Live Review: Sleater-Kinney, Ouch My Face

Feminist American rock band, Sleater-Kinney returned to Adelaide for the first time since playing Big Day Out festival and calling a hiatus a decade ago. On a warm and muggy Friday night, fans of '90s indie-rock and the riot grrl movement flocked to HQ to see one of the greats perform and to celebrate Sleater-Kinney's 2015 critically acclaimed album, No Cities To Love.

Opening the nights proceedings were Milk! Record's Ouch My Face. The Melbourne band were energetic and influential in setting the right tone for the night. They were unapologetically cool, loud and hyped up the audience by previewing plenty of songs from their debut record, Bunyip. These guys are really, really good.

After a small interval, the members of Sleater-Kinney entered the stage to thunderous applause and plenty of screaming. The show kicked off with a big middle finger to capitalism and the powerful guitar riffs from Price Tag, seizing the attention of those in the room while Corin Tucker's vocals sent little tremors throughout the mid-sized venue. Sleater-Kinney mixed up their live setlist and included a variety of songs from over the decades. Fans warmly welcomed the live renditions from the most recent release — Fangless, A New Wave and Surface Envy were a few crowd favourites, especially for the younger audience members who were bopping along enthusiastically. The support shown to Sleater-Kinney by the millennials was matched by the more hardcore fans who sang along to the more classic grrl riot songs. A highlight of the show was when Carrie Brownstein sang No Cities To Love, much to the approval of the very passionate audience.

Sleater-Kinney thanked Adelaide numerous times before leaving the stage after an hour's worth of live music. The original rock rebels came back on stage for a brief encore and left Adelaide with the message from one of their most pivotal songs in Modern Girl. It was a great rock show and a total pleasure to see probably one of the most important bands in modern music's history showcasing their sonically complex sound and feminist songwriting. Sleater-Kinney's show was nostalgic for some, however, this show was also important for revving up rebellious punk rock spirit and giving momentum to their new legion of fans.