Maybe that they were that very rare musical commodity, an all women band, or maybe it was their awkward tunes, jagged guitars and thrilling voices. I鈥檓 glad to report that these elements were all present and correct, and provided many thrilling moments. What did surprise me, however, was the sheer heart-attack volume they played at, with both Corin and Carrie blasting their overdriven Gibsons through guitar stacks Iron Maiden and AC/DC would have been deafened by. Not forgetting drummer Janet, who out-megged Meg White, and provided the sort of attack and intensity that every power trio lives and prospers by. Old Sleater-Kinney fans may well have been left gawping at this transformation into rawk monsters, but the crowd, the majority of whom were women, responded with total rapture (at one point, Corin even thanked the crowd for all the knickers being thrown on stage!). My only little gripe was that Sleater-Kinney鈥檚 tunes seemed to have been sacrificed for volume, but, hey, if that bothered me too much I could have always got my pipe and slippers out to listen to Girls Aloud - and that was not an option. Sleater Kinney rock hard and we should all be very thankful for that. |