Seeing a band like the great Sleater-Kinney at a venue as prestigious as the Sydney Opera House is something of a strange experiment; because when the band are at their best, they’re one who make you want to jump up and down, and throw yourself all around. This is something hard to do from a more conservative, seated venue. And it was an issue that many in the crowd took initiative to fix, taking to the aisles to dance to their hearts content. Others, meanwhile, took to their feet, while the band gave the venue one of the best rock concerts its seen since Royal Headache had the (Fun) Police shut the show down last year.
The acclaimed Washington trio are touring their latest record – No Cities to Love – as a four piece, with their fourth multi-instrumentalist member primarily adding to tracks taken from their new record. And it was from this record that they kicked off the show, launching into “Price Tag” and “Fangless” before travelling back in time to One Beat and the track “Far Away”, which served as an early highlight of the night.
Though their new material took up the majority of the night – 7 tracks appearing from the LP in all – there was music to represent just about their entire back catalogue. In the band’s three song encore for instance, we had “Gimme Love” off their new LP, fan favourite (and Carrie’s memoir namesake) “Modern Girl” off of The Woods and they closed the night with “Dig Me Out” off of the record of the same name.
Elsewhere in the set, “Get Up” came off The Hot Rock, “Ironclad” from All Hands on the Bad One and a myriad of favourites from The Woods, One Beat and Dig Me Out. Personal highlights included the brilliant “Surface Envy”, “Bury Our Friends”, and “Entertain”, which saw Carrie Brownstein move briefly off the guitar, sitting down yelling at the front row “are you sitting down!?” as she fell to the ground and serenaded the front row (in her own wonderful way). Indeed, many were seated – but as more and more had risen to their feet, the band responded with their own energy being uplifted. Though it can be said they were of little words – letting their music speak for itself for the most part, with a few brief words along the way from Corin and, more rarely, Carrie – with music this good, you don’t need much more.
This is a band who are playing the sorts of riffs that have made other bands millions, hidden by smart lyrics, cheeky pop rock sensibilities and some of the best instrumentation from any rock band of the last 20 years – all members underrated in their own crafts. This band are without question one of the best rock groups in modern history – and tonight they continued to prove this; albeit in a setting oft reserved for orchestras and operas. But nevertheless – they rocked it, and the sounded fantastic doing it.
The show – something I’ve been looking forward to for a decade, was far from a disappointment. This is a band who have – after some time away, returning with an album many regard as one of their best – proven that after more than 20 years together they remain at the top of their game. They sound great, rock hard and put on a show that can be enjoyed whether you’re sitting or standing.
But I can’t help but imagine if we were all standing, squashed up against each other up the front of the venue, banging our heads and jumping in unison, that it would have given us the full Sleater-Kinney experience. Still, I loved every moment of the set – and here’s hoping the band who once backpacked in Australian writing tunes some 22 years ago, return to our shores before too long to give us that very opportunity. Until then, this was a night that I won’t soon forget.
SETLIST
Price Tag
Fangless
Far Away
Oh!
Get Up
Ironclad
What’s Mine Is Yours
Words and Guitar
No Cities to Love
A New Wave
One Beat
Surface Envy
Bury Our Friends
One More Hour
The Fox
Entertain
Jumpers
Encore:
Gimme Love
Modern Girl
Dig Me Out
Photos by Dan Boud. Used with Permission.
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