Right, so, I was going to tell you about the Sleater-Kinney show last Thursday, because I know all of you are dying to read about it. However if you want to skip right to listening to it, the full recording is here. No pictures. Anyway, I went to the show.

Based on my previous experience at an S-K show, I was pretty sure I didn't need to get there too early, but still, wary of evening traffic, I decided to try to arrive at about 6:30. Which I did, almost right on the nose, at which point I promptly proceeded to lock my keys in the car. Oops. Luckily I hadn't locked the cell phone in the car, so I was able to call AAA, and then I waited by the car. From my parking spot I could actually see the line outside the Metro, which was reassuring for a while because when I got there there were only about 6 people in line, but being able to see the line was also somewhat agonizing as the evening wore on and I could see it growing longer while I was still waiting for the road service guy.

He eventually showed up, much later than promised, surly and not entirely competent, but he got the door open and I grabbed my keys and put them safely in my pocket and went over to the line, which still wasn't that long. I hadn't been sure, before I went, whether I wanted to get in the front row or the balcony, but the whole keys incident sort of decided it for me since at this point there would have been no way for me to get a good spot on the floor.

Anyway there I was in line, and there was this guy in a striped sweater going up and down the line asking if anybody had an extra ticket. Then a lady walked by and the lady was Janet (Sleater-Kinney's drummer). And this happened:
me: *gasp*
guy: Was that—?
me: That was Janet!
guy: I feel like such a douchebag, I asked her if she had a ticket!

I hope that guy eventually got into the show. He amused me.

So they let us in and I went up into the balcony where it was just me and some old fogies for a while. Although the line hadn't been very long when they opened the doors, the place filled up pretty quickly. The lady next to me kept looking at her watch and grousing about how it was getting really late. Clearly she was not acquainted with the concept of Rock Time, which is unlike the chronology we use in ordinary life. I mean, of course I get impatient and bored with waiting when I'm at a show, but I don't actually expect anything to happen quickly and in a timely fashion.

It didn't really start that late, anyway. Out came the Ponys, apparently from Chicago. They were okay, just another competent rock band. The lead singer was really tall and the drummer was left-handed. They played some songs and then left.

Out came the crew to set up Sleater-Kinney's stuff. And now the girl behind me kept whining, "Why don't they come out and play their song? Does it always take this long?" I was thinking, has this girl ever been to a show before? Of course it always takes a long time! But in this case since there's only three people in the band, it actually took a lot less time than usual, and I was pretty impressed with that.

And the lights went down and the band came out and played their music, which was good because it drowned out the whining of the girl behind me (I don't think she stayed for the whole show anyway) and also because I like their music. I was having a lot of trouble hearing the vocals though—I have to admit I have often found it difficult to understand what Corin is singing, not so difficult to understand Carrie, but it seemed like the vocals were mixed really low, or maybe Corin wasn't in her best voice (and that wouldn't surprise me; I don't know how she goes out and sings like that one night and is able to do it again the next night; it's crazy), but I was having more trouble than usual. And I think the recording bears that out (the guitars and drums are quite crisp, the vocals are barely audible), but maybe I'm just deaf and my mics suck. That would explain it too.

Besides that the show was excellent. Man, these ladies rock. I don't think I'd heard Everything before, so that was an exciting novelty. They also seemed to have changed somewhat the jam portion at the end of Let's Call It Love. Also I was very happy to hear Burn, Don't Freeze again—that song is just so fast and thrilling live, it literally makes my heart race when I listen to it.

This band is more about the rock than the talk, but there was a pretty funny moment at the beginning of the first encore. Carrie told a brief story about how badly a previous show in Chicago had gone.
Janet: *rimshot*
Corin [to the audience]: Don't you wish you had a drummer following you around?
Carrie: Life would be so much funnier.
Then after that whenever any of them would say anything remotely comical or lighthearted, Janet would add in another rimshot, which had me in stitches, because I am easily amused.

The first encore was really long, which was quite exciting. Then Words and Guitar which is such a great show closer, and I got away without any more car or key-related mishaps. Whew!

p.s. to hobbitgrrl, I did get the Decemberists tickets, so there will be more Metro excitement in the near future for us.