LYDIA LUNCH Delivers a Vicious Verbal Burlesque at St. Louis, MO’s Crack Fox [Photos & Show Review]

Salt in the wound: This is what listening to Lydia Lunch feels like.

Lydia has spent her career telling it like she sees it, no matter who’s listening or if they like what she says or not. She is crude, primal, and as she will tell you, aggressive. Currently touring the nation, promoting her book “So Real It Hurts,” (including an introduction by Anthony Bourdain, grab your copy here) once again she returns to her roots; dive bars, underground clubs and small music venues where those who really want to see her can gather and experience a slice of the world before political correctness. Lydia Lunch defies any genre, but if you had to label her style, she would be no wave or punk. I’m sure these labels really piss her off.

Ranging from punk music and collaborations with Nick Cave, Kim Gordon, and My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult. Her first band, Teenage Jesus and the JerksWeasel Walter and Tim Dahl, two extremely talented and incredibly proficient musicians, Verbal Burlesque is a tantalizing tease that lulls you in waiting for Lydia’s visceral reveal. Lydia Lunch tends to support local acts so Vela Uniform opened for her in St. Louis. While not punk, this band fits the electronic genre similar to Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.

New to Lydia Lunch? She might soon have you saying, “Fuck.”

Lydia’s non-assuming casual manner may lead you to believe that she’s someone’s soccer mom but wait till she opens her mouth and spits out extreme realism and knocks you upside the head with caustic, acidic viewpoints. She is not one to mince words, coddle you, or heal your boo-boo by putting a Band-Aid on it. Instead Lydia rips the Band-Aid off, digs deep into the scab, tears open the wound and pours salt on the things we like to hide in the dark and not talk about.

Her show is short and, I will not say sweet, but you will leave with your eyes open and your mind blown. The show is one to be seen even if you just want to travel back to the ‘80s when we could we could say whatever the fuck we wanted and respect each other for doing so. Pick up her book, pick up some of her albums, look her up you’ll be surprised. If nothing else your mind may be more open than before.

“So Real It Hurts” was published by Seven Stories Press on July 9th, 2019: