fleetwood mac reunion tour

well, friends, the day has come. today's the last day that i'll see sleater-kinney perform live, unless their "indefinite hiatus" is actually just a hiatus and not a breakup. of course, if their "indefinite hiatus" ends in fifteen years i'll be 41 and long past my years of going to rock shows. so this truly could be the last time i see this three perform live.

and that's a damn shame. it's not that they're the best band i've ever seen live--unlike some bands who you really don't understand until you see them play, i think that s-k really does shine in the studio. now before you get all up in arms here, let me explain myself (to those one of you who actually care about this band): when they play live they're not quite as tight. their sound often feels like it's going to come unhinged at any moment--like the three of them could just careen off a cliff, spinning in three separate directions. when you combine this precariousness with the fact that they've lately had a pension for psychadelic 10-minute jam sessions--possibly my least favorite of all music genres, i find jam sessions absolutely unbearable--i just think that their cd's are a little more enjoyable.

this isn't to say that they don't put on a pretty fucking incredible show. corin tucker fucking wails, carrie brownstein jumps around while playing her badass guitar, and janet weiss, um, hits the drums super hard. i plan on dancing my pants (actually shorts, since it's another 100-degree day here in new york) off. amanda's going with me tonight; i don't think that she's ever seen s-k before.

i remember when i went to see them the second time in baltimore and i dragged terry along with me. i do mean dragged, because he thinks that corin's voice sounds like a cat being passed through a meat grinder. (i'm like, uh, duh, terry, that's why i LOVE it!) we stood toward the front of the stage, surrounded by 17-year-old wannabe riot grrls (hello you're a teenager in baltimore, maryland, not a riot grrl). terry had been nervous about what to wear since up to that point he'd been more the "fleetwood mac reunion tour" attendee and not so much a punk rocker.

ah, memories.