Bikini Kill’s final show of their North American tour at Brooklyn Steel felt as much like a celebration of the community around the band as it did a punk show.

Early in the night, Kathleen Hanna talked about drummer Tobi Vail’s insistence on playing all-ages shows since the band’s inception. This, she said, is our community — something we’re going to need more and more as the world gets more fucked up.

Looking around the room, it was easy to understand why. Kids watched from the balcony while young punks packed the floor, arms around each other in the pit, screaming along and absolutely losing it to songs written years before many of them were born. Even the photo pit reflected something unusual: every photographer in it was a woman, something I’d never experienced at a show before and a detail that felt particularly fitting for Bikini Kill.

Openers Lambrini Girls brought their own version of gleeful political chaos. True to form, the Brighton punk band produced a huge cardboard image of Jeff Bezos, opened up a massive circle pit around it, and turned the crowd loose to tear it to shreds.

Bikini Kill in Brooklyn, Ny September 2025 photo by Casey Vange

By the time Bikini Kill returned for an encore, the room was deafening. Hanna acknowledged how emotional the last night of a tour can be before trying to address the response they were receiving. “The fact that so many people are this excited to see a feminist punk band in their 50s…” she began, before becoming too choked up to finish the thought.

The crowd erupted again.

“Thank you for caring about our music,” she finally said. “Let’s get loud.”

It was a fitting ending to a night that made Bikini Kill’s longevity feel tangible — not only because the band is still here, but because their audience keeps renewing itself. From longtime fans to teenagers throwing themselves into the pit, Brooklyn Steel felt like exactly the community Hanna had been talking about all night.

Words by Casey Vange

Bikini Kill in Brooklyn, Ny September 25 2026 photo by Casey Vange

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