“If you have never screamed at the top of your lungs before… oh, baby. It’s gonna feel amazing. So don’t be shy. You’re not too cool for this,” Mannequin Pussy’s lead singer, Marisa “Missy” Dabice, crooned into the mic before using the crowd’s ensuing howl to launch into their song “Aching.” 

Labeling themselves as a cathartic release, the overarching energy of Mannequin Pussy’s set on Sea.Hear.Now Festival’s Sand Stage in Asbury Park could be summarized by this short interaction. Only minutes before, the Philly natives kicked their hour playtime off by walking out to NLE Choppa’s “SLUT ME OUT 2,” with bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford repping the band’s hometown with a Jalen Hurts Eagles jersey. Within seconds, a mosh pit formed despite the sand, and brave members of the audience took to the crowd to surf their way to the front.

For the entire hour, the energy never slowed with the band or the audience, some of whom had taken to the boardwalk as overflow. Mannequin Pussy classics such as “Softly” and “I Got Heaven” from their latest record, I Got Heaven, rang through the speakers, serving as a much-needed, mid-day stamina booster. 

Audience members had a physical break, but not mental or emotional, when Dabice delivered an iconic speech that catalogued what the band stands for. After explaining that Mannequin Pussy is a band for everybody but those who are hateful (“You’re gonna fucking hate everything we have to say and everything we stand for! But guess what? We don’t give a fuck what you think about what we do.”), Dabice informed the men in the crowd that she’s worried about them, a notion that she has previously elaborated on. “Some people may say that empathy is a weakness in this country,” she said, quoting the late Republican influencer Charlie Kirk, “but I disagree. I think it is one of the strongest things we have in our arsenal to bring us together.”

She continued, “You cannot fall into these lies that they want us to fall into, that they want us to actively hate each other as though it’s trendy to do so. Wake the fuck up! It is just another way the billionaire class is trying to divide us.”

Dabice’s monologuing never once took away from the performance, but rather enhanced it. She—as well as Regisford, who dedicated a song to black, brown, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ individuals—demonstrated on behalf of the band that there is always enough time to speak on what you believe in. The rage carried itself through the rest of their set, even when more emotional songs such as “Drunk II” played, and created an atmosphere where everyone is safe to voice their frustrations.

Though they have plans not to tour for the foreseeable future, the band has established itself as a must-see act on any bill. Leaving their audience with a vibrational shift that echoed throughout the rest of the day, Mannequin Pussy is not just an emancipation, but a conduit for people to cooperate together. 

Photos taken by Gabrielle Sangataldo