I first heard about Machine Girl when they toured with The Garden in late 2022. I didn’t make it out to any of those shows, but multiple friends who did were raving about their performance as an opening band. The only song I knew at the time was “Ghost,” an instrumental track of theirs that never failed to get me hyped.
When I saw they were coming through Austin for their 2024 tour, I looked up videos of their past sets. When I saw how wild they would get, I knew immediately that was an experience I had to be there for.
You can call it electronic punk, electronic hardcore, or industrial rave if you want. Whatever it is, it’s full of relentless, unhinged energy that I couldn’t wait to see live.
The best part of it was that it was at Emo’s. While I’ve got a lot to say about the venue’s parking situation, the building itself was the perfect place to host them. It’s small enough to be intimate but more than big enough to give the crowd space to fully unleash.
After openers Kill Alters and Snooper ripped the Emo’s stage to shreds, the crowd was primed to lose their shit. Led by Matt Stephenson, he was joined by a touring drummer and guitarist to execute the Machine Girl show to the fullest.
But even though the crowd was ready, it seemed like the band’s equipment was not. After they took the stage, Stephenson was stalling the crowd in what seemed like a playful way to build up hype, only for it to turn out they were trying to fix technical issues with their gear.
The band briefly walked off stage while that was resolved, but the fans were still hyped and ready to go, screaming and cheering for the band to return. The sound system was playing some tunes in between, with “Toxicity” by System of a Down sparking an impromptu singalong by the entire crowd.
Machine Girl finally came back out and got right into it with “…BECAUSE I’M YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR,” launching into the show at full force. Stephenson’s furious vocals, the pulsating electronic beats, and the intensity from the guitar and drums mixed for what was an unbelievable sound for the senses.
I can’t lie, I’ve never rushed to put on my earbuds as fast as I did when that track dropped.
Stephenson then thanked the crowd for their patience with the technical difficulties – and also “for giving us that beautiful rendition of ‘Toxicity’”.
As the show went on, pits were continuing to open all around me, on my left side, on my right side, and seemingly everywhere I looked. I love being around that energy but not necessarily in that energy so I took a step back to watch all the madness unfold.
A large part of that madness was Stephenson’s stage presence. Not only were his vocals fantastic but I can’t recall many performers that look like they’re truly giving 100% of themselves into their show. He was all over the stage, jumping like a maniac for every single song. This was full throttle from start to finish and I was so impressed with his performance.
The crowd was right there with him, giving him back the exact same energy he was delivering to them. From tracks like “Dance in the Fire” to “Dread Architect,” the rage in the crowd grew stronger, with the energy continuously building for their entire set.
The crowd surfers were flying, the circle pits were forming in every corner of the venue, with the ones I saw starting with the buildup of “Half Asleep” and going into “Until I Die” being absolutely insane.
Unfortunately, the band kept running into more technical difficulties throughout the set but Stephenson assured the fans that there would be nothing to worry about.
“We’re gonna get this shit figured out, don’t worry,” Stephenson addressed the crowd. “We’re not gonna leave you hanging. We’re not gonna blueball you like that. But patience is a virtue. And I know that might be hard to hear as a Machine Girl fan, but sometimes you gotta wait for things to happen.”
Patience wasn’t an issue, though, with this crowd. I think they had so much fire flowing through their veins that they could have waited for an hour and still been ready to explode when Machine Girl was back out.
They returned to the stage and played out the rest of their setlist with no further issues. But at that point, it wasn’t enough for Stephenson to be performing for the crowd – this man leaped into the crowd during “Psychic Attack,” creating pure chaos as he tore through the Emo’s pit.
He made his way to the back of the stage by the soundboard, fans getting a close-up look at his intensity before he stage dived back into the crowd, with the fans carrying him safely back to the stage.
The band finished with a two-song encore, featuring “Cicadas” and “Scroll of Sorrow,” with the latter having the crowd jumping and cheering louder than they had all night before Machine Girl left the Emo’s stage for good.
This was really an electronic punk show at its core; the electronic beats got all the fans jumping and the punk energy got all the fans moshing and raging like they never had before. It was an unforgettable thing to witness, and as great as I’m sure all their other tour stops have been, I don’t think anything can match the intensity that the fans in Austin, Texas always bring.
