[ATTENDED: August 1, 2024] War on Women
War on Women came on my radar sometime around 2021. I’ve been wanting to see them now for about four years. They were supposed to open for Voivod back in March but they left the tour for some reason.
It’s interesting that they were now on another tour with an old school Canadian band, D.O.A. I bought a ticket for this show because of them (I was kind of indifferent to D.O.A., but they were super fun). Their set was killer (and may have actually been longer than D.O.A’s).
War on Women is a five-piece singer Shawna Potter lead guitarist Brooks Harlan guitarist Jennifer Vito and bassist Suzanne Werner. They had a guest drummer for this tour (a guy from Canada, they said).
The band plays a nice mix of heavy metal and punk–with some songs being heavy and riff heavy and others being kind of fast without the riffage. And Potter’s voice is fantastic. She sings clearly but she can scream with the best of them.
The threads that hold it all together are their strong feminist lyrics. Like “In Your Path”
The rapist is you
It’s the cops and the state
The rapist is you
The judges and the president
Or the intense Aqua Tofana in which Shawna Potter points at members of the audience and sings
“He’s one of the good ones”, well, good or not, you must
Kill him, kill him, kill him already, kill him
A day will come, we’ll wink and nod and
Kill him, kill him, kill him already, kill him
The stage was lit in such a way that pretty much only Shawna was every illuminated. The guitars and bass were off to the side in the shadows. But Shawna has a great stage presence–lots of headbanging–her partially dyed blue hair looked great flying around–and interacting with the audience.
I loved the straightforward delivery of White Lies
Money, death, repeatShoot, kill, repeatFeign shock, repeatThoughts, prayers, repeat
With the great bridge of
We politely request you get your boots off our necks.
“Lone Wolves” was blistering punk and “This Stolen Land” opened with a recording if kids singing This Land is Your Land. Meanwhile “Wonderful Hell” is really catchy with a great melody and fun backing vocals.
Without a doubt my favorite song was “YDTMHTL” (You Don’t Tell Me How to Live), a great bludgeoning refrain.
“Silence is the Gift” slowed things down before the crushing finale of “Second Wave Goodbye.”
It was a terrific set and I chatted with Shawna Potter after the show and she was super cool and friendly. I’m so glad that they opened the show.
- In Your Path ⊗
- Aqua Tofana ⊗
- Divisive Shit ≅
- Spun Sugar [new]
- Anarcha ≅
- White Lies ⊗
- Lone Wolves ≅
- More Than Muscle [new]
- This Stolen Land ⊗
- Wonderful Hell ⊗
- YDTMHTL ≅
- Silence Is the Gift ≅
- Second Wave Goodbye Ω
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