Kathleen Hanna’s Queen-Punk Energy

Kathleen Hanna’s Queen-Punk Energy

The Julie Ruin were supposed to play last year’s Pitchfork Festival, but they had to drop out at the last minute when Hanna’s Lyme disease flared up. So it was immensely gratifying to see her back at it, bringing the same ferocious stage presence that she’s had for decades. Hanna is one of the greatest punk singers of all time, and she was in peak form, switching back and forth between snotty playground nyah-nyah and full-throated bellow, doing these amazing hopscotch-looking dances the whole time. She seemed absolutely in control of her body and her voice. And while I think her new band’s songs are hit-and-miss, when they hit, they hit hard.