This was my very first Sleater-Kinney concert experience. And it was amazing, fantastic, wonderful, everything I ever imagined it could be. And more than I imagined. Because they played "White Rabbit." But I'll get to that. It felt like the first *real* concert I've been to because it was crowded and there was dancing and it was hot and sweaty and it was *fun*.

Completely unsure of just how big of a crowd S-K in Oly would draw, I got to Metropolis at 7:30. The line was from the middle of 4th street, around the corner and halfway down Adams. I heard that by the time people were getting in, it had stretched around the block again.

So, Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre were very cool, at least I thought they were. The singer was really sexy, in a frightening sort of way. But I liked her screaming. Then Gene Defcon were the most fun band I've ever seen. They were just silliness and fun; my friends and I were dancing on top of this big box thing near the back of the club.

Sleater-Kinney. I managed to get about 7 people from the front, started out near the middle but ended up way over by the speaker on Corin's side. They started with "Ballad of a Ladyman" ("We're going to start the show with a ballad" Carrie announces. "Of a Ladyman!" some audience members yell. "No. Of Ladyfest!") and I don't remember the set order beyond that. Corin was playing with two amps for the first time (? I believe she said?), and there was a buzz, but it wasn't too bad. And Janet's mic messed up for a bit and they had to fix it; Carrie looked blankly into the audience and said "blah blah blah". It was cute. She asked if anyone had a story to tell, but apparently no one did. So Corin told a story about seeing Patti Smith perform in Portland recently. She said something along the lines of "Usually when people ask if I get stage fright I say "god no!" but seeing Patti Smith I realized I have a lot to learn. She's so inspiring to have been making music for so many years." (forgive me if that's a complete misquotation. But it's the idea of what she said). The set went on, they were amazing; I was dancing and pogoing like crazy, trying desperately not to step on the people behind me. They play the new songs live much rocking-er than on the album. The audience got really excited whenever they played an older song. Carrie says "We're not going to play Black Sabbath, but it's almost the same. Actually, it's not." And then come the very distinctive first guitar lines of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. My jaw drops open and my eyes bug out and I almost hyperventilate. That's the song I've said I most want to hear them cover, for the longest time. So it was bliss. "One Song For You" was next and I just pogoed like mad. I did what the music told me to - I rocked and pogoed and danced and sometimes just stood completely still in awe of Sleater-Kinney, or closed my eyes to just feel the music. Between each song I'd open my mouth and let out whatever attempt at a scream I could manage (not like I could hear myself anyway). Finally the show ended but we screamed like mad and they came out again, playing "Stay Where You Are" which thrilled me, and then "Anonymous" I believe, and another song. I can't remember if there was a second encore before they turned the lights on. We took the lights on as a cue to leave; everyone headed for the door, but the band came back, so my friends and I got to run up to the front, we were about 3 people back then. Carrie said "If you need to go home, go on, we're just gonna play a couple more" or something like that. All the people in the previous bands came out and they did a song together, then Carrie said it was the end foreals, but after a quick conference, they played "Little Mouth" which was great. And then, the show really was over.