ATOMIC! Hailing the Pioneering Women of Rock

Listen. You’d need a lot of hair in your ears to miss a radical sonic shift in the airstream these last ten years. On the shoulders of giants, the unstoppable rise of women in music is at last reaching critical mass. Now, in the hands of musical director Julia Deans (Fur Patrol), it’s time to celebrate the heroes who pioneered the revolution.

Punk poet Patti Smith. Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick. Denim rocker Joan Jett. Relentless pop hitmakers Debbie Harry of Blondie and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics. These and other icons arrived on their own terms, with rebellion hardwired to their bones to ramraid the boys’ club of the 60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and take no prisoners. As the Pretenders’ Chrissie said, “I didn’t have any role models that were women. My role models were musicians.”

Led by our own rock doyennes, Julia Deans, Boh Runga and Dianne Swann ATOMIC! harnesses the energy of an all-femme line-up of musicians to perform a heaving catalogue of hits fronted by women who kicked down doors and rewrote rock’s rules of engagement. For a show of maximum impact and variety, are psychedelic artist Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) and noir folk star Jazmine Mary - all supported by an incredible group of musicians, Steph Brown on keys, Mareea Paterson on Bass, Karen Hu on drums and Rebel Reid on lead guitar.

Don’t miss these modern legends of the escalating femme insurrection paying it back to some of the greatest performers of our times: a hitlist rooted in the glories of the past recalled and refreshed for future generations. As Debbie Harry said way back in the day, “the only place left for rock to go is toward more girl stars. There's nothing left for men to do.”