Big Joanie and Frida Kill at Baby’s All Right
London, UK’s Big Joanie made their NYC headlining debut at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Monday, July 10, 2023 to kick off their tour in support of their latest record, Back Home. The band was initially scheduled to tour stateside in late May but had to postpone their dates due to an emergency, and rescheduled both of their Brooklyn shows to take place in July. Big Joanie were last in Brooklyn three months ago when they opened for Placebo’s two shows at Brooklyn Steel on April 23rd and 24th.
Who are Big Joanie? As stated before playing a single from their newest album, drummer Chardine Taylor-Stone emphatically stated to the audience: “We are Big Joanie. We are a Black, feminist, punk band.” If you missed this announcement, she helpfully reminded the audience of this description later in their set.
Earlier in the day, Big Joanie announced a new version of their song, “Today,” featuring Kim Deal (The Breeders, The Amps, Pixies), which is now available to buy on their Bandcamp page here. The band apologized for not having Kim available during their show before performing this track, and Chardine revealed one of the first covers they ever performed was by the Pixies (“Where Is My Mind?”) so having Kim Deal sing on their song was a huge honor for them. Big Joanie turned into a four piece with Vanessa Govinden playing guitar and keys to help enhance their sound.
For Big Joanie’s first NYC headlining show ever, Brooklyn’s Frida Kill kicked off the show at 10PM. The local, also feminist, four piece punk band scheduled two dates with Big Joanie (the other date is this Thursday, July 13th, in Chicago at the Empty Bottle) on their summer tour that will end in Queens at Rockaway Brewing Company on July 16th. The quartet were well-received by the appreciative crowd and who seemed to love their songs and energy. Although I have seen Frida Kill multiple times in the past, they seemed like a perfect fit for Big Joanie’s first Brooklyn show.
To be honest, Big Joanie’s late night, headlining set was everything I hoped it would be. I have been anticipating seeing them live for years, and now that the trio of Stephanie Phillips, Estella Adeyeri, and Chardine, plus Vanessa, were finally standing on stage in front of me, I was thrilled to finally experience their songs in person in an intimate space with an extremely enthusiastic crowd. “It’s You” was a standout of their hour long performance, although all of their songs were fantastic to hear in the small room at Baby’s. They closed their set with a two song encore, with the first song being their cover of Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky” and their final one, “In My Arms,” from their latest record out in the U.S. via the record label, Kill Rock Stars. Influential feminist punk bands from the KRS roster such as Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney were name checked by Chardine to help illustrate the label’s legacy by an act who I have no doubt will do the same thing for other bands that haven’t formed yet.
Big Joanie will perform one more time in Brooklyn on Wednesday, July 12th at Union Pool with Clear Channel. If you don’t have a ticket to the show tomorrow night, it’s extremely unfortunate since the show sold out a few months ago, so you’ll just have to catch them the next time they (hopefully) return to this side of the pond.