Photos and words by Rosi Lamela
I’ll start my post saying if you missed “The Hot Gig” then you missed what will probably be the best show of 2022. A lineup of 4 great tri-state bands delivering the ultimate energy to a sold out audience at a great venue came in ready to set this new year back into gear. I thank the music gods because I sure the hell needed it. With a dreary feeling of shows possibly being shut down again, Saturday night did indeed feel like we bounced back.
The show started with one of Jersey City’s best indie local bands Long Neck. I’ve seen Long Neck several times but they were on fire Saturday night so much so that I should’ve skipped the Red Bull I drank on the way in. I was reminded during their performance that they released an album in 2020 that I need to listen to. That album is World’s Strongest Dog and they gave us a sample of some of its great parts. I was happy they played “Mine/Yours” which I love hearing live.
Keep scrolling to read more and see more photos from the show.
Oceanator was a new band on my list. I listened to a few of their tunes the night before and I was pretty excited to hear Elise Okusami’s voice live. They impressed the crowd and rocked out way harder than some of the studio versions of their songs. They played “Goodbye, Goodnight”, “A Crack in the World”, and “Heartbeat” from their 2020 debut LP Things I Never Said and ended their set with “Inhuman” from their 2018 EP Lows.
Mannequin Pussy was the highlight of the night. I’d never heard them live and am not as familiar with their discography other than a few songs I’ve heard on Spotify. I was unaware of their hard core Philly fanbase and that I was going to get smashed into the stage a few times. Even though the energy was pretty high already the room changed once they hit the stage. They are a must see band live. Missy puts on a show that is just for her fans as they scream along to lyrics to some of the songs like “Perfect”, “Kiss” and my favorite song “Romantic”. I had a great time despite the waves of people smashing into me.
It’s no secret that the headliner at this party is one of my favorite bands of all time. I’ve covered Screaming Females more than any other band, and having them end an already amazing night was icing on the cake. Many people (myself included) will agree that they are one of the greatest bands to see live. They make great songs which they put on records, but they perform some of their songs very differently which includes a lot of jamming and shredding from lead singer Marissa Paternoster.
They ripped through their catalog and played a lot from the album Ugly like “Tell Me No”, “Rotten Apple”, and “It All Means Nothing”. There were a few tunes from their latest album All At Once like the alternate version of “Deeply”, “I’ll Make You Sorry”, and “Glass House”. They even threw in a MCR cover which got a lot of participation. I have no idea what song it was so if you were there you could fill me in on that part.
Screaming Females will be putting on a tour in April where they’ll be hitting cities along the East Coast and Midwest. You can check out all of their tour dates here. Keep scrolling to see more photos from the show.
