Yeah Yeah Yeahs Sold Out the Hollywood Bowl With Three Generations of Asian American Women-Fronted Bands

“I’ve been waiting my whole life to say that,” said an elated Karen O towards the end of the sold-out Yeah Yeah Yeahs show at the Hollywood Bowl last night, acknowledging her openers: “Three generations of Asian-American women; they are my girls!”

She was referring to the historic occurrence of having all three bands feature three different generations of Asian American women. The Linda Lindas, whose members range from age 11 to 17, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, who is 33, and herself, 43. 

The feeling was electric among the 17,500 attendees who sold out the Bowl, and all these years later, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs still possess that experimental punk rock spunk that separated them from many similar bands that were big two decades ago—as evident by Karen O. embracing and laughing about not being able to get in sync for a song and having to start over a couple of times. 

The band’s first new song and album in nine years undoubtedly aided in their ability to sell out their first show of this size in L.A. They played a night back on May 30th at the Teragram Ballroom, but it was nowhere nearly as big as Thursday. The emerging talent of The Linda Lindas, with their breakout 2021 hit, “Racist, Sexist Boy,” has only attracted more fans since then with their full-length album, “Growing Up.” And Michelle Zauner's respective rise in alternative pop, who recently became a New York Times-best-selling author for her memoir, Crying in H Mart.

Last night’s all-Asian-American lineup at the Bowl was a victory of visibility and representation. For the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s encore performance, Karen O brought out The Linda Lindas and Japanese Breakfast for a power-pop cover of Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America.”

It was an unforgettable night.