Sleater-Kinney at the Roundhouse
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Roundhouse, 23 March 2015
"We're very happy to be playing for you and very happy to be a band again," Corin Tucker tells us during the show tonight and if Sleater-Kinney's passionate performance is anything to go by, then it's clear they really mean it.
This is my first time seeing Sleater-Kinney live even though I've been a fan for years. I have no idea why I never went to see them before they split in 2006, because I do remember them playing in London often back then, but I was going through something of a musical malaise around that time and I missed out on quite a few acts I regret not seeing. It's not often you get a second chance at these things and if you do a lot of the time it means seeing a band way past their prime. This was definitely not the case with Sleater-Kinney though. Not only do they have a excellent new album out (No Cities To Love) but they sound as wild and intense as ever and I don't think there was a person at the Roundhouse tonight who wasn't blown away by the end of it all.
It's funny how in the intervening years since Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus the band seem to have only become more important. Carrie Brownstein says it's because no other bands came along to take their place, which is definitely true and incredibly odd given enough time has passed since the Riot Grrrl movement for there to be a whole new generation of women taking up guitars, yet it's the 90s acts that still seem to be the source of inspiration. This is particularly evident in the age range of the audience: there were many my age and even a few gray-haired fans, but also lots of teenagers too. That's pretty impressive to go away for nearly ten years and come back to such an enthusiatic response (the show tonight sold out in about an hour and is bigger than any venue they played in London back in the day).
Rather nicely, I think, the show isn't a nostalgia-fest though. I mean, for one thing their new album is in the running for being the best of 2015 and is easily up there with their previous albums, so the new material showcased tonight sits easily among the older, more well-known tracks. Launching the show with album opener Price Tag, they play all of No Cities To Love bar two tracks and it all sounds even more fierce and exciting than the actual album. Of course this is partly because visually the band is so incredible to watch.
The effective backdrop, a sort of rock-coloured ruffled affair that moved in the wind, seemed to reflect all the energy in the room, making it look like the walls were shaking from the wild atmosphere. Corin Tucker in her black and silver one-shouldered prom dress looked like she was leading the whole attack: steady as a rock yet her voice and face full of emotion, while Carrie Brownstein in her back leather skirt (easily one of the most underrated guitarists ever) lept around, kicked her leg high in the air, fell to the floor and then recovered utterly smoothy in order to take her place by her microphone. And then there's the truly brilliant Janet Weiss, one of the best drummers on the planet I believe. I've actually seen Weiss drum before in other bands such as Quasi and Wild Flag (which of course also included the always amazing Brownstein), but tonight I really got to watch her drum. In a lot of ways she reminds me of my other favourite drummer, David Narcizo of Throwing Muses, who I'm always mesmerised by live too. Just like him her distinctive drumming is always strong and inventive and just as important to the songs as the music and lyrics.
They also treat us to plenty from their back catalogue (although with six songs in the set, The Woods, which is probably my least favourite of theirs, seemed almost too well covered) my favourites being the angsty spoken-words of Get Up from 1999's The Hot Rock and the angry cries of Youth Decay from, in my opinion the best Sleater-Kinney album of all, 2000's All Hands On The Bad One (oh to have heard more from this record!).
The five-song encore began with Tucker coming out from behind her guitar (Kate Harkin of the band Sky Larkin came on to help out during this song and others), taking her place at the front of the stage, like the cool girl leader we all want and need, to tell us that during the years they had been away things had changed but many things hadn't changed enough. They then launched into Gimme Love with Tucker endearingly screaming to the heavens to "give me equality, give me respect, give me love!" having dramatically fallen to the ground. All these years on the riot grrrls of old still live on in their hearts and beautifully screamed pleas.
The whole thing ends with a gorgeously sunny singalong version of Brownstein's Modern Girl (I wonder if this is what a Carrie solo album would sound like) before a fast and furious Dig Me Out, leaving us all, even after a 23-song set, wanting more. What a triumphant return. Let's hope they don't leave us again too soon.
