sleater-kinney at red rocks

Quick comments. Sleater-Kinney is touring as an opening act for Wilco, and their show at Red Rocks was streamed for $20.

First, the back-up band. And that's what they were. There's a bass player who is superfluous, mostly just playing what Corin plays on the guitar. Drummer knew all of Janet's parts and played them well ... it's not his fault I miss her so much. Keyboard player ... well, it was a nice addition.

Then there was Fabi Reyna. Her guitar work was different enough from Carrie's to distinguish itself, and very much in the S-K mode. She added the background vocals that used to fall to Janet (sigh), and she was an active presence onstage. Easily the best part of this back-up band.

Corin and Carrie were very good. The song selection was the same from their show five days ago, although they moved "Bury Our Friends" down the setlist. Nothing older than "One Beat", although there were four songs from The Woods. The new stuff sounded fine, and I've grown to like the previous album. Still, the highlights for me were the old ones.

Setlist:

Path of Wellness
High in the Grass
Hurry On Home
Price Tag
Down the Line
What's Mine Is Yours
Can I Go On
Shadow Town
Worry With You
Reach Out
Jumpers
Bring Mercy
Bury Our Friends
Complex Female Characters
Surface Envy
Modern Girl
A New Wave
One Beat
Entertain

Comments

[Doug]

Did S-K play a Wilco cover?

[Steven Rubio]

Nope. Unless they join them later in the show.

[Tomás]

I saw a post of the show on IG (all new news to me) and then started searching for more info. Lots of stuff on Wilco, very little on S-K. I should have known to go to my best source for S-K news. Thanks dude!

[Jeff]

Have you commented on their new album yet? I don't recall seeing anything.

For what it's worth, I definitely like it more than the St. Vincent-produced album.

[Steven Rubio]

Tomás, I paid the $20 for the show and then turned it off before Wilco came on :-).

Jeff, I'm still thinking about the new album. I am still seriously bummed about the departure of Janet, and so I'm not sure I can think straight. The Center Won't Hold has grown on me, partly because of familiarity. They only played 3 songs from it, which probably says something. Last night's show had more energy than their Tiny Desk/Home appearance on NPR with the same band, which makes sense, given the different venues. Their last album prior to the hiatus was arguably their best. Their first post-hiatus was better than we had any reason to expect. But that was 6 years ago, and while I think they are fully capable of another great album, it may not happen.

I don't know what this means, but I've got tix for Billie Eilish, and her first two albums are great. She is younger than Corin's oldest kid.