Sleater-Kinney, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Quails
The Roxy, Boston, MA
October 14, 2002

I headed to the Roxy with Emilio and Veronica to see Sleater-Kinney and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Quails played first and looked pretty good, but given my distaste for unfamiliar openers we arrived in time for only their last two songs. I'd heard one Yeah Yeah Yeahs song and wasn't impressed, but Veronica was keen on seeing them. Turns out they were really cool ... a bit Liars-like in their disdain for conventionality, plus some interesting guitar work, and a kooky female lead singer. Sleater-Kinney were pretty good, not the best SK show I've ever seen but in the grand scheme of things very worthwhile. They've been out of commission for a year or so now, since Corinne had a baby. You could almost hear it from the first five songs ... lots of mistakes, sounded like they hadn't rehearsed in just as long. Carrie apparently has a new guitar effect that she's not totally comfortable with yet. It tightened up after that, however. Something I knew was going to happen one of these days at a Sleater-Kinney or Le Tigre show finally happened though ... between songs a heckler shouted out "F$#@ ME CARRIE!" You could've cut the air with a knife for the next few seconds. No retort from Carrie, just a half-believable "What?" The set list focused mainly on their new album One Beat ... just a smattering of All Hands On The Bad One, almost no The Hot Rock, and assorted favorites from Dig Me Out including the title track and "Words and Guitar". Also a couple of pre-Janet songs. I really don't like the Roxy as a music venue, but the show was all in all a good one.

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