A one-night supergroup drawing from three of punk's most influential bands will take the stage at Electric Brixton on Friday, Oct. 16, as part of Up Yours! God Save the Queens!, a London festival marking 50 years of She-Punk.
The Raincoats' Gina Birch and the Slits' Hollie Cook will perform alongside X-Ray Spex's Lora Logic and Paul Dean for the special event. Punk historian Vivien Goldman and Celeste Bell, daughter of X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene, are also set to join the lineup. Akiko Matsuura, Rhoda Dakar, and Hot Wax are among the additional names slated to appear, with Big Joanie and Essential Logic also performing.
The festival celebrates the legacy of She-Punk through artwork, photography, fashion, and archival material, and precedes the opening of a flagship exhibition at the Museum of Youth Culture in Camden on Oct. 23, which will include never-before-seen images.
"When I wrote Revenge of the She-Punks, it was about mapping out the global lineage of women who used music to dismantle stereotypes and claim their own space," Goldman said in a statement. "This festival, and the incredible night we are putting together at Electric Brixton, is that book coming to life on stage. It's a vital, living continuation of that rebel culture, proving that the female narrative in punk is not an afterthought; it is a driving, evolving force."
Celeste Bell, who has worked to curate her mother's archive, described the project as deeply personal. "Curating my mother's archive proved how important it is to protect female counter-cultural history," she shared. "Through Up Yours! Collective, we're taking that legacy out of the archives and putting it where it belongs: centre stage. Bringing this vision to life through both the exhibition and joining the iconic she-punks on stage is an incredible full-circle moment."
Lora Logic, who is contributing previously unseen artwork to the exhibition in addition to performing, echoed that sentiment. "Contributing previously unseen artwork to the exhibition while also stepping onto the stage to play these iconic songs again feels like completing a full circle and is incredibly special," she said. "For me, the creative expression of the movement was always multi-dimensional; it was visual art, clothes and noise all at once."
Photo: Phil King, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
