Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue, Minneapolis (10/08/2002)

Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue (ticket stub) Minneapolis (10/08/2002) Setlist Oh! One Beat Turn It On All Hands on the Bad One The Remainder Get Up! Far Away Light-Rail Coyote You're No Rock N' Roll Fun Combat Rock Start Together Funeral Song/Words and Guitar Hollywood Ending Sympathy Step Aside -- Encore -- One More Hour I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone Dig Me Out Setlist courtesy growboredbigscott62 Read More Sleater-Kinney A band out of the ashes of Riot Grrrl band Excuse 17 (Carrie Brownstein) and Heavens to Betsy (Corin Tucker). Currently Brownstein is in Portlandia television show, Janet Weis … Corin Tucker A month into their West Coast tour, The Corin Tucker Band and Mecca Normal’s show at the Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco made me realize I'm not the only one who has succumbed to 90s nostalgia, and this is a great thing … Portlandia Closing out the night was Ian Karmel from Portland (and yes, he has been on Portlandia). In a slightly rushed set to get the 10PM show ready, he did remind me of a mistake I have made so many … Quasi The Portland duo (Sam Coomes and Janet Weis) are currently touring in support of their ninth album called Mole City. If their names sounded familiar, that's because they've both played …

With the recent announcement that Vivian Girls have officially split, I thought it might be fitting to talk about another all-girl band, Sleater-Kinney. Sleater-Kinney was on my radar fairly early because of their association with Riot Grrrls.

First Avenue, Minneapolis (10/15/1998) photo: Alison

I've seen the Portland-based band three times at First Avenue. There only other show they did at First Avenue was on October 15, 1998, with The Hangovers and Flin Flon, which I'm pretty sure I did not attend (on account that I was not living in Minneapolis at that time).

Sleater-Kinney was listed to appear on March 28, 1999, but according to legal documents, they canceled that show.

That leaves May 9, 2000, which MTV.com said that Sleater-Kinney was booked at First Avenue. I believe this was the show with the Gossip was the opener.

First Avenue, Minneapolis (06/15/2005)

Searching online for the two shows I do have ticket stubs for, between SK's last Minneapolis appearance on June 15, 2005, and their One Beat tour in 2002, there were hardly any reviews for their 2005 show.

Oddly enough, there is a DVD entitled Burn To Shine: Portland, OR. 06.15.05, which is said to have recorded Sleater-Kinney in Portland on June 15th, but that does not make any sense since the band was in Minneapolis on that date, touring in support of their final album The Woods. Perhaps the DVD was filmed in 2006 or at a different month? I suspect they filmed it June 1st or June 2nd, as both those dates, SK was at their hometown (Portland) at McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom and Crystal Ballroom, respectively.

I do have trouble remembering the differences between the two shows, but what I can tell you is that their last appearance was sold out. It must have been over sold, because there was hardly a spot to stand and possibly one of the worst time I've ever spent at a show. Their 2002 show was similar, I'm not sure if that sold out as well, but I was stuck in the middle of a moshy/slam-dancing army of women. It was hot and smelly and also not a good time for me.

Still, despite my complaints, I do love showing my support for the band, and was sadden that they split up in 2006. However, last year (November 23rd, 2013), the trio appeared with Pearl Jam and Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck for a cover of Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World" in Portland... so there are rumors going around that the band may come back this year.

It should be interesting to see if SK will reform, although everyone is busy with their own side projects, Corin Tucker with the Corin Tucker Band, Carrie Brownstein with the Portlandia television show, Janet Weis with Quasi and Wild Flag.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com