I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 18, 2026] Kilynn Lunsford

When we saw Bikini Kill a few years ago, it wasn’t until soon before the show that the announced the opener.  It was a little earlier for this show, but it didn’t help since I had never heard of Kilynn Lunsford.

Midway through the Bikini Kill set Tobi Vail said that she loved Kilynn Lunsford’s work and was not surprised to see that she had been part of several bands that Tobi has loved over the years.  Indeed, New York Music Month says  she is an artist and musician based in New Jersey. She’s been playing in experimental noise punk projects for over 20 years and has released records on Kill Rock Stars, Ecstatic Peace, Siltbreeze, ever/never, and Feel It. Her visual art has been exhibited internationally.

I can’t find any specifics of who she has played with, but it seems that everything they played tonight came from her solo albums.  I guess.

She had three musicians with her (guitar, drums, bass) all dressed in white (like a cult, my wife said).  Kilynn was dressed in a white bodysuit type thing with tiny shorts and a sweater as well as a big bow in her hair.  She stomped around the stage and was hard to take your eyes off of her.  Someone instantly shouted “I love you outfit” although other people were rather horrified by what she was wearing.

When the first song started, the bass sounded amazing–deep and rumbling with a weird effect on it.  I loved it from the start.  The drums were simple four four beats and the guitarist also played keys.   And then Kilynn started singing.  She had a high screechy voice and a few effects pedals nearby.  So her voice had a constant echo which made the words inaudible (which is not so good considering she describes herself as a poet).  She also manipulated her voice in bizarre ways with the sound pad she had–basically making everything she said a bunch of nonsense.

The song were short and the bass riffs were cool, but with her ranting and un-understandable (which is not how she is on record, I checked), it was like a 1990s poetry/punk show.  One that was far more interested in presentation than substance despite it seemingly being substantial.

I good naturedly enjoyed the first two songs, mostly because of the bass.  And, even if I didn’t love the music overall, I support weirdo artists doing their weirdo thing.  But after two songs I was done.

Bikini Kill is very generous.  Which means that Kilynn got to play for 45 excruciating minutes.  We definitely should have gone out to look at merch during her set.

This led me to wonder if anyone gets booed off the stage anymore.  Bikini Kill (and many other bands) talk about having shows where they were booed off the stage.  But notonly was this bizarre spectacle not booed, it was warmly applauded and people were at her merch table after the show.

I tried to figure out what songs she played from the clips, but of the thirteen or so songs, I could only figure out