Sleater-Kinney Concert Review Archive / 2001-2006

Well, the US tour came to a close and Sleater-Kinney finished it off with a promotional appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. I believe this was their first national network television appearance ever, but I could be wrong.

Eschewing the pure pop of “Oh!” or “O2,” or the hard politicism of “Combat Rock,” the ladies chose to play “Step Aside.” It made sense, considering they closed every main set with the tune for the entire tour. The band seemed a little nervous on the first verse with the unfamiliar surroundings, but by the second verse everything was clicking and they finished strongly. Everyone seemed like they were having fun and Corin got to wave hi to Lance and Marshall as the credits rolled.

Video clips of the performance are available here, courtesy of Toru (BangsSupaFan#1).

There are also another set of files available from GoDrex.

Between those two sites, you should be able to see this performance somehow.

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By Maria Lambert

s-k rocks it in brooklyn.

last night was the final stop of the sleater-kinney tour – us leg, and like any sensible rockers with good locational taste, s-k wrapped it up in the BK, at the “warsaw at the polish national home” venue. this spot is literally housed at the actual polish national home, and has recently been commissioned as the joint where indie rock represents in the outer boroughs of NYC.

i rolled in around 7PM (after getting stuck for half an hour coming over from work on the ever-hated G train), and got a space right up front, slightly stage right (carrie’s usual side). i met up with the usual crew of people that comes to s-k shows in new york, and waited for the first opening act to begin. about 8:30, the kills came on. they played a long, almost entirely undistinguished set. the sound was imbalanced (almost no vocals could be heard), and the entire act seemed to consist of the lead singer looking wily and sexy smoking a cigarette whilst the guitarist flicked the same four raunchy chords repeatedly. needless to say, i was not too into the band.

following the first act, quix*o*tic dropped in with about an hour of some surf-tinged goof rock that eventually melted down into some artsy mellow stuff. some of the first songs definitely sounded like the background music in scooby-doo — and i mean that in the best possible way. someone i was talking to said that the band reminded him of math teachers. i couldn’t disagree – they were really cute, and i definitely dug their music. it was engaging. although the part where the (scruffy, long-bearded) bassist sat behind the drum kit and stared off into space whilst the two women played and sung. i really liked one of their stripped, slightly bluesy songs that the cute drummer sang.

so, after several zywiec beers (complete with the “beer thermometer” that shows the zywiec logo when the beer is at “optimal drinking temperature” – genius!), s-k came on, opening up with “one beat.” they seemed much more high-energy and upbeat than they had at the previous week’s shows at irving plaza. corin, in particular, was really rocking out – dancing to almost every song, which i have never really seen her do before.

mid-set, carrie enticed the audience by letting us know that if we were especially good (read: if people actually danced), janet would come out for the encore in costume. the crowd, on cue, cheered wildly. a couple songs later, the new staple of the janet drum solo kicked in – but with a twist. carrie invited the audience to come up and dance on stage – a decision which might later have been met with a bit of regret, as about 30 people took her up on the offer, including one boy flailing wildly and another person who kept talking to carrie, who looked slightly uncomfortable at all the human presence on what is a rather small stage. much more jamming at this show than at irving plaza, which had more jamming than anything i had heard since pre-ahotbo. so, much jamming was done. right.

some really fiery stuff – carrie picking out some staccato notes with corin providing the underpinning roar, and janet continually escalating with some serious riffs. they kept ebbing and flowing with the jams like one long sonic tease – constantly building upon the previous pattern, never descending into musical masturbation.

for the encore, janet indeed came out in her wolfman costume, the headpiece of which gave her a big fuzzy mullet, a la the girl hair band vixen circa 1985. they rocked out on “my own private idaho” (carrie brownstein is the new fred schneider – who knew?), and, for their last song, FINALLY, to the edification of the hardcores in the crowd, played a song from the first album, “be yr mama.”

afterward, janet and corin hung out onstage for much longer than i had ever seen any of them be around. i said a couple words to corin, and talked to janet briefly about drumming styles, the gossip, and some other good stuff.

i will publish the setlist tomorrow – it’s in my back pocket of my other jeans. overall, though, the best show of the seven i have seen. truly amazing.

