Old Review: Refused and War on Women at Bowery Ballroom (2015)

This is actually up on Wayback Machine, but I’m too lazy to screenshot it. This is my review of Refused and War On Women at Bowery Ballroom in 2015 (originally written for AXS):

The last time Refused were in NYC, it was a pretty hectic experience. In 2012, the band booked a performance at Williamsburg Park for their first full North American tour since their split in 1998, but the concert was canceled due to inclement weather. The band didn't walk away without giving fans a last minute performance inside Brooklyn venue Europa hours after the cancellation before disbanding at the conclusion of the year.

If someone were to tell you that Refused would reunite a couple years later and announce their first studio album in 17 years, you would think that person was completely mental. Well, that's what's happening on June 29 with the release of Kingdom, and the band booked several club shows prior to its release. On Wednesday, hundreds of fans headed to Bowery Ballroom, which was celebrating 18 years of bringing live music to the Big Apple.

With their new album set to be released in a few weeks, the band kicked off their set with "Elektra", the opening track from the album. The crowd was seemingly into hearing the new material live for the first time, but they were standing still for the most part. Things changed in an instant with the following track "The Shape of Punk to Come", which found frontman Dennis Lyxzén tossing the mic stand into the sky as if it was a mere baseball. Dennis' movements on stage were simply electric; the man seemed to be possessed by James Brown's spirit with funky leg and arm movements throughout the performance.

Don't expect him to lead the crowd by clapping his hands; the suave vocalist got those hands raised by elegantly snapping his fingers and tapping his foot to the beat. With an intense crowd, he did walk away with some unexpected chaos literally thrown his way; during the track "Rather Be Dead", a concert-goer flung a full cup of beer directly at him. Drenched in booze, Dennis simply cracked a smile, wiped off his snazzy suit, and continued like nothing happened.

During the set, Dennis mentioned Refused's upcoming Madison Square Garden performance on August 5. He jokingly talked about the band sharing the glorious news to their parents only to break it to them that they were the opening act, not the headliner. Their opening slot on Faith No More's summer arena tour is something unexpected for a band that went away for 15 years, but the entity known as Refused grew tremendously over time, and their sold out performances at Terminal 5 in 2012 is proof that they've evolved from performing in basements to performing in front of thousands of fans.

The band performed two more songs from the new record ("Françafrique" and "Dawkins Christ") in the midst of fan favorites such as "Refused Are F**king Dead", "Liberation Frequency", and "The Deadly Rhythm", which featured a portion of Slayer's "Raining Blood".

For the encore, the band went into another new song from the album entitled "War on the Palaces". The opening riffs for "New Noise" is enough to get the most jaded fan on their feet, and the sold out crowd did just that as they proudly cried "Can I scream?" before imploding into a chaotic whirlwind. Refused closed their first NYC show in three years with "Worms of the Senses / Faculties of the Skull", which found fans bumrushing the stage, singing "Let's take the first bus out of here". To truly display today's concert experience, one fan even managed to take an on stage selfie with Dennis.

Opening the night were Baltimore hardcore punk feminists War on Women. The group have been on the road in support of their self-titled debut album, and luckily, Refused invited them to open on a few gigs. The band's bassist Suzanne Werner was off in Brazil, so they enlisted their friend Enrique to fill in for these performances. Vocalist Shawna Potter bounced around on stage while growling her way through tracks such as "Pro-Life?", "Say It", and "Roe V. World". Far frontman Jonah Matranga joined the group on stage during the track "Swagger", which found him and Shawna howling in each other's face.