From Rolling Stone · Larisha Paul · · 1m 20s
The women who built punk get their own festival
Members of X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats, and the Slits share one Brixton stage for a night built around 50 years of She-Punk.
In brief
Members of X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats, and the Slits share one Brixton stage for a night built around 50 years of She-Punk. Women were never a side note in punk, and this festival puts the receipts on stage and on the wall. Originally reported by Rolling Stone.
Fifty years of She-Punk
Up Yours! God Save the Queens! lands in London to mark half a century of She-Punk, pulling together artwork, photography, fashion, and archival material.
One night, one supergroup
On Friday, Oct. 16 at Electric Brixton, members of X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats, and the Slits form a band for a single show.
Who is actually playing
Gina Birch of the Raincoats and Hollie Cook of the Slits join X-Ray Spex's Lora Logic and Paul Dean, historian Vivien Goldman, and Celeste Bell, daughter of Poly Styrene.
A book brought to life
Goldman wrote Revenge of the She-Punks to trace the global lineage of women who used music to break stereotypes. The Brixton night stages that lineage.
“This festival, and the incredible night we are putting together at Electric Brixton, is that book coming to life on stage.”
Not an afterthought
Goldman frames the whole thing as living rebel culture rather than a nostalgia set, with Big Joanie and Essential Logic also on the bill.
“the female narrative in punk is not an afterthought; it is a driving, evolving force”
Then the archive opens
A flagship exhibition follows on Oct. 23 at the Museum of Youth Culture in Camden, built on careful documentation and featuring never-before-seen images.
In short
Women were never a side note in punk, and this festival puts the receipts on stage and on the wall.
