Pussy Riot Plays Its First Show In America

Pussy Riot has never played a gig in America before tonight. In the outside corridors of a mid-sized LA venue, the crowd exchanges tickets for an opportunity to not just watch Pussy Riot, but to be Pussy Riot. In the foyer, their own official T-shirt stand comes with a warning written in pencil on scrap paper. "This means c***" it reads, pointing at one shirt's logo. Elsewhere, independent feminist vendors unrelated to Pussy Riot sell 'PUSSY POWER' necklaces and representatives from the Democratic Socialists of America pass out free literature about LA's Housing and Homelessness Committee and the No Olympics LA campaign. The idea is that all gathered are part of this Russian proto-punk collective, now movement — a group who previously never identified as a regularly functioning band. Now they charge for gig attendance and release music that wouldn't sound out of place on a summertime playlist. The more people they can ambush with catchy choruses and forthright ideas, the merrier, it seems.

Upstairs, practically in the venue's attic, 28-year-old activist Nadya Tolokonnikova is alone.