Support act Pins, a Manchester punk outfit who just happen to be made up of all-girls, are the sort of band that Sleater-Kinney probably hoped would come along and take over the world in their wake. They are definitely hugely influenced by Sleater-Kinney but as their set progresses it's clear they have lots of other cool influences too, with their sound at times very poppy and then full of noise and fuzz. They look damn cool too: the kind of girls you probably dreamed of being friends with at school but were too afraid of. They end their set with a song called Girls Like Us, to which they add the outro of Cyndi Lauper's classic Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. If that doesn't endear you to them then I really don't know what will. Excellent stuff.
This is my first time seeing Sleater-Kinney live even though I've been a fan for years. I have no idea why I never went to see them before they split in 2006, because I do remember them playing in London often back then, but I was going through something of a musical malaise around that time and I missed out on quite a few acts I regret not seeing. It's not often you get a second chance at these things and if you do a lot of the time it means seeing a band way past their prime. This was definitely not the case with Sleater-Kinney though. Not only do they have a excellent new album out (No Cities To Love) but they sound as wild and intense as ever and I don't think there was a person at the Roundhouse tonight who wasn't blown away by the end of it all.
It's funny how in the intervening years since Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus the band seem to have only become more important. Carrie Brownstein says it's because no other bands came along to take their place, which is definitely true and incredibly odd given enough time has passed since the Riot Grrrl movement for there to be a whole new generation of women taking up guitars, yet it's the 90s acts that still seem to be the source of inspiration. This is particularly evident in the age range of the audience: there were many my age and even a few gray-haired fans, but also lots of teenagers too. That's pretty impressive to go away for nearly ten years and come back to such an enthusiatic response (the show tonight sold out in about an hour and is bigger than any venue they played in London back in the day).
The effective backdrop, a sort of rock-coloured ruffled affair that moved in the wind, seemed to reflect all the energy in the room, making it look like the walls were shaking from the wild atmosphere. Corin Tucker in her black and silver one-shouldered prom dress looked like she was leading the whole attack: steady as a rock yet her voice and face full of emotion, while Carrie Brownstein in her back leather skirt (easily one of the most underrated guitarists ever) lept around, kicked her leg high in the air, fell to the floor and then recovered utterly smoothy in order to take her place by her microphone. And then there's the truly brilliant Janet Weiss, one of the best drummers on the planet I believe. I've actually seen Weiss drum before in other bands such as Quasi and Wild Flag (which of course also included the always amazing Brownstein), but tonight I really got to watch her drum. In a lot of ways she reminds me of my other favourite drummer, David Narcizo of Throwing Muses, who I'm always mesmerised by live too. Just like him her distinctive drumming is always strong and inventive and just as important to the songs as the music and lyrics.
They also treat us to plenty from their back catalogue (although with six songs in the set, The Woods, which is probably my least favourite of theirs, seemed almost too well covered) my favourites being the angsty spoken-words of Get Up from 1999's The Hot Rock and the angry cries of Youth Decay from, in my opinion the best Sleater-Kinney album of all, 2000's All Hands On The Bad One (oh to have heard more from this record!).
The whole thing ends with a gorgeously sunny singalong version of Brownstein's Modern Girl (I wonder if this is what a Carrie solo album would sound like) before a fast and furious Dig Me Out, leaving us all, even after a 23-song set, wanting more. What a triumphant return. Let's hope they don't leave us again too soon.
Support act Pins, a Manchester punk outfit who just happen to be made up of all-girls, are the sort of band that Sleater-Kinney probably hoped would come along and take over the world in their wake. They are definitely hugely influenced by Sleater-Kinney but as their set progresses it's clear they have lots of other cool influences too, with their sound at times very poppy and then full of noise and fuzz. They look damn cool too: the kind of girls you probably dreamed of being friends with at school but were too afraid of. They end their set with a song called Girls Like Us, to which they add the outro of Cyndi Lauper's classic Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. If that doesn't endear you to them then I really don't know what will. Excellent stuff.
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