Firstly I'll get this out of the way. Sleater-Kinney should not have been playing the Sydney Opera House. Well, not because they didn't deserve it but because a band with this much energy and power should be playing a rock club. People standing, sweating, moving, ROCKING. But guess what. Sunday night was still pretty amazing. And it also helped that groups of people starting standing at various moments of the night, so that by the end most of us WERE standing. And boy were we rocking.

It had been 10 years that Sleater-Kinney went into hibernation and boy were they missed. Sunday night's show was a fine testimony to their majesty, their spirit and their sheer fierce power. They have just the right balance of intelligence, fun and integrity. They exude a certain charisma that is empowering to anyone lucky enough to see them live. Corin Tucker stands upright, letting her megaphone of a  voice take over a room with seemingly little effort. Carrie Brownstein is all energy and legs and arms. A wickedly good guitar player she is just as magnetic as Tucker. There is no bass guitar but the extraordinary drummer Janet Weiss keeps the bedrock solid and substantial. The show was a great cross section of their material, with heavy emphasis on their long awaited comeback album in "No Cities to Love". Songs such as 'Price Tag' and 'Surface Envy were suitably impressive. But it was equally great to hear amazing songs such as 'Far Away' and 'One Beat' thunder through the room. But I think my favourite chunk of the night was the closing three songs in 'The Fox', 'Entertain' and 'Jumpers' Holy cow this was greatness walking. So are Sleater-Kinney. Long may they reign. Long may they make music.

Set List
Price Tag
Fangless
Far Away
Oh!
Get Up
Ironclad
What's Mine Is Yours
Words and Guitar
No Cities to Love
A New Wave
One Beat
Surface Envy
Bury Our Friends
One More Hour
The Fox
Entertain
Jumpers

Gimme Love
Modern Girl
Dig Me Out