Live review: LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC leaves us falling in love with New York all over again

Last year’s first official LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC was pretty magical. This year somehow exceeded even our wildly optimistic expectations.

Huge love first of all to Bad Static and T@b Grrrl, who helped make the whole thing happen, helped select bands, promoted the hell out of the event, and introduced us to Main Drag in Brooklyn, which turned out to be the absolute perfect venue for LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC. Cool space, brilliant sound, lovely staff, and exactly the right atmosphere for a feminist DIY punk festival to completely take over for the day. None of it would have happened without Team LOUD WOMEN New York either, an absolute dream team of old friends and new who somehow kept the whole thing running exactly on time. Honestly, I’ve never seen a DIY festival so punctual in my life. Huge thanks to Roe, Hillary, Julia, Brenna, Maura and Faye. Also massive love to my bandmate Lucy, who I jokingly refer to as my assistant despite very much not actually being my assistant. But on these trips she somehow ends up permanently at my side helping me remember where I’m supposed to be and functioning as emotional support human while my brain dissolves under festival pressure.

Big shout out too to Lisa on the door, total boss, and to Craig and the sound crew keeping two stages running smoothly all day long. The upstairs stage was actually a first for Main Drag too, made possible thanks to extra backline brought in by Bad Static. And another huge shout out to Radio Free Brooklyn, who were with us all day live streaming the downstairs stage, meaning the bands weren’t just playing to a packed room in Brooklyn, but broadcasting across New York and beyond too.

The NaNaz kicked things off all the way from Newport, Wales while being followed around by a BBC camera crew documenting the band. Before they went onstage, the producer asked me to introduce them by talking about how inspiring they were as older women. I respectfully ignored that. Because the interesting thing about The NaNaz is not their age. The interesting thing about The NaNaz is that they are a fucking brilliant band. Huge stage presence, fantastic songs, proper charisma, and they absolutely won over the New York crowd immediately.

Jenny Alien followed with delightfully chaotic art punk energy, which felt entirely correct.

Then came I, Doris, joined by The NaNaz’s drummer Jade, who heroically became an honorary Doris despite never having played with us before. It’s always funny realising how aggressively local some I, Doris references are when you’re abroad. Songs about chicken shops and deeply niche South London observations and rhyming slang probably shouldn’t land in New York as well as they do. But somehow they did. ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ in particular went down brilliantly, which feels appropriate in America somehow.

Upstairs, Jack Powers played a beautiful intimate set to a hushed cross-legged audience. I first came across her through a video involving far-right protesters at a pride event getting spectacularly drowned out by Jack’s drumming, so obviously I immediately wanted her involved.

Back downstairs, Shaggo properly kicked the dancing into life, while the brilliant Burly Girlies from Vermont brought huge energy upstairs. Mac N Toss came down from Washington DC as fellow DIY organisers too, exactly the kind of people who keep grassroots scenes alive.

Then came dear friends Bitter Tits from Baltimore, who we absolutely adore. They helped promote the event beforehand, spent the whole day supporting other bands, spread positivity everywhere they went, and then got onstage and rocked the fuck out. Exactly the kind of band that embody what LOUD WOMEN is about.

T@b Grrrl then absolutely smashed their set downstairs as co-hosts of the event, before Cat Crash closed the upstairs stage in a sweaty blur of pop punk joy, dancing, and collective catharsis.

And finally came Bad Static, reminding us exactly why we fell in love with them at LOUD WOMEN Fest London last year. Huge riffs, huge energy, absolute New York chaos in the best possible way. There was also a very sweet moment where Gigi from T@b Grrrl joined Bad Static onstage because apparently it was the one-year anniversary of their bands “marrying each other”, which honestly felt extremely LOUD WOMEN.

DJ Sindi Halfrats (from the Lunachicks) closed the night with a perfect DJ set for those of us still physically capable of dancing by that point, after supporting the event massively in the run-up through Women of the Pit and Sojourn radio, and cheering on bands all day long. Also lovely to see Izzy from agrrrlstwosoundcents interviewing bands throughout the day too.

By the end of the night, slightly delirious and facing a very long drive back to where we were staying, it really hit us just how special this whole thing had been. LOUD WOMEN Fest NYC 2026 cemented our absolute love for New York and the incredible feminist DIY community there. We are already ridiculously excited to do it all again next year.

Watch this space.