On Wednesday, September 10th, Scene Queen was set to play her show at Dynamo in Eindhoven. Just like the Mean Girls quote “on Wednesdays we wear pink,” this was also the case for today’s show and the queue was filled with the colour pink.
A few minutes later than scheduled, the doors to the venue opened. While some fans immediately ran to the merch table, others went right into the Main Stage to secure their spot against the stage. Just half an hour later, Lake Malice made their way onto the stage, ready to warm up the crowd. Right from the starting notes of their set, the stage was filled with their energy. Singer Alice Guala made great use of the stage and especially kneeled down on the risers at the front, getting very close to the fans at the front. Guitarist Blake Cornwall showed off his jumping, where he got some impressive height. Before the song ‘Creepers’, Guala asked everyone to put their middle fingers up, which the whole crowd did within a second. Nearing the end of their set Cornwall put his guitar away and grabbed a drum, he then gave a fan a drumstick and together they drummed to a part of the song. For the last song, Guala grabbed a fan’s hand at the front and sang directly at her, which resulted in some screams after the interaction was over. Their set was filled with great songs, to which the crowd happily waved, sung and danced along to.
After some great singing along to the songs in the pre-show playlist, Scene Queen got up on stage. The back of the stage was decorated with big blow up disco balls that lit up. Her backdrop said “Hot Shows With Scene Queen”, setting the tone for what her show was going to be like. Scene Queen, stage name of Hannah Rose Collins, makes bimbocore music, which adds feminist themes to metalcore music. The pink aesthetic was in full bloom, with her guitarist, Daniel Rudd, also wearing a pink shirt. Collins herself was of course also wearing pink, with a silver fringe shrug over her pink outfit. Her pink microphone added the last touch to her outfit and the whole aesthetic. The set started with ‘BSDM’ and ‘Pink Push-Up Bra’.
A mosh pit is fun and all, but for the song ‘Pink G-String’ Collins asked for a ‘twerkle pit’ instead, where the crowd had to shake their legs, arms or even their loose change in their pockets. “Are there any moms in the crowd?” asked Collins and to her surprise quite a few people cheered. She then changed her question to if anyone in the crowd goes by mommy from time to time and then started her song ‘MILF’.
While it’s less of a thing over here in The Netherlands, if you ever had a dream to join a sorority, a Scene Queen show is the place to be. For this part of the set Collins invited three people on stage, including someone in a wheelchair and her friend who helped her get to the stage (shout out to Dynamo for having a wheelchair lift to the stage). Before getting into the initiation into Bimbo Beta Pi, the three girls had to give their names and pronouns. Then it was time to repeat the lines Collins was saying, but she understood how terrifying that must be to do in front of the crowd, so everyone in the venue had to join in on repeating the lines. She then stated how everyone always tries to repeat her accent, which is funny but obviously not necessary to join Bimbo Beta Pi. After everyone successfully repeated the lines, Collins joked “That’s so cute, almost like you were prompted!”. This also showed how easy it is to be initiated into a cult, if she can do it with her “little pink mic”.
“Thanks for knowing I have ADHD and love to collect random shit” is what Collins said after she first got a crocheted pink cowboy hat and then a Labubu from fans in the crowd. She was in the middle of a sentence when she spotted another gift, this time a hat that said ‘I love MILFs’. The hat was given to her drummer, since this was the one day she had washed her hair.
You might wonder why someone who speaks up about so many feminist things has two men in their band, but they are called the ‘Bimbros’. This is also when she introduced them to the crowd. Rudd said a word after being introduced and immediately got hit with a “That’s all your allotted talking time” from Collins. For the song ‘Barbie & Ken’ Rudd also took over the part of Cody Carson, who originally sings the male part of the song.
Her set ended with ‘18+’, which was introduced by a robotic voice, her ‘lawyer’, who told the crowd that due to legal reasons Scene Queen isn’t allowed to name the band the song is about, but that no one can stop the crowd from yelling their name. If you’ve been in this scene for a while, the lyrics “Pink wristbands on the guest list, bras hanging on the bus. Yeah, you get a lot of girls, but not one is eighteen plus” might give you an idea who it is about. If you’re still clueless, after the lyrics “The allegations that have been made against a member of-” the crowd screamed out “All Time Low”.
Just like she promised, Scene Queen went to the merch stand after the show. The venue staff had made two lines to separate the merch line from the fans wanting to meet her, making it all go smoothly. No photos were allowed, but she signed stuff and, after asking for consent, hugged everyone who wanted it. This was an evening full of dancing, singing along and girl power. If you’ve never been to a Scene Queen show, you should definitely put it on your radar for when she comes back next.
