Bikini Kill brought their enduring brand of feminist punk rock to a sold-out Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 24, delivering a furious 23-song set near the end of their 2026 tour.
More than three decades after Bikini Kill first emerged from Olympia, Washington, the band remains a formidable live force. Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, and Tobi Vail have lost none of the urgency that made Bikini Kill one of the defining bands of the riot grrrl movement, and the packed Brooklyn crowd responded accordingly.
Downtown Boys opened the evening with a highly energized set of politically charged punk that proved an ideal match for the headliners. Formed in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2011, Downtown Boys are fronted by vocalist Victoria Ruiz and have released three studio albums over the course of their career.
Their performance primed the room perfectly for Bikini Kill.
Bikini Kill formed in 1990 with Hanna on vocals, Wilcox on bass, Vail on drums, and Billy Karren on guitar. The group would become instrumental in the rise of riot grrrl, combining feminist politics, punk rock, zines, and confrontational live performances into a movement that resonated well beyond the music itself.
The original band broke up in 1997, but Hanna, Wilcox, and Vail reunited for live performances years later, eventually returning to touring in 2019. Today, joined onstage by touring guitarist Sara Landeau, they remain every bit capable of delivering the kind of exhilarating punk show that made their reputation in the first place.
Hanna and company wasted no time in Williamsburg, tearing through “New Radio,” “This Is Not a Test,” and “Don’t Need You” in quick succession. The opening run established the pace for a show that rarely let up.
Stream “New Radio” by Bikini Kill on YouTube:
“Feels Blind,” “I Hate Danger,” and “Carnival” followed before the band reached one of the night’s personal highlights, “Capri Pants.” More than 30 years after Bikini Kill’s original run, the song still sounds immediate and alive. Hanna’s dynamic vocals drove the performance, while the band played with the tightness of musicians who understand exactly how to turn these short, sharp songs into something explosive onstage.
The same was true later with “Double Dare Ya,” one of Bikini Kill’s quintessential songs. Its rawness and defiance remain intact, and hearing it in a packed club made it feel less like a relic of the early ’90s than a song that could have been written yesterday.
Throughout the night, Hanna remained a commanding presence. Her vocals still carry tremendous force, and the conviction behind them is as important as the volume. Wilcox’s bass, Vail’s muscular drumming, and Landeau’s guitar provided the foundation for a performance that was rough around the edges in exactly the way punk rock should be.
The band’s legacy inevitably hangs over a Bikini Kill concert, but this did not feel like an exercise in nostalgia. These songs remain relevant because the anger, humor, politics, and sense of community embedded in them have never really gone away.
That was particularly apparent when Downtown Boys returned to join Bikini Kill for the closing number of the main set, “Rebel Girl.” Bikini Kill’s signature anthem became a joyous communal finale, bringing the two bands together before Hanna and company returned for one last blast: “Suck My Left One.”
It was an appropriately ferocious encore.
Stream “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill on YouTube:
Music Hall of Williamsburg also proved an excellent setting for Bikini Kill. The room is intimate enough to preserve the feeling of a punk club while providing enough space for a sold-out crowd to fully erupt. For a band whose music has always depended on the connection between performer and audience, it was difficult to imagine a much better fit.
Unfortunately, Bikini Kill’s scheduled appearance two days later at the CBGB Festival under the K Bridge never happened. Organizers canceled the festival because of forecasts for severe weather and high winds across the New York metropolitan area.
That made the Williamsburg performance an even more valuable opportunity to catch Bikini Kill near the end of this run.
If the band returns for more shows in 2027, I’ll be there.
Setlist:
1. “New Radio”
2. “This Is Not a Test”
3. “Don’t Need You”
4. “Feels Blind”
5. “I Hate Danger”
6. “In Accordance to Natural Law”
7. “Carnival”
8. “Capri Pants”
9. “Reject All American”
10. “For Tammy Rae”
11. “For Only”
12. “Distinct Complicity”
13. “DemiRep”
14. “Alien She”
15. “No Backrub”
16. “Sugar”
17. “Hamster Baby”
18. “Tell Me So”
19. “Double Dare Ya”
20. “Lil’ Red”
21. “Jigsaw Youth”
22. “Rebel Girl” (with Downtown Boys)
Encore: 23. “Suck My Left One”
Here are some photos of Bikini Kill performing live at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sept. 24, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
Here are some photos of Bikini Kill performing live at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sept. 24, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
