I got in line even earlier than I did the night before, but it seemed like a lot of other people did too. In fact, hours earlier I drove down Wilshire on the way to my bank and saw a handful of people already lined up. Bratmobile walked by the line seemingly unnoticed. I also saw Amy from the Aisler's Set (I guess they decided to stay in town one more night) and Will from Imperial Teen hanging out together outside.
The Gossip was welcomed back warmly by the "stand up dancers" in front, most of whom were there the first night too. Allison from Bratmobile was dancing her ass off throughout the set. Corin and Julie stood on the side of the stage to watch (where The Gossip and the Aisler's Set were dancing during S-K's set the night before) and appeared to get kicked out of their own back stage area by a security guard. I guess they're allowed to stand ON the stage, but not to the side? Seemed weird to me, especially since no one seemed to have a problem with people standing there the night before.
The Gossip tore it up once again. Beth said she had a great time in LA and got a nice sunburn at Malibu earlier in the day. Bratmobile played to a crowd that was more excited to see them than I thought. The front started getting a little rowdy during their set and continued through S-K. The first night crowd was very enthusiastic, but generally respectful of those around them. Last night there were a few drunk girls who managed to pinball their way around the entire front floor (they were inescapable, no matter how much you tried to shift away from them). They were relatively harmless, but in my opinion, it was the sort of behavior that you should save for a different type of show. Beyond that, Bratmobile was great. Allison had a lot of long rants, during which Erin and Molly looked at each other like "should we just start playing so she'll shut up?" They played a few new songs, most of their "classics" and closed with Brat Girl. (No Cherry Bomb!) Allison told the crowd that everyone should request that S-K play You Ain't It. She said "maybe if we all do it they'll have to play it." Then, almost under her breath, "I'm sure they'd really appreciate that." Nice thought, but I'd guess that they don't even remember how to play it, no matter how many people screamed for it.
S-K came out, looking more confident than they had the night before, and looked to be having a great time up there. The pen I brought to write the set list down stopped working, so here it is from memory in no particular order (except for the first and last songs and encores)
Little Babies, Ironclad, Start Together, The Professional, Turn It On, All Hands On the Bad One, Drama, Anonymous, Rocknroll Fun (which Carrie dedicated to whomever on the first night stole a pedal which had been given to her as a college graduation present by her now deceased grandfather - isn't that sad?) Milkshake and Honey, Get Up, Ballad of a Ladyman, Not What You Want, Male Model, Heart Factory (with extended intro) Joey Ramone, End of You, Youth Decay.
First Encore: One More Hour, Fortunate Son, Little Mouth. Second Encore: Good Things, Words and Guitar
During the first song the aforementioned rowdy groups were in full effect. One girl did a few light stage dives (Janet looked so pissed I'm surprised she didn't stop the song) and won herself a personal onstage lecture from Corin. In the second song, Ironclad, another girl tried the same thing on Carrie's side, so one of the lyrics became something to like "too bad too bad/you're ironclad ironclad - no stage diving please." After Ironclad Corin again reminded the crowd that they love to see dancing, as long as it's respectful of the people around you. She even demonstrated a few "stylish" moves to the delight of the crowd. She mentioned that "last night's crowd had this one [demonstrating the pogo] down really well - try that one." When they hit the middle of Start Together the crowd was peacefully bopping in unison, and Corin nodded her head approvingly.
While I'm on the subject of dancing, what's up with all the guys (mostly tall ones) who withstand the crush of the crowd up front, yet don't dance, don't sing along, and don't even seem to be having a good time? Couldn't they do that much more comfortably from the back? I was one of the tallest girls there, so I could see fine, (and I tried my best to be mindful of who was behind me), but I like to be up front with the kids dancing and singing. If I wanted to cross my arms and drink beer I'd be in a comfortable chair in the back. Sorry for the rant, just my observation.
Has anyone else noticed that they seem to be "winging it" a little on some of the lyrics? I swear that during Words and Guitar Corin just makes up words as she goes along. I suppose that they don't listen to their albums as much as we do.
Best line of the evening: Corin wished someone in the crowd a happy birthday, then mentioned "we seemed to have about six birthdays last night. I think this is becoming something like where you go to Carrow's and say it's your birthday just to get the free sundae."
I was so happy to finally see them perfrom Fortunate Son after hearing about it all tour. Like White Rabbit the night before, it seemed to take a little while for it to sink into the crowd. I was a little disappointed that Bratmobile and the Gossip (who were in back of the stage getting down during the entire set) didn't come out to sing a little back up. Nevertheless, they do some nice CCR. They came out for a second encore, despite little cheering and half the crowd on their way to the door. They said since it was the last night we got an extra one. All the people screaming for Good Things the entire night got their wish.
