Contributors Andrue and Ashley had the opportunity to see MACHINE GIRL in concert live at The Van Buren. This concert took place Tuesday March 17, 2026. MACHINE GIRL had 2 openers including LUSTSICKPUPPY and SHOW ME THE BODY. from start to finish there was good music, good people, and good energy. It was also on St. Patrick's Day, which was kind of weird, the crowd was dressed half for the concert and half for St. Patrick's Day.
Both Ashley and myself enjoyed the concert very much, we got to take some photos during the sets, before, between, and after as well. Our photos are available below and they include photos of each of the three performers as well as some of the guests in the crowd. We hope you enjoyed these photos as well as the reviews that we did of each sets! We also made some GIFs that available on Instagram, GIPHY, and our website. To find them on instagram search "Friendcities" in your GIF keyboard :)
- Andrue:) (voupie)
LUSTSICKPUPPY ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡
This was my first LUSTSICKPUPPY concert that I got to go to, though I have been a fan for quite some time. I first started listening to her music in high school and I remember RIDE IT being one of my favorite tracks that I looped again and again. I had actually not heard that she was going to be opening for the show until like two or three days prior. I was really excited and she did not disappoint. Her presence was so massive and enrapturing. I couldn't take my eyes off the stage the entire time that she was performing, and each song that she did she got me and Ashley moving. She also had a way of riding each of the beats effortlessly, it really made her songs stick.
I loved her outfit, well, both of them. She eventually would come out later in the show after her own set to support another, you'll see you later. I was especially a big fan of both of the hats that she used during the show, one being this sort of leopard print, beret thing, the other being one of those red, blue, yellow, and green propeller hats that little boys wear in in the cartoons. At the end of her set she brought out a water gun as well and started soaking the audience, but I think we were soaked long before that. I really didn't want her set to end, and when she played RIDE IT I lost my mind a little bit. I would definitely love to see her again, especially headlining her own tour.
- Andrue
I hadn’t heard of her before, but I definitely intend on adding her to my playlists! Outfit was super cute, music was amazing. I felt like I was at a rave almost, which is always a good thing!
- Ashley
SHOW ME THE BODY
SHOW ME THE BODY played next and I'd say this is a very rock-style band. I felt like they captured the other side of MACHINE GIRL's sound that LUSTSICKPUPPY did not exactly embody. MACHINE GIRL uses such loud noises, samples, and electronic noises while also taking a lot from rock, drum and bass, as well as other adjacent genres. I was a big fan of this band's sound, they had me head banging throughout their entire set. They kind of reminded me of when I went to college in Flagstaff and I went to some of the punk shows at The Hive. I was especially fond of the drummer, who is featured below in the GIF.
I will say, there wasn't a single song that really stood out to me, but I wasn't aware of this band prior to this concert. I quite enjoyed all the songs, but I kind of felt as though the place where I'd most enjoy them was here, live. I could be wrong and in the future I might go and explore some of their albums. After their performance I was satisfied and thought it was a quality performance, but not the kind that would make me look them up online later. I would love to see them again and headbang along for another set, though!
- Andrue
I’ve also never heard or listened to them but the performance was great!! We liked watching the drummer go crazy and the lead singer had cool vocals which were super impressive, I was like ‘wow and he has to do this every day on tour!’ Not something I’d usually listen to, but still a great live performance!
- Ashley
MACHINE GIRL ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡
Now what we had been anticipating the entire night, the MACHINE GIRL set. They did not disappoint. They had such great atmosphere built with the music, lighting, and props on the stage. This tour was promoting their PsychoWarrior: MG Ultra X album and they had this really cool statue on stage for each of the sets. I've been a big fan of MACHINE GIRL since I was in high school and I was hoping that they would play songs off of Wlfgrl, ...Because I'm Young Arrogant and Hate Everything You Stand For, or even Re:Porpoised Phantasies (I love Cyan Hardcore!) but we seemed to be getting mostly songs from the new PsychoWarrior album, though there were a few few deep cuts here and there.
They had such a great presence on stage and the audience was responding really well to the sound. We got the chance to meet a few of the people around us and everybody seemed to be enjoying the set and we almost got the chance to meet him, the band was fronted by the man pictured below by the name of Matt Stephenson. He came down in the crowd 3 separate times, which to me showed the enthusiasm for our energy and the desire to connect with the audience. It also kinda made part of me feel weird when he would come into the crowd and I would just get completely lost as to where I was supposed to be looking. That being said, I probably would feel differently if he came and said hi to me or something or even looked at me in the eyes I think that this review would be entirely different. That being said I still had an amazing time and I thought that they had an amazing performance, and I enjoyed all the fan interactions that they had.
I want to also say that I loved his shirt, I'm such a big fan of SEGA and so his shirt really made me feel like I was in the right audience. I also got to see another SEGA shirt which is pictured down below in our crowd photos. MACHINE GIRL had Ashley and I moving the entire night and in the end after we were possessed by the beat we were surprised by a performance with both MACHINE GIRL and LUSTSICKPUPPY. There is a GIF of that below, but this song was so so fun and they had such fun energy together. The show ended with a bang and just like that we were so sad it was over but so happy that we'd been there to experience it. I hope to see MACHINE GIRL again, especially for a tour focused on one of their older albums.
- Andrue
As an avid Wlfgrl album fan, I was super excited to see them live! The album cover art was really good and it was super cool to see them bring that to life with their set pieces on stage!! Performance and energy were amazing! Matt jumped into the crowd and we were recording the other side of the room like ‘where’d he go’ only to see him just pop up out of nowhere behind us before he went back to the stage which was crazy. Andrue and I love Come on Baby, Scrape My Data. And I realllly love the intermission track, and also psycho war.
- Ashley
THE CROWD + FASHION
The crowd had great energy this night and we saw lots of great outfits. We pictured some of them below and included some GIFs as well. Out of all the people that we talk to everybody was so nice, and they really had the whole venue moving on beat. There's definitely a negative stigma online (TikTok) about the MACHINE GIRL crowd, but I felt like the Phoenix crowd didn't exactly fit that. Maybe I'm biased though, I love Phoenix... Either way I hope you enjoy the outfits below and thank you MACHINE GIRL for giving us a night that will never forget.
- Andrue
E-mail us at friendcities@proton.me for removal, original-quality photos, or any other inquiries!
