'Riot Grrrl' rock band Sleater-Kinney kicks off 'Little Rope' tour in Nashville
Rock greats and feminist powerhouses Sleater-Kinney kicked off their North American "Little Rope Tour" in Nashville on Thursday night.
The indie band — known for their role in the "riot grrrl" movement and their punk sound — hit the stage at the Brooklyn Bowl for the first of ten shows on the tour.
After an opening set from Die Spitz, Sleater-Kinney frontwomen Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, who both contribute on guitar and vocals, took the stage in all black.
Brownstein's name may also be familiar from her sketch comedy work and award-winning series "Portlandia," which she wrote and appeared in with Fred Armisen and Jonathan Krisel.
Alongside Tucker and Brownstein on the stage, and also clad in all black, were other touring members of the band; Sleater-Kinney saw the departure of their long-time band member, drummer Janet Weiss, in 2019.
Behind the band, the stage was set up with three archways that light could shine through, chandeliers and red curtains on the side stage. It was as if Sleater-Kinney was channeling a minimalistic haunted house theme.
And as the show commenced, red lights pulsed, strobe lights flashed, heavy guitar rang and both Tucker and Brownstein belted.
After 30 years as a band, Thursday night's concert showed that the compelling frontwomen still aren't afraid to leave it out on the line.
Over the course of the night, the band played a good amount of material from their eleventh studio album "Little Rope," which they released in January. Though absent from the stage, the new album includes instrumentation from another indie music great, Death Cab for Cutie's Dave Depper.
"Little Rope" was written in the midst of a personal tragedy for Brownstein.
The singer and actress lost her mother and stepfather in a car crash in 2022, and in the album's 10 tracks, "Little Rope" sees the band contemplate and work through grief in their music.
The new album is eerie, haunted, captures emotions from sadness to anger, and even shows the healing process.
"Little Rope" is not a shallow exercise in punk rock — it will make you confront your own fears and discomfort.
Throughout Sleater-Kinney's tight set, which was under an hour and a half, the audience felt with them as they wailed, emphatically shouted into the mics and jumped with fervor.
Here are some of the top moments.
Band opens with 'Hell,' gives eerie performance of 'The Center Won't Hold'
The band started off the night with the lead single from their new album, "Hell."
Pulsing red lights flashed while ghostly guitar ran underneath the song's chilling lyrics. As the song went from a quiet, calm verse to a rumbling, punk chorus, the chandelier's bulbs lit up and flashed and pixelated flames ran up columns on the back of the stage.
The first song of the night set the tone for a high-energy night of rock music.
The most unconventional song of the show, "The Center Won't Hold," provided a spectral feel as Tucker played percussion and strobe lights flashed around them.
The tune felt laced with tinges of psychedelic rock, reminiscent of tune "Go Ask Alice" by Jefferson Airplane.
'Modern Girl' and 'Untidy Creature' bring memorable music moments
Towards the end of the show, the band played their biggest hit "Modern Girl."
While yellow lights washed over the stage, Brownstein sang the iconic lyrics, "My baby loves me / I'm so happy / Happy makes me / A modern girl."
Near the end of the deceivingly positive-sounding song, the audience lights came up and the band asked everyone to sing along. The crowd chanted, "My whole life / Was like a picture of a sunny day."
The band followed with their last song before encore, "Untidy Creature." During the song, Tucker ran off the stage and down near the crowd, perched up on the barricade.
Surrounded by fans, Tucker showed off her theatrical pipes, singing, "Could you love me if I was broken? / And there's no going back tonight."
Sleater-Kinney urges crowd to vote in presidential election
Nearing the end of the show, Tucker took the mic to address the crowd.
After promising her guitar pic to a fan, Tucker said, "Now I am going to talk about the election, because just a few days ago, it felt like things were in a very different place, let's put it that way."
"And now I feel really excited," she continued. "I hope you feel excited about voting too. I hope you've made a plan to vote. I hope you've thought about voting on Election Day.
"Because it's really f***ing important."
Earlier in the evening, the band brought to fans' attention another cause dear to their hearts.
Two days ago, Katherine Paul ("KP") of the alternative band Black Belt Eagle Scout was rushed to the hospital after a medical emergency that may have been caused by relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. Tucker told the crowd that they recently played a show with KP, calling her their "dear friend."
Tucker urged the crowd to share her GoFundMe for medical aid funds and to donate if they could.
Sleater-Kinney's Nashville Set List
Hell
Needlessly Wild
Bury Our Friends
The Center Won’t Hold
Small Finds
One More Hour
Don't Feel Right
Jumpers
Hunt You Down
The Future Is Here
All Hands on the Bad One
Hurry On Home
The Fox
Dress Yourself
A New Wave
Modern Girl
Untidy Creature
Encore: Say It Like You Mean It, Dig Me Out, Entertain
To learn more about Sleater-Kinney, head to sleater-kinney.com.
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'Riot Grrrl' rock band Sleater-Kinney kicks off tour in Nashville
