Pussy Riot: Live at Band on the Wall

Marina Red reviews this punk concert from the legendary protest performers 'Pussy Riot' at Manchester's Band on the Wall, 9th November 2022, and embarks upon an emotional journey to learn how these artists have suffered torment and trauma through Russia's harshest prison systems, the anguish of being torn away from their children and families for a simple 40 seconds of theatre, which the Russian authorities saw as a hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.  She learns how Maria Alyokhina fought the hell she was going through to make life better for herself and all the other female inmates to have their basic human rights respected.  Their story is one of hardship, pain, humiliation, but ultimately, Riot Grrrrls who have fought the patriarchy hand and nail, who have had to escape over clandestine border controls and Riot Grrrrls who are taking their message to end the patriarchal regime in their own country through their art, passion, performance and punk attitude.

"Everyone can be Pussy Riot"

 I have absolutely no idea what to expect as I walk up to Band on the Wall on a cold Wednesday Manchester evening.  Already, an unpredictability of the night had started when I went to catch my train and it soon became apparent that even though the strikes had been postponed, the trains were getting cancelled one after the next.  We drove up in the end and found some free parking down a side street off the main drag of the infamous Northern Quarter.  The unpredictability of the times we are living in, the uncertainty most of us are facing month after month hang heavy in the icy night air.  But what we are going through is going to become relatively incomparable to the experiences that tonight's performers Pussy Riot are going to share with us as the performance unfolds.

Band on the Wall is a small, intimate venue on the edge of the increasingly gentrified Northern Quarter of Manchester. The venue is divided into two sections, bar and concert room.  The bar is swanky and beer prices are that expected with the city centre. Basically a fiver a pint, give or take.  Red curtains hang around the walls and the furniture is trendy but not always focused on user comfort.  But there would be little time to find comfort this evening as Pussy Riot are scheduled to appear from 8.30pm

The faces of all members are angry, defiant, hardened, demanding change, and demanding respect.  The support from the audience is palatable.

Just after the advertised time, their manager takes to the stage to explain what the show will be about and who will be performing.  For those who don't know, Pussy Riot aren't a band in the traditional sense, they are artistic protest performers made famous since the imprisonment of members of Pussy Riot after they carried out a 40 minute performance "Punk Prayer" a  in Moscow Cathedral in Russia on 21st February 2012, of the song 'Mother Mary, Banish Putin'.  Maria Alyokhina got a two year prison sentence in Urals, famed to be one of the toughest and cruellest prisons, charged with 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred'.

After the manager's introductions, the 4 performers of Riot Days, the tour they have been on which tells Maria Alyokhina's story as expressed in her book of the same title now published through Penguin, take to the stage.  Maria and Olga are wearing the iconic Pussy Riot balaclavas, tonight Maria is donning a yellow one and Olga a Blue one, symbolic to show their solidarity with the Ukrainians.  

This isn't a gig in the traditional sense, there is a drummer (who also looks after the sampling and sequencing desk) and a flautist.  The screen behind them holds the subtitles to the story; they are half telling, half singing, all set to music.  Images flash before us of a country which has been very much in the spotlight recently.  The conflict between authority and the populace evident.  We see how Pussy Riot started as a flash mob performance group and we see their world renowned 40 seconds protest performance in the church, their arrests, court appearances, and hear the stories of their survival in prison.  Maria decided "My hell - my rules" and fought to change the tyranny of her incarceration and fought for prisons to be treated with more dignity.  The audience gets water thrown at them during the performance, the drummer tries dismantling the stage, despite the broken leg she is still healing from after breaking it during a stage dive at their show in Germany earlier in the tour.  The faces of all members are angry, defiant, hardened, demanding change, and demanding respect.  The support from the audience is palatable.

The night ends with an encore. Maria comes back on stage changed into a support Ukraine t-shirt.  They end the show telling us that "Freedom doesn't exist unless you fight for it everyday" and encouraging us to keep fighting for our freedoms.  "Everyone can be Pussy Riot".

Marina x

www.marinared.co.uk

www.marinaisred.bandcamp.com