Sleater-Kinney Concert Review Archive / 2001-2006

More pics from the Woodlands show. This time it’s more Pearl Jam oriented, but it does include three pics from the PJ/SK encore of “Fortunate Son” and “Rockin In The Free World.”

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By Kate Rose

granted, the houston show was fantastic - it is sleater-kinney, after all. if only it had been a more intimate setting….

they came out and went straight into “02″ even while radiohead was still playing on the radio over the speakers. afterwards, corin announced, “we’re sleater-kinney and we’re from portland, oregon.”

carrie wore a sleeveless black and white striped shirt and jeans, corin wore a pink ruffly top and a jean skirt. unfortunately, i could not see what janet was wearing, i just know that it was black - big surprise there! corin and carrie were dancing their asses off. most of the audience didn’t know who they were, but they got lots of cheers and i heard lots of kinney virgins around me comment on how good carrie’s guitar playing was.

the show appears to be similar to the oklahoma show, (like w/ matt cameron joining them and all) but with variations in the set. i wish i could remember the exact order, but i know these songs were played:

02, oh!, one beat, faraway, the remainder, sympathy (dedicated to moms), step aside, ynrnrf (v. fast), a new song, words + guitar leading to an incredible jam and ending with dig me out - - i think i’m missing a song or two.

but what made the houston show so awesome and unique was that for pearl jam’s second encore, s-k joined them. (eddie vedder called s-k “one of the great bands” earlier in the show) janet and matt cameron played drums next to each other, carrie jammed out next to stone gossard, and corin and eddie vedder took turns singing every other verse and they did the choruses together. corin jumped up and down and danced like crazy, and after awhile, eddie started dancing the same way along with her.

they played “fortunate son” and then “rockin in the free world.” at the woodlands pavilion, all shows are supposed to end at 11, due to restrictions in the nearby residential area, but they kept playing “rockin in the free world” until 11:15 or so, even when the all lights were turned on.

amazing, amazing show - my only complaint is how far away i was. my first time to see the kinney was completely inspiring and made me feel like i had fallen in love with music all over again.

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By Monkeefan

I drove 10 hours total, to and back from the woodlands this Sunday (in blinding rain on the way there and blinding fog on the way back, mind you) and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I was sort of assuming I would be disappointed due to seemingly crummy tickets and possibly unreceptive audience, but I was so wrong! Not only did I get a deal on my tickets though ebay- 2 second tier reserved seats for 65 dollars- but the venue was much smaller than I imagined so from our seats we could see sufficiently and they had big video screens to show any necessary close ups. The sky had been threatening rain and drizzling all day, but it never poured out of respect to SK…the ladies came on while the sun was setting and they looked lovely as usual-Carrie wore that striped tank top she seems to always wear-we theorized that she packs light to allow for all of Corin’s more elaborate outfits….and this was no exception with the ruffles and the two tone denim skirt with the splash of pink….Janet was totally workin’ the pink furry shoulder pads. They busted into oxygen, and i think Corin’s voice had never sounded better, and Carrie’s kicks and windmills had never been more abundant. This type of show certainly had virtues of its own over a club show: I don’t have to hold back on singing every lyric at the top of my lungs because there’s no way i could sing over them in that arena and no one around me seemed more focused on their ridiculously long plastic margarita glasses so i was not ruining their fun….but the crowd up front really seemed to be digging it and there was big applause after every song, augmented by me and my girlfriend’s screams and shouts…..she swears Corin looked and pointed at us repeatedly since we were totally standing out in our unenthusiastic section….i don’t know if she could have seen us from the stage but is nice to think she knew there were at least a few hardcore fans representin’ the big sleatizzle kinnizzle….a few highlights….they played youth decay which is one of those totally rockin songs they don’t always play….oh and there were all kinds of sexy guitar interplay going on between the ladies…Carrie kneeled righy in front of Corin and then rose up real slow and saucy like….and then she moved behind Corin and they played really close like….yeow! very nice….when Corin introduced Sympathy she said something to the effect of “Is anyone here a mom? I’m a mom….i wanna dedicate this to all the mothers of US soldiers….and the mothers of Iraqis” oh and how the eyes did well up with tears for the whole song, especially the “were all equal in the face of what were most afraid of” part, gets me every time, but especially this time cos she was really lettin’ loose….a very personal song to share with so many people….but im glad she did….they also did the new song, which features a newly British sounding Carrie singing like she is gonna just freak out…accompanied by her erratic hand gestures and cute angry puppy face that she only puts on when really pissed….oh and she plays a tambourine, if there is one instrument i love its the tambourine, second only to the cowbell which, wouldn’t you know, they utilize as well! An approximate set list, out of order:

oxygen
youth decay
far away
one beat
oh
sympathy
step aside
Hollywood ending
ynrnrf
new song
words and guitar
dig me out

