September 12th, 2005
John Labatt Centre
London, Ontario

Sleater-Kinney

Ed Solo Pre-Set...
Growin' Up
Main Set...
Oceans, Breakerfall, Corduroy, Hail Hail, Animal, Glorified G, Black Red Yellow, In My Tree, Betterman, You Are, Not For You, Jeremy, Wishlist, Even Flow, Bleed For Me, Rearviewmirror
First Encore...
Nothing As It Seems, Off He Goes, Hard To Imagine, Alive
Second Encore...
Go, Grievance, Elderly Woman, State Of Love And Trust, Smile, Rockin' In The Free World


London: I laughed...I cried! Two thumbs up!

I had been to London a couple of times before. So I was kinda curious as to how the show was going to turn out. Really, if I was rooting for any of the three shows to rock, I think I was rooting for London to rock ass.

I got down to my seat just in time for Ed to come out and perform Growin' Up. I'm not a Springsteen fan and I had seen it performed by Ed before live... so I was sorta..."whatever" about it. But it was indeed nice...and it is always good to have a "non-standard" pre-set pre-set. You know?

I was excited because I was on Stone's side for this show (I was on Jeff's side for Kitchener...which is fine, but I feel like I'm rooting for the home team when I'm on Stone's side).

The show opened with Oceans. It was my third time seeing Oceans live (other two: Greenville 98 and Nashville 03)...but everytime you see Oceans live, it's like your first time. I just love the build...love it! It's always such a treat to hear it.

Very rocking first couple of songs...freaked out quite a bit when Glorified started. I can never get enough of that song. Ever. The real treat came after Glorified G... how about some Black Red Yellow? I hadn't given it a listen since it had been played this tour...so it was nice to hear it for the first time in person. And not that I don't have faith in the band...I was impressed with how well it turned out.

A sandwich came next...happiness of In My Tree...the grossness of Better Man...and the top surprise of You Are. You Are was the furthest thing from my mind to be played at these shows...so that was definitely raddy rad rad. Not For You didn't have the