LadyLand Festival @ Under the K Bridge - New York
June 27th 2025: LadyLand Festival @ Under the K Bridge - New York, NY
FKA Twigs | Photos Courtesy of: Em Yu
Ladyland Festival 2025 was an electrifying celebration of queer humans, non-binary, and trans artists in the heart of the music scene. The event featured an eclectic lineup spanning various genres, from indie and pop to electronic and punk, showcasing the immense talent of LGBTQ+ creators. Night 1 was headlined by rap icon Cardi B, and night 2 was headlined by the captivating FKA Twigs.
Both nights provided a safe space for all identities and were filled with vibrant outfits from the crowd. Founder of the festival and nightlife icon Ladyfag stepped up before both headliner performances to give a rousing speech about fascism the first night, and then reading the poem "I want a dyke for president" by Zoe Leonard for the second night. It felt like a truly healing experience that was all encompassing of the energy of the entire festival. Both nights included some amazing drag performances, live performances, and DJ sets, notably from Chase Icon, RPDR winner Symone, Japanese girl group f5ve, Lushious Massacr, Sukihana, Pabllo Vittar, vtss and ended with an overall final crescendo with FKA Twigs and her fantastically abstract performance showcasing her album Eusexua.
Alex Chapman, Chase Icon, f5ve, Lushious Massacr, Sukihana, Symone, Pabllo Vittar, vtss
Unwound @ Irving Plaza - NYC
March 10th 2023: Unwound, Horsegirl @ Irving Plaza - New York, NY
fans at Unwound - Photos Courtesy of Edwina Hay
Olympia, Washington’s Unwound disbanded in 2002. This was around the time I first discovered their music and quickly became one of those bands who I really enjoyed but liked other acts such as Pixies, Bikini Kill, or Murder City Devils where I was either born too late to see them when they were active, or connected with their catalog right as they were disbanding and figured I would never see them live. Twenty years after their final shows, Unwound revealed they were performing again in July 2022. They announced a concert at New York’s Irving Plaza on Friday, March 10, 2023, which quickly sold out, and then two more shows at the same venue were added.
Friday night’s show began promptly at 8 PM with a performance by Horsegirl, the trio from Chicago that relocated to New York City. The group didn’t say much while on stage during their 45-minute set, but Penelope Lowenstein disclosed that they were excited when this show was first announced and long before they were invited to play, that they would have been in the audience with us too. Before performing “Forecast,” Penelope announced it was the first song they ever wrote in her basement at the age of 15. In addition to playing songs from their record Versions of Modern Performance, they also included a Guided By Voices cover in their set (“As We Go Up, We Go Down”).
For their first New York show in two decades, Unwound performed two sets. The first one began at 9:15 PM, followed by a 15-minute intermission, and resumed again at 10:20 PM. Their drummer, Sara Lund, asked before their fourth song how many people were supposed to see them at Bowery Ballroom in 2001 (they were scheduled to play on September 12, 2001), and not many people responded. She quickly modified the question by then asking who was born after 9/11/01 and dedicated their next song to the numerous young fans in attendance who qualified.
Unwound’s vocalist/guitarist Justin Trosper mentioned after intermission it was an honor to be here and when someone yelled out a song that they wanted to hear, he laughed and said they don’t take requests and that everything was pre-planned. He then dedicated the next two songs to their departed bassist Vern Rumsey, who sadly passed away in August 2020. Their current bassist is a longtime friend, Jared Warren of Karp, Big Business, and Melvins, plus Unwound now features Scott Seckington on guitar. With the show coming to an end at 11 PM, we all departed Irving Plaza in the cold rain, and I felt extremely grateful that I finally got to experience Unwound live after all these years.
Horsegirl
MAX @ Irving Plaza - NYC
November 26th 2022: MAX, VINCINT @ Irving Plaza - New York, NY
MAX - Photos Courtesy of Ann Storlie
“Young Pop God” MAX (Max Schneider) took over NYC’s Irving Plaza for the second of two sold-out hometown shows Saturday night.
VINCINT (Vincint Cannady) was the night’s opener, and he warmed up the crowd with his soaring voice and danceable tracks “Taste So Good (The Cann Song)” and “Hard 2 Forget.”
MAX began his set with an explosive energy that continued throughout the night as he played fan favorites “Basement Party,” “Colour Vision,” and “Blueberry Eyes” including the Korean rap verse originally done by SUGA of BTS in the single.
Growing up in the nearby Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, MAX spoke multiple times throughout the evening on how lucky he was to be performing in one of his favorite venues among his fans. A former Nickelodeon star (he starred in 2012’s How to Rock), MAX’s energy continued to inspire the crowd as he performed “Someday” from Rags - a Nickelodeon Original film where he was the lead; before performing more tracks and closing his set with his chart-topping hit “Lights Down Low.”
VINCINT
Cursive with mewithoutYou @ Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
Rainsford @ Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
On tour with Aly & AJ for their Promises Tour 2018
Photos and review by Stefanie Dabs | 11 June 2018
On Monday, June 11th, Rainsford ( a.k.a. Rainey Qualley) — a singer/ songwriter based in
Los Angeles— played to an enthusiastic sold out crowd at the Gramercy Theatre in New York
City.
Rainsford is currently on tour with Aly & AJ as the support act for their Promises Tour
2018—It’s her first time on tour and in my opinion she did an excellent job with getting the crowd going.
Rainsford sang songs including “Up In The Air” and “Japanese Time” off of her EP Emotional
Support Animal that you can listen to on Spotify. “Japanese Time,” one of her latest singles,
also has a music video that was directed by Jamie Strachan — an amazing photographer that I
personally admire— that can be found on youtube.
Be sure to catch her if she plays a gig near you. She is definitely one to watch that will be
blowing up on the pop scene.
Aly & AJ:
Colouring @ Baby's All Right, Brooklyn, NY
Photos and review by Stefanie Dabs | June 4 2018
On Monday, June 4th, Colouring, who hail from London played at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY to a crowd that was enthusiastic for their performance. Group members include Alex Johnson, Dom Potts, Jack Kenworthy, and Sam Reilly.
They joined Interscope in 2015 and their first Colouring release was “In Motion” which premiered on BBC Radio 1 in mid-2016. Their first EP Symmetry, arrived later in 2016 and was followed by tour dates in North America supporting the 1975.
In May and June of 2018 they have been supporting LANY on tour, with some dates along the way on their own. Their song “Time” appears on the second season of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix.
Be sure to catch them if they tour near you. They are definitely a indie electronic rock band you should be listening to.
