After two years on pause, Mosswood Meltdown made its debut in Oakland, CA over the July 4th weekend. Headlined by the inimitable Kim Gordon along with Bikini Kill, upstarts The Linda Lindas, the legendary Dirtbombs and a potpourri of punk rock artists. Gordon put on a captivating set that consisted of songs from her 2019 release, ‘No Home Record’ for the first time along with last year’s release “Grass Jeans”. The Linda Lindas were the largest attraction over the weekend, as fans got their spots early. The teenage band from Southern California lived up to expectations and then some. They were energetic, charmingly engaging in-between sets and exuded a fresh enthusiasm that’s evident in their music. The set included songs from their debut LP ‘Growing Up’ highlighted by “Oh!”, their breakthrough song, “Racist, Sexist Boy” and even a cover of “Tonight” by The Go-Gos. Other highlights included Detroit garage-band Dirtbombs, who sounded just as fresh and lively as ever and San Francisco legends Pansy Division, who were engaging and had quite the crowd moshing along.
The festival featured many more female-led acts, which was notable due to the event’s association with Burger Records, which shut down after numerous sexual misconduct and grooming allegations involving numerous bands on the Burger label. As Mosswood Meltdown, there was a strong female presence such as the aforementioned Gordon, Bikini Kill and The Linda Lindas, as well as Bleached, Shannon Shaw, Snooper, PÓDIUM and Twompsax. This was also evident in the wide-spanning generations of women who attended the event, as young attendees in their teens were moshing while their older counterparts were dancing and head-nodding along.
Check out photos of some of the highlights!