and then i was like “what? no cover?” buuuut just you wait….
then pearl jam did their thang, which given myself not being a big fan, put on a good show…played a hit or two….like evenflow and better man which my middle school memory served me correctly and i still knew all the words….there is a ridiculously long guitar solo on evenflow and Eddie just lights up a cigarette and chills until its over….i was anticipating his impaling of a Bush mask, but he merely mocked the exaggeration by putting a Bill Gates mask on his mic stand and knocking it over saying “look at me, im a crazy fuck and a celebrity!”….he made some anti war statements, i think, i could never really tell what he was saying in between songs-i think the innner-song smoke breaks have further graveled his voice-and there were boos and a shout of “shut up you fuckin piece of shit!” but i think the cheers drowned em out…. so we were just about to leave when he’s like “were gonna bring everyone out” so we haul ass back to our seats only to see the most awsome encore….ever! Not just “fortunate son” with the alternating eddie/corin verses, but as that song came to a close, Carrie starts in on “keep on rockin in the free world!” which is just a great sing along anthem to close a show….and corin totally ripped it up vocally, id never seen her sing without a guitar so she was all jumps and dancing, very cute, even cuter when she and eddie did some synchronized dancing….Carrie was totally steppin up to ol’ Stone and showing him how it was done! ow! I was a little discouraged when everyone started funneling out during the encore, but i guess they just didnt appreciate how cool it was! In my opinion it really was an awesome show and while maybe i wouldn’t want to have only seen them in such a setting, I definitely would recommend going to one of these pearl jam gigs.

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Firing up the website again, now that Sleater-Kinney begins their 11 date stint opening for Pearl Jam. I don’t expect a whole lot of reviews for this tour, but we shall see.

There does seem to be a lot of Pearl Jam coverage, so I’ll be excerpted the relevant S-K material, like so:

The Boulder News [ Full Article Here ]

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By Deborah Karen Watt

Definitely my least-favorite SK experience.

[If anybody is considering whether or not to go to the upcoming shows: if you don't particularly like PJ and have had the chance to see SK in a more intimate place, I would recommend saving your money, staying home and listening to your favorite bootleg show while watching the poster across the room.]

They were far away, tiny, and the set was really short (about 35 min). The sound mix was pretty good (but could have used more of Carrie’s vocals) though I felt they had a hard time filling the space, sonically. (My friend disagreed, and thought they pulled it off pretty well.)

Corin I could hardly see. I don’t know if the lighting design was really terrible or she wanted to be out of it, but she was in the shadows most of the time. Carrie busted out a lot of great dance moves, traversing most of her half of the stage during the course of the set. She and Corin did a fair amount of playing to/off each other. (is there a term for this? walking up to the other and playing while facing each other.) The best part was getting to watch Janet from above. It was great fun to see her arms and hair flying around.

After “Turn it On,” Corin said something about needing to turn it on in the anti-war movement. YNRNRF had a great drum-improv bit I hadn’t noticed before.
W+G was played without the super-quiet parts. It seemed like they really got going and warmed up about two songs from the end.

There were a couple of jammy moments, and a mix of old/newer songs. At the end, Carrie simply said “thanks. pearl jam is coming out next.” Corin said “peace” and stood at her mic flashing the peace sign for several seconds. There was some noise afterwards but no encore.

Crowd response was actually pretty good. Most of the seats were definitely empty, but there were people up front standing and dancing a bit, and the people who were sitting were mostly quiet, paying attention, and applauding.

I’m really curious to know, if anybody sees interviews in the next few weeks, how they felt about the experience. Seems to me like it would be really hard for a band like SK who depends a lot on the energy of the crowd to play to such a big empty impersonal space.

PJ+SK notes: A few songs into their set, Eddie Vedder thanked SK for playing, got everyone to applaud for them, mentioned that SK don’t play with just anyone so they were really happy to have them on tour. During one of the last songs (sorry, don’t know any titles), PJ threw in a Dig Me Out interlude (dig me out, out of this war?, yeah, dig me out, out of this mess, dig me out)

PJ notes: I’m not very familar with their music, but I thought they were OK. Not something I’d want to listen to on a regular basis. Toward the end, the singer started adding some politcal content between songs (story about a vietnam vet who thinks we haven’t evolved since then; PJ supports the troops, wants them brought back home safely). The crowd was not overly receptive. There was a combination of some cheers, some “shut up”s, some “USA!” chants. My friends and I spent the ride back home talking about how PJ fans don’t really seem to know what PJ is about. And, how can one get people to think critically when they can tune out the political messages of their favorite band and just focus on rocking out?

Here’s SK’s set list:

Turn it On
1 Beat
YNRNRF
new song
Far Away
Get Up
W+G
Step Aside
Call the Doctor -> extended jam -> Dig Me Out

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