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By Alex

Well, I was in attendance at the Warsaw show in Brooklyn two nights ago, the last stop of the tour. S-K were great as usual — of their three New York City dates, I think it was second-best behind the second Irving Plaza show (although I didn’t see the NYU show so who knows, maybe that was super-awesome).

Lots of little funny stuff — during the extended Hollywood Ending Janet drum-solo, Carrie and Corin asked anyone who wanted to to come up on stage and dance. There were a bunch of kids near the front who went up, which was cute. When they came out for the encore, Janet was wearing a Halloween costume, which she describes is “supposed to be a werewolf, but it looks more like a friendly bear.” And she played drums while wearing the costume (which covered her head and shoulders, not whole self). Corin talked about seeing the Rolling Stones in Atlanta and made fun of Mick Jagger. Carrie was chatty and excited as usual. Fun level was high during the show, and it’s only surpassed by the show I mentioned before because then they were more “on,” in terms of hitting all their notes and all.

If ANYONE can tell me what the cover was during the encore (it was NOT Bruce Springsteen) and what the very last song was (after Dig Me Out), I would be most appreciative.

Don’t know when they’ll be touring again, but before this May when they first hit NYC in advance of One Beat, they hadn’t played in about 18 months. Hopefully it won’t be as long a wait again…don’t suppose anyone’s got Conan O’Brien tix this afternoon???

Hats off again to Sleater-Kinney. Another great tour for the world’s best rock and roll band.

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Haley Zapal sent in these pics from the Athens show at the 40 Watt. Click on the pic to get a slightly bigger version.

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By Susan

one beat
o2
oh!
#1 must have
get up
far away
you’re no rock n roll fun
the remainder
turn it on
combat rock
all hands on the bad one
light rail coyote (call for audience participatin in the chorus)
end of you
sympathy
hollywood ending (i believe this extended into janet’s solo)
words and guitar
step aside

encore:
private idaho
call the doctor (extended)
dig me out

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Unapologetic has a short little summary of the show.

i went out tonight by myself, to see a show i couldn’t have seen in new orleans: sleater-kinney at the variety playhouse – great show, they played most of their new album, and some older stuff… they rocked, of course – they’re excellent musicians, the set was tight, they clearly enjoy what they do, and seemed like totally cool, down to earth people, with none of the indie-rockstar pretention you get from some (even lesser-known) bands. i’ve heard people say that sleater-kinney may be the best rock band going right now, and tonight, i’m prepared to believe it.

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By John Collins

This was my first S-K show ever, and first time at this club. Capacity there is 650+, and the show was sold out at least several hours before the show began. (I wish this club was nearer to me, since they have a lot of good shows.) The Quails and V for Vendetta opened. Quails sounded pretty tight, well-rehearsed. They (or at least the drummer) talked about the possible war quite a bit and were interested in talking afterwards to activists in the crowd. V For Vendetta is a two-person group, and as someone said in an earlier post, pretty art-rock. To these ears, the songs were fairly formless, with no choruses, and rather dissonant, but occasionally interesting instrumentation. Anyway, on to Sleater-Kinney.

I have a list of (at least) most of the songs they played, but not the order they played them. (I constructed my list from memory in the parking lot afterward.) They played most of One Beat, omitting Funeral Song, Prisstina, and (I think) Hollywood Ending. The first two songs were O2 and Oh! O2 really sounded great live, but to me the revelation of the evening was Step Aside (as a previous post said about the DC show). It was really terrific, and though I’ve been assuming they’ll play O2 on Conan, I wouldn’t be surprised or displeased to see Step Aside instead. Carrie invited people to sing along with Light Rail Coyote on the “oh dirty river/ come let me in” refrain. They sang Combat Rock, but didn’t introduce it as an anti-war song this time. Sympathy was wonderful. I think of it as a Corin song, of course, but didn’t realize how much of it is sung by Carrie. They played it right after Janet’s drum solo, since she gets a little respite in the first minute or two of that song.

