After a decade-long recording hiatus, Sleater-Kinney‘s Adelaide return on the back of last year’s No Cities To Love proved that the riot grrrl spirit is still alive and kicking two decades after the trio came crashing out of the Pacific Northwest.
Opening the show was Melbourne three-piece Ouch My Face, who got the modest audience moving with their riotous punk-driven beats. Celeste Potter’s ferocious shrieking vocals filled the venue to the corners and, accompanied by the band’s tight thumping rhythms, the outfit proved to be a wise choice in preparing the crowd for the evening’s main act.
As Sleater-Kinney took to the stage, Corin Tucker’s infallible vocals kicked the set off to an electrifying start in anti-consumerism anthem Price Tag, followed by One Beat classic Faraway. The trio’s energy was palpable across the venue, where audiences stood transfixed and religiously nodding their heads along to Janet Weiss’ powerhouse drumming.
Perhaps surprisingly given the hype surrounding their reunion the Adelaide crowd seemed well below HQ’s capacity, with a patchwork of characters rubbing shoulders. A new generation of young feminists bore iron-on patches on denim jackets slung over floral dresses stood alongside 90s riot grrrl devotees nostalgic for their rebellious teen days, along with punk rock aficionados young and old who happily drank in the atmosphere from the distance of the risers at the back and sides of HQ.
The trio interspersed old favourites with new hits, playing standouts from No Cities To Love including Fangless, Bury Our Friends, Surface Envy, and A New Wave, with the crowd particularly responding to Carrie Brownstein taking to the microphone on the infectious title track. The opening chords of One Beat, All Hands on the Bad One and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone were met with excited shouts of approval and enthused head-bopping from the audience.
Banter was kept to a minimum save for occasional thanks to the crowd from Tucker or Brownstein after a particularly tumultuous round of applause, but the energy of the group was maintained for the entirety of the set. Tucker’s vocals ranged from her signature tone of clarity and conviction to fits of raucous screaming, armed with her guitar to the left of the stage.
Brownstein rocked it on lead guitar, thrashing about during solo breaks and throwing in the occasional windmill or three. Especially commendable was the driving force of Weiss’ drumming, which never lacked gusto and kept feet tapping for the whole of the 20-song set. The evening ended on a high note when the trio took to the stage for a two-song encore comprising the satirically whimsical Modern Girl and 1997 favourite Dig Me Out.
Far from being a washed up version of their former glory, Sleater-Kinney showed that they still know how to put on a rock show, wiping away any lingering concerns that the band should have been put to rest at the turn of the mid-noughties.
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When
Friday, March 4
Where
HQ
Rating
4/5
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