June 7, 2000 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Ray
By: Elizabeth Ortiz *PsychoCoalition@prodigy.net*
Just before I got to the front where I was the night before (right in front of Corin), I saw Corin and said "Hi," and wished her good luck, etc. I was already really hyper and ready for the Gossip. Tuesday night they blew me away! I love a band that can get me to dance and have so much fun (and only the first time I heard anything from them). Nathan was using a different guitar than Tuesday. I think something was wrong with the red one, because he was tuning it and stuff. Then he put it down, ran back stage and came back with another one. During the first song, the guitar strap fell, and he had to tape it for the rest of the show. Kathy was having some trouble with her bass drum too. It didn't want to stay close. :) Besides the minor technical difficulties and the heat that Kelly (Sassy Lassy) told me about, they rocked! No surprise to me. There weren't any dancers last night, though. I was kind of disappointed at first. Also, the crowd at the El Rey last night seemed much more friendly than the night before, with a few exceptions.
Bratmobile was next. OH MOLLY! I love Molly. Anyway, Alison was in right front of me, and all the die hard Bratmobile fans who were behind me would have jumped over me to get some of her. Thankfully, there was a very nice, very tall gentleman right behind me. So, back to Bratmobile... They were awesome. My friends weren't into Alison's vocals but they thought that the music rocked and the lyrics were awesome. Alison did her typical splits during one song and a cart-wheel for a finale.
Next--SLEATER-KINNEY! They opened with "Little Babies." That immediately got one girl crowd surfing and stage diving, which did not make the girls too happy. At the end of the song, the crowd surfer was left on stage. Corin gestured for the girl to go over to her. The girl kissed Corin on the cheek. I'm not sure how much that was appreciated, but whatever. Corin was telling her in her ear what I can imagine was "Don't do that anymore," and pointed the way off stage. (In the midst of their conversation, when the girl turned her head, their lips were about an inch from each other, and Corin could not have been quicker to turn her head. lol) Anyways, Carrie and Corin then proceeded to tell the crowd that they love dancing but do not consider stage diving any kind of dance. Then they demonstrated several dances that they liked (which included pogo and Corin's "put your arms out the the sides and shake your...well you know" dance, which stirred up a roar in the crowd (which in turn made Corin laugh). Just before "You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun," Carrie told the crowd about the blues pedal that her late grandfather bought for her as a graduation present... It was stolen on Tuesday night!! The entire crowd let out "boo's" and "aw's." She very nicely said "So if you did it, just send back anonymously to Kill Rock Stars, and my grandfather's ghost won't haunt you." Then she dedicated "YNRNRF" to the thief. The people in my section were all asking Corin for water (she has 5 bottles next to her). She threw all the bottles out, missing all the people in the very front. She got a big bottle of water from behind her and poured it over us, comparing us to her garden at home, "Water you and you grow!" I didn't mention this in my last review, but during "End of You," when Carrie sings her part, Janet and Corin do this robot sort of thing where they play really stiff and just stare straight forward.
It's really cool. Oh, yeah. At some point, April's friends yelled that it was her b-day, and Carrie said they don't dedicate songs for birthday because it's too much like playing in the lobby of a hotel. Corin made a joke about going into (some place? What was the name?) and saying that it's your birthday so you can get a free sundae. Then she said, "Speaking of free sundaes, Planned Parethood is here and they have free condoms and a lots of other free stuff..." Then Carrie said, "Speaking of free sundaes, free condoms? Nice transistion!" It was very amuzing. They went off the stage after the main set, then came back and played a three-song encore, just like Tuesday. Corin was so great fantastic when she sang both covers ("White Rabbit" on Tues and "Fortune Son" on Wed). They went off the stage again, and then came back and did another encore! WOOHOO! They played "Good Things," which left the entire crowd feeling satisfied. Here's the setlist:
Little Babies
Ironclad
Start Together
All Hands On The Bad One
Turn It On
The Proffesional
Anonymous
Heart Factory (with an extended intro)
You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun
Milkshake 'n' Honey
Not What You Want
Get Up
End Of You
Ballad Of A Ladyman
Male Model
The Drama You've Been Craving (This is written as "Fall Song" on the actual set
list.)
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
Youth Decay
Encore #1:
One More Hour
Fortunate Son
Little Mouth
Encore #2:
Good Things
Words & Guitar