Only one song from AHOTBO, I think, which is YRNRNRF. Dancing was difficult since people were packed pretty tight, but this got some feet moving. (I don’t _think_ they played Youth Decay or anything else from that cd — anybody there who remembers differently?) I think there was just one song from Hot Rock (End of You). From Dig Me Out they played Word and Guitar (and Corin so very cutely sang “I dream of quiet songs” very quietly, sort of teasing us as we all waited to explode during the loud parts), Little Babies (another good dance song), One More Hour, and a rousing (duh!) version of Dig Me Out to end the encore. From Call the Doctor, they played Joey Ramone, Stay Where You Are and Good Things. I don’t think there was anything from the self-titled record. I might have missed a song or two (besides the cover). If anyone remembers better than I do, or has the actual song order, please submit.

Near the end of the set they played a cover, on which Janet played harmonica (they joked that their next record will be all harmonica). Anybody know what that song was (or probably was)? They identified it, but I missed it and didn’t recognize the song (although it sounded familiar). Don’t think it was the Springsteen. It was a pretty poppy, hooky song. They also sang happy birthday in the encore to someone named Heather, without whom, Corin said, the S-K tour probably wouldn’t have happened. (Anyone know who that is?) Only disappointments for me was the omission of Call the Doctor and Little Mouth, but you can’t have everything.

The sound was ok, although I’m not much of a judge. Crowd was ok, very appreciative, some dancing, no incidents that I was aware of. This being my first S-K concert, it was a real treat. The ladies all looked lovely. CArrie in a typical button-down brown shirt. Corin wore a sleeveless blouse with some frilly stuff at the collar. I was pleased to see how much they both smile during songs, and how playful they look. Carrie’s face is very expressive when she sings, I think, and she often smiled in a sly way, like she was in on a joke. Corin too. After the enthusiastic applause for each song, usually it was Carrie who said thanks, although ocassionally Corin. Carrie did more of the rock star poses than Corin, but Corin did occasionally too. A roadie or staff person put out the set lists, not Janet, although she was on the stage before the set began looking at the instruments (unlike Carrie and Corin). I didn’t stick around long afterward (2 hour drive back to Greenville and class the next morning at 9), so I don’t know if they came out and did autographs or anything. I did see Janet come out just as I was leaving. The show began just before 11, and ended about 12:20, I think. Total of 18 or 19 songs, I think.

Anyway, it was really tremendous, one of the best concerts I’ve been to, and I’m so grateful that we have Sleater-Kinney. Here’s hoping there are many more cds and tours.

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By CJ Carpent

Arrived early enough (way too early, thanks to paranoia over etix – which worked fine, btw) to hear the sound check through the front glass of the Cradle. Very loud! A half hour later, Janet, Carrie and Corin came out and walked into the parking lot. I kept casual, nodding to my friend Jim, “Dude?” “Yep,” he said. “That’s them.”

What can I say? 2 and a half hours later, I get inside. In my younger days, I’d sat in the first 5 rows. Not anymore. I took up residence at a riser on the right side of the house. Not the best view, but good enough to see.

Quails played first. Bass player was all over that thing. I actually thought that since this guy was so good, S-Ks sound may be sort of anemic by comparison. More on this wrong thought in a minute.

V for Vendetta was next. Two people made a lot of noise. Strange time signatures. Is this what is known as ‘math rock’ these days? If it is, I liked it. Jim – as pay back for the trip – went to the merchandise table between acts and scooped both opener’s CDs.

