Dinosaur in Trouble: Grrrls!

Portia Richardson of The Haves Have It

Fuck Lilith Fair. With so many innovative female-fronted bands struggling to be taken seriously, why would the one festival dedicated to exposing female artists choose to highlight the safest, most mainstream, most boring musicians? If the organizers of Lilith Fair had any balls, the festival might have resembled the amazing lineup at the 7th Street Entry on February 10th. (For those of you who read carefully, that was probably the worst joke I’ve ever told.)

Riot Grrrl revivalists, and one of my new favorite bands, Baby Guts, opened the show. Wow! Maybe since it was their drummer’s last show, they decided to send him off with a bang by kicking all of our asses. I was definitely sore afterward. And just to prove how hardcore they were, they did an awesome cover of Scratch Acid’s “Cannibal.” I haven’t been this impressed by a new band since the first time I saw The Haves Have It.

Baby Guts

Speaking of The Haves Have It, and speaking of drummers leaving…the night also served as Dustin’s farewell show as he parted ways with The Haves Have It to focus on lazer.forever. But shit, after an amazing performance like that, I can only imagine that he was having second thoughts. The Haves Have It stole the night (luckily they were the only band capable of following Baby Guts). Rarely were their shows ever filled with this much energy, and I had never witnessed them so musically tight. It’ll be interesting to see if a new drummer can live up to Dustin’s legacy.

Dustin's last show with The Haves Have It

Jenn and Portia of The Haves Have It

Spider Fighter (the newest band to feature Arzu from the Selby Tigers) rocked us with their unique brand of pop punk, and then made way for Siouxsie & The Banshees disciples, Maps of Norway. Lilith Fair has nothing on the Twin Cities.