Photos and words by Cortney Armitage
For about thirteen years, someone has been slowly shaking a can of kick-ass. And when Babes in Toyland took that can to The Roxy, the reunited goddesses of grunge cracked it open and flung it all over the venue. Kat Bjelland (lead vox/guitar) Lori Barbero (drums) and Maureen Hermanin (bass) looked incredibly fierce as they unleashed their controlled rage. Original fans were hoping that they would sound as good as they did before, but when they started to play, any lingering anxiety of a let down immediately evaporated. There were plenty of young new fans and fellow musicians in the house. Possible FYF appearance?

Tom Morello, (Rage Against The Machine), introduced Babes in Toyland and perfectly summed it up.”In the intervening years, the members of Babes in Toyland have gone through hell. But each one of them looked the devil square in the eye, gave him the old Minneapolis middle finger and said, ‘You can’t get the better of me mister cause me and my bad ass sisters have got some more rock ‘n’ roll to play for the people!'”

The quirky duo of Qui opened with their esoteric sounds. Matt Cronk (guitar/vox) and Paul Christensen (drums/vox) makes their strange and delightful chemistry work.