Then, finally, after roadies or stage technicians switched mics and did a final check, the lights go down and they crank into Oxygen, I believe (but I remember set lists as well as I do directions, not very well).

After four + years being a fan of this band, here I was seeing them play live. And the *band-ness* of them surprised me. Tight, in command of the stage, and having a great time. It was infectious. And my concern about anemia where the low-freq’s were concerned? Not a problem. Corin’s bassy rhythm guitar rattled the teeth. One “DAMN!” moment came in YNRRF, when, in the middle Corrin solo part, she hit that riff way lower and meaner than anything on record, and this low-throb WOOSH enveloped the house. Damn, indeed! I was cackling like a goofball by then. But nobody could hear me. Which was probably good.

Janet was all over her drum set and must be in near pro athlete shape to go like that for a whole show. They were the backbone, and when she soloed it was unlike the metal-rock cliche it can be- it wasn’t boring or out of place at all. The crowd was into it, too.

As for Carrie – she was more talkative than the rest, with a playfulness and fun that differs from her image. I wish I could’ve been closer so I could see what she was doing on her guitar.

They did Promised Land cover. Janet did the harmonica. And it sounded damn fine.

The whole thing? Simply amazing. My one complaint? I couldn’t see them on their next stop. Jim said, after the show, “I now know why people follow bands around.”

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By Deborah Karen Watt

(Damn, there have been a lot of posts about this show! Sorry for any repetitious info.)

I have the setlist at the end (after my extended commentary).

I wasn’t too into V4V. I think it was mostly me, and I just wasn’t in the mood for such a low-key opener. I did really dig their last song, where the drummer switched to guitar and lead vocals. The Quails were still fun. Seth especially is a blast to watch. Jen seemed happier on stage than she had seemed in Seattle. After several shows, I am finally beginning to understand more of the lyrics. Who knew that I’d been grooving to a song about genderqueers all this time?

SK were great, as usual. Dropped from the 1BT setlist are “Prisstina” and “Funeral Song.” Everybody seemed pretty loose onstage, smiling at each other. For some reason, possibly because I’ve already been to several shows or possibly because this show was more crowded so I had to concentrate more to be able to see, I feel like the music kind of passed in a blur. I don’t remember too many distinct moments in the songs, but I’m still buzzing with the fabulousness of the experience as a whole. I am now convinced that the Bluebird in Denver has the worst sound anywhere. Everything sounded great at the 9:30.

During V for Vendetta, and then twice during the Quails, we were encouraged to yell out “no war” loud enough to be heard by our “elected” “representatives.” At one point during SK, a fan spontaneously yelled out “no fucking war,” and Carrie said, “We’ll substitute that lyric if we can.” Later Carrie introduced “Combat Rock” with “This is an anit-war song,” which is obvious, but I hadn’t heard them describe it as such before.

Janet’s comment on how important audience interaction is for them:
“Could the people in front just smile every now and then?”
Carrie: Janet often points out, though I don’t notice much, ‘that’s
the scariest crowd we’ve ever played to’…but I realize you’re just
concentrating, right?
Corin: The thinkers come to the front.

I thought the exchange was funny (especially since I used to be a pretty still, stern-faced person, until this 1BT tour..). But I agree with Jona that it was a strange comment to start out with, since the majority of the crowd was dancing and cheering. It probably served to get the rest of us dancing even more, to make up for it. The guys I figured she was talking about were right up front center, and pretty tall, so probably they were the main people she could see
when she looked up? And they did seem to interact with the crowd less at this show than some others…

And there was a followup to that conversation.
Carrie: After Janet said that, it kinda looked like a freaky Paxil commercial, because I was smiling really big and you guys were smiling really big. Which is great, but it was kind of surreal… I just want to let you know that I’m not promoting it. I haven’t been put up here by anybody but myself.

