Getting started a bit late, around 8:20pm, the stage went dark and the opener Joseph Keckler took the stage. I’ve never felt more weird, yet been so genuinely impressed by a musical performance before. Keckler sang most of his set in a foreign language with a projector displaying the translated words. He showed off his impressive octave range with each song, as well as his dark humor. Without the projector, this would have seemed like a German opera performance; however, Keckler kept the small crowd engaged the entire time. He even got quite a bit of laughter due to the humorous nature of his songs. He closed out his set with a cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You,” which had the crowd singing along.
After a short break, around 9pm, once again the house lights dimmed, the eclectic house music faded out, and Sleater-Kinney took the stage. The crowd nearly tripled in size within the hour and they let out a collective scream when the initial guitar chords rang out. Everyone in the crowd lit up when Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker appeared in the sweet mic stand strobe lights. They opened up with the title track of their latest album, The Center Won’t Hold. They kept up the intensity throughout the set, really amping it up around the fifth song, “Jumpers,” and continued it through their marathon twenty-two song set. And that’s not even including the encore mini set which they ended with fan-favorite track, “Dig Me Out.” This powerful indie rock duo blew me away with how great they sounded and how much energy they consistently had the entire show. Sleater-Kinney is a must-see live. Don’t miss your chance to see this legendary band, they’re guaranteed to blow your mind.
– Lauren Frederick
