I JUST got home from Sleater-Kinney's show at the El Rey. Here's a review of sorts... The Gossip played first and was GREAT! When Beth asked the crowd "Are you ready?" before they started playing, I was one of the (what seemed to be) few loud ones. Then she said "No, are you really ready?" I screamed "Yeah!" and started jumping, and she smiled at me and kind of laughed. Later, she looked right at me while she was singing. It was really cool. During the first song, I looked over to the side and saw the cutest thing ever. Corin was dancing! It was soo adorable. But anyways...Of course, Carrie and the ladies from Aisler's Set joined Sassy Lassy in a "Fly Girls" dance party on stage for the last two songs.
Aisler's Set was second, and they were really good, too. I had never heard anything by them before. I really liked the lead singer/guitar player and the bass player. Janet was on the side of the stage during their set for about two seconds.
Sleater-Kinney came out next, and I got squished. It was annoying for a while but then I managed to claim a decent-sized space on the floor in which to dance and jump. I was right in front of Corin and was very happy with that. (This was my first time seeing them live and now I like Corin even more! She's amazing!) Back to what I was saying...People were getting really crazy with the "Push to the front so I can see" idea. So after "Start Together," Corin told everyone to have a good time and dance, but to "be considerate of the other people." Carrie added, "Dance with yourself." The shoving wasn't bad at all for a while until they played "Stay Where You Are." Then it just went downhill. There was a good break for "Milkshake 'n' Honey," though. When Corin played the first few notes, I yelled, "Yeah," and she looked down and smiled. :) When they played "White Rabbit," I noticed a lot of people looked confused. I just smiled and sang along.
Here's the S-K setlist:
Ballad of a Ladyman
Start Together
All Hands On The Bad One
Ironclad
Call The Doctor
One More Hour
You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun
The Proffesional
Stay Where You Are
Milkshake 'n' Honey
One Song For You
Words & Guitar
Was It A Lie?
End Of You
#1 Must Have
Male Model
Little Babies (with and extended ending)
Youth Decay
Encore:
White Rabbit
Turn It On
Dig Me Out
I took 22 pictures inside. And one outside with Beth from The Gossip. Hopefully, they'll all come out. Especially since a lot of them were the "I'm too short but that's a REALLY good shot so I'll just stick the camera in the air" type of shots.
After virtually everyone had left, some girls asked if S-K was going to come out. The merch guy said "most likely" but a security guy said, "Jason said that they're not." *DAMN IT!* So I went outside and talked to Beth for a bit. She signed my ticket. She's really sweet!
Ok, anyways, the show was fanastic, and the people I met all rule! (Hi Nikole!) I'll get the pictures developed and put them on my web page when I get a chance.
June 6, 2000 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Ray
By: Amy Chapman *aeci76@hotmail.com*
Well, the Gossip took the stage and almost immediately took the place over. They truly rock the hi-zouse. Beth gets props from me for wearing that skirt. I don't care how many times she had to hike it back down - she rocked it! Beth thanked Mariah Carey "for being here tonight and giving me so much inspiration." Too many people turned around to look up in the balcony. The greatest thing about the Gossip for me was that they were playing to possibly the largest crowd they've been in front of, 99% of whom have probably never seen them, but they still won them over in a matter of minutes. If that's not the definition of a good warm up act I don't know what is. The only other instances I've seen where an opening act has had such an effect on the crowd has been Delta 72 and the Bellrays. Maybe not so coincidentally, they all play similar music. The Aisler's Set were fabulous as always, although I think it would have been tough to follow the Gossip. They even thanked their parents for being there.
S-K came onstage and got more applause for tuning up then most bands get from LA crowds period. The crowd was the best I've seen at an S-K show. Corin said we were the best crowd yet this tour. There was plenty of energy up front, and Corin gave her usual warning for people to try to dance in an up and down fashion, rather than side to side into your neighbor. I wrote the set list down that night, and from what I can read of my handwriting, it was exactly as Elizabeth had it posted in yesterday's digest. The highlights for me were Call the Doctor, Stay Where You Are (which I don't think they play nearly enough) and, of course, White Rabbit. Ever since Corin mentioned at the Amoeba in store last year that she was doing that song kareoke I've been dying to hear her sing it. Before it started she said that it was a "dance number." When I heard the opening strains I started freaking out, much to the dismay of the people around me who didn't seem to know what was going on yet. I think most people were into it by the end though.
Before the show all three members were peeking around from back stage or side stage (and of course Carrie was in full boogie mode on stage for the Gossip's last two songs). They almost looked a little nervous. Maybe since they just came from the midwest, where it sounded like they were playing 200-400 capacity clubs, the size of the El Rey (which I'd guess is over 1000) seemed a little daunting. On stage, Corin mentioned that when they played here back in '97, opening for JSBX, she remembers thinking "gee, I wonder what it would be like to headline this place." She got that question answered with two sold out nights of enthusiastic crowds. S-K deserves an answer like that more than any other band.
Obligatory LA celebrity watch: my friend swears she saw Tim Robbins.