During the jam-intro to W+G, which was mostly just Carrie, Corin was kind of panting into the mic..Didn’t know what to make of that. I thought Corin was more subdued (in terms of dancing around) this show than some others I’ve seen. But I thought (is this even possible?) that she kicked it up a notch on the vocals, particularly for Sympathy. I could see her whole body straining as she sang. Carrie jumps around a fair bit during this song, but I am mostly transfixed letting it wash over me.

Corin was especially ‘playful’ during W+G. The new version is super-quiet during the verses and she would look out at us and smile like “I know what you want, you know what’s coming” as the song explodes into the chorus.

Janet’s “long, but good” Joke (before the start of the encore): The pope was riding around in the Popemobile and it broke down. Since he was in a hurry, he hailed a cab. The cab driver was afraid he’d go to hell if he drove the pope and got into an accident, so the pope was like “OK, I’ll drive.” He was speeding around and got pulled over. The cop saw who was in the car and radioed his boss. “I’ve got a big one, what should I do?” “How big? The mayor?” “No, bigger.” “The
president?” “No, bigger.” “Well, who is it?” “I don’t know, but the pope is driving him around.”

Fashion report:
Janet – black sleeves with big flowers on the top.
Carrie – brown button down with built-in tie, jeans.
Corin – lacey black top, skirt, fishnets with a fancier pattern than usual.

I had a great time, and am bummed that I’m out of excuses for travelling around the country to places and at times that just happen to coincide with SK shows. Though I have always wanted to go to New Zealand…

O2
Oh!
#1 Must Have
Burn, Don’t Freeze
Remainder
Turn It On
Far Away
1BT
Light-Rail
YNRNRF
Combat Rock
Start Together
Sympathy
Hollywood
(jam)->W+G
Step Aside
——————
Little Babies (with a really pretty ending thrown on)
Joey
Little Mouth->jam->DMO

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By Josh Davlin

Sunday night was different as far as my personal mood. I was tired, we got there earlier than I wanted. Neither one of us was particularly into the opening acts (the Quails sounded ok, and I loved their energy, but I think I just wasn’t into it). Plus, we both have this antipathy towards the 9:30 club that is partly due to the overall generic, commercial look and feel of the club, and partly due to the crowds that it often attracts. So that, by the time Sleater-Kinney finally came on, shortly after 10pm, we were both kinda tired and cranky, not to mention crammed in like sardines. But then the gals went onstage and everything changed. It was like a light switch was suddenly turned on and I was transported back to that amazing place where I’m at one with the music and the crowd and my body moves
involuntarily in time to the sound.

One thing I have to say about the 9:30 club – the sound quality is AMAZING. Janet’s drum sound was absolutely ferocious, Carrie’s and Corin’s guitar lines were easily differentiated and sounded fabulous. The vocals all sounded amazing. And goddamit, they put on the best fucking live show I have EVER seen. WOW. I can’t remember ever being so physically and emotionally drained after a show. When we got back to my car and sat down, we both let out this loud moan of relief and exhaustion.

I feel like it’s impossible to put into words just how great an experience it is to see these three ladies onstage. I can think of no band or artist with such power and talent that is also so in tune with its audience, and that gives so goddamn much to its audience every night.

Other random comments: I’ve changed my mind regarding Conan O’Brien: They should definitely do “Step Aside”. This is the closer on their first set on tour and it just absolutely ROCKS! I think it would be just the thing for a live tv appearance.

Janet Weiss is not human. She is some sort of alien who has been placed on earth as a cosmic gift to enlighten us mere humans to the ways of drumming. I bow in supplication to her superhuman talent.

Carrie’s singing has grown exponentially over the last year or so. She’s harnessed every bit of her vocal talent and it’s a joy to hear.

Corin Tucker is just the goddamn cutest human being on earth. The way she communicates with the crowd through eye movements and facial expressions is something else. Oh, she can sing a bit too.

My god, I can’t wait for next Sunday! 3 S-K shows in a week. how did i get so lucky???

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