SOLD OUT: Violent Femmes

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Mike Benson

The band Violent Femmes.

Violent Femmes

There’s always been something uncompromising about the Femmes — while their songs can be catchy enough to have become Major League Baseball anthems, there’s nothing particularly mainstream radio-friendly about them. Their spare, rhythmic approach to punk holds the sweaty hand of adolescent rebellion and angst. They’re touring on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release of their classic debut album, Violent Femmes, and playing every track — and more, since the original, as a vinyl LP, had only 10 fairly brief songs. Good news: The CD bonus track “Gimme the Car” has appeared on most of the setlists from the spring arm of the tour. Not so good news, if you don't have a ticket: This one sold out in August.

media release: After enjoying an entirely sold out spring 2023 tour, iconic alt rockers Violent Femmes have announced that that they are adding more dates in the Fall to continue the 40^th anniversary celebration of their ground-breaking self-titled, debut album. The Platinum-selling group will, once again, perform the record from cover to cover, during the month-long routing that kicks off October 3 in Milwaukee, WI and culminates October 22 in Richmond, VA at The National.

Tickets are on sale at https://vfemmes.com/tour.

Once hailed as the “soundtrack to male puberty,” Violent Femmes’ first record amplified teenage angst and alienation in the 1980s with such songs as “Kiss Off,” “Add It Up,” and “Gone Daddy Gone,” written by lead vocalist and guitarist Gordon Gano before he’d even gotten his driver’s license. The album, which was mostly autobiographical, would later prove to embody some of the most powerful anthems of a disenchanted youth that the world has ever known. And while it took 10 years to go Platinum and hit the Billboard Top 200, it has now sold three million copies worldwide and is still in rotation on today’s top rock stations, substantiating it as more than a simple battle cry for a misunderstood youth. Today, it stands as a pillar of an American underground movement, and one of the best early examples of alternative rock.

For the remainder of the ’90s, Violent Femmes continued to record new material, while their earliest songs remained in the zeitgeist, thanks to popular shows and films like “My So-Called Life,” Reality Bites, and Grosse Pointe Blank. Since that time, the band has released 10 studio albums including their most recent Hotel Last Resort (2019). Today, Violent Femmes continues to resonate with audiences of all ages. Upon the band’s 40th anniversary, Pitchfork wrote that “The Femmes don’t signify an era so much as a time of life,” adding that “for young people growing up in the internet age” their music “is part of a shared language.”

Follow @officialviolentfemmes