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On Speaking Aloud and Breaking Boundaries: Mannequin Pussy Mission Creek Festival

Ignore the name. Or don’t, because truthfully the heart of Mannequin Pussy’s art lies in its name. Mannequin Pussy, of Philadelphia origin, gracefully blessed the hall of the Englert Theater for Iowa City’s annual Mission Creek Festival in April. As someone who has been a longtime listener, I was ecstatic when I learned they were performing on day 2.

Mannequin Pussy via Mission Creek Festival official site

For those who are new to the band, Mannequin Pussy consists of 4 artists, Missy Dabice on vocals and lead, Kaleen Reading on drums, Bear Regisford on bass and secondary vocals, and Maxine Steen on guitar. They weren’t always called Mannequin Pussy, but I assure you the original name was just as upsetting to the status quo. And that has always been their goal.

Somewhat early on in their show, Dabice made it clear that part of the performance of their art is also conversation with the audience. I found that pretty respectable. It’s not by any means original to include the audience in the experience of art, but seemingly uncommon in mainstream music recently. Dabice began the conversation by discussing the profanity of their name. She told men in the audience to join her in repeating the word “pussy,” stating that their name isn’t funny and it certainly shouldn’t be uncomfortable anymore. And that the consideration of the slang for female genitalia is only inappropriate because of the misogyny that lies in sexualizing women.

At the time I was a little shocked by their openness to topics like this. As someone who has grown up in Iowa, I’m no stranger to the ideas of the reigning majority in the government. It felt surprising because I had really only delved into discussions like that online, in small circles of friends, or in books. It brought up a wider topic for the night about vulgarity and censorship. I found it really interesting because one could actually argue that it’s still inappropriate to use other slang for different genitalia, but ultimately the point is that society deeming parts of the human body inappropriate or vulgar creates insecurities and tension that harm everyone in the long run.

Mannequin Pussy at Mission Creek via Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Later on, they would go on to speak on a different kind of suppression under class. Dabice stated that billionaires “want to keep [the middle class] in a fantasy state fighting for something that will never be [theirs]” and that fighting keeps us from realizing corruption. She said America does not center its rage on the correct demographic. The more we fight over politics or identity, the more we fall into a state of pawns. To quote, she asked the crowd to “pledge allegiance to [ourselves] and [our] community.”

The show was a great experience for me as someone who had been listening to a good handful of songs and only had a little knowledge on the band. The small venue also made it far more intimate for the audience. When they came out on stage it felt like you were meeting them in person. Maybe that had something to do with the amount of conversing between songs, but that aspect influenced my impression of the band greatly. Well, that and there was this feeling in their words that other than educating the audience, they also wanted to release this sort of cathartic feeling. The entire audience was invited to scream as loud as possible for as long as they wanted in the last ten minutes. And then they played Romantic as the closer and everyone in the room lit up.

Mannequin Pussy via Millicent Hailes

In terms of music, the lineup was great, their set came to about an hour and fifteen minutes in length, and it was electrifying. The song lineup was a lot of their newer album, with some older favorites sprinkled in towards the second half. I found myself dancing a lot, much to the dismay of a guy and his preteen daughter next to me. (Sorry by the way, hope the concert was still pretty good even if you guys stood there the whole time). Mannequin Pussy makes music that makes you want to scream and sing and thrash around in all the best ways. My favorite song just happened to be their closer that night and that made the show all the more special for me.

In my personal opinion, I thought the show was really powerful. I would one hundred percent see them again just to do the same thing all over again. (Though I doubt any one show would be exactly the same kind of magical). Mannequin Pussy are not only extremely musically gifted, they are a visionary group and their shows fabricate a compassion for their craft and the people impacted by it like no other artist I have encountered. As their name would suggest, Mannequin Pussy is an unavoidable display of intimacy and beautifully crafted vulgarity.


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