord and savior). Now she is a solo artist supporting
Cindy Wilson's fall tour. She wore a 1960's inspired red floral dress with black boots and a hairstyle reminiscence of the style of
The B-52's.
Olivia Jean sang a number of songs from her
Black Belles catalog such as
Howl at the Moon,
Not Tonight, and
In a Cage. The songs blended nicely with her material from her 2014 solo album
Bathtub Love Killings.
Reminisce was one of the highlights with the dark lyrics, "
Bye, now. You'd think she'd figure it out/Grab her wrist, and twist and shout/'Cause you can't find the reason why/These tears are falling from her eyes."
Olivia Jean was thrilled to play her new song
Garage Bat giving fans hope for a new album.
Cindy Wilson joined the band for the final number
The B-52's Hero Worship that got the crowd dancing with more joy than
Battle Pussy's backup dancers.
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| Cindy Wilson |
Cindy Wilson is a member of the influential New Wave band
The B-52's. Free from the beehives and outrageous outfits of
The B-52's, Wilson appeared with short gray hair and a understated black ensemble wearing dark sunglasses. Her songs from her forth-coming debut solo album
Changes were inspired by her collaboration with fellow Athens, Georgia musician
Ryan Monahan. The heavy electronica music had a dream like quality while multimedia imagery was displayed throughout the performance. Instead of screaming, "Tin Roof Rusted" from
The B-52's The Love Shack days. Wilson toned down her legendary vocals to a refrained whisper while swaying to the music. In turn, her band brought high energy and passion throughout the performance.
See you at the next show. I'll be the one jumping rope in my 1960's inspired outfit.
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