Ashnikko brings the Weedkiller Tour to St. Petersburg

OCTOBER 8TH 2023 | by BROOKS KIRBY

Audrey Nuna and her DJ opened the show with smooth, rhythmic beats that got the crowd pumped up for Ashnikko.

Coming into this show, I didn’t really know a lot about her, but I liked the energy already. Even before her set, Ashnikko fans had already made Jannus Live feel like an overgrown dystopian forest. Blue and green hair, mossy crowns made of bone, and elf ears were waiting for her arrival.

Right before they went on, a fan was handing out handmade friendship bracelets with Ashnikko song names. I got one with “Slumber Party” :) The fans behind the barricade were super cool and had some of the sickest outfits I’ve seen at a concert. A group of us got into a conversation about previous Ashnikko shows and our festival experiences. We were interrupted by darkness and the intro to “Miss Nectarine '', Ashnikko and her two dancers entered the stage in formation dressed in post-apocalyptic, almost zombie-like garments. They wore knee-high tactical boots, straps and belts and wouldn’t look out of place in a combat video game.

When “You Make Me Sick!” started to play, they channeled the collective female rage of the whole venue through angry scream-pop and industrial noises: blades sharpening, metal chains clashing, guns reloading. I was intimidated by her if we’re being honest, and I think so was every guy there. Ashnikko describes her most recent album, Weedkiller, as "a commentary on environmental disaster and the rapid evolution of technology”. I think they translate the narrative of “Weedkiller” extremely well and have a lot of fun at the same time. Also, massive props to the dancers, who killed it in the South Florida heat. At times, their choreography was emotional and expressed vengeful catharsis; but they could easily switch into a dreamy fairy character and perform “Dying Star”, a song off the album featuring Ethel Cain.

It was a clear night in St. Pete, but Ashnikko’s horror-fantasy set somehow made it feel stormy at Jannus Live. Maybe it was the lighting—blues and a yellow sepia that alternated in flashes. A luminescent, inflatable, crescent shaped symbol inspired by the Weedkiller album art was the focus of her set visuals. It was twenty feet tall and at one point she was just laying on top of it, chatting with us. The “majestic oak” tree in Jannus even became a part of her fantasy world, similar to the “mother trees” in her short story that Weedkiller is based on. She took a minute in between to pay tribute to it and commanded the crowd surrounding the tree to “give it a hug and say thank you” — They obeyed.

Ashnikko is a unique storyteller and puts on a killer show. I can’t wait to hear more from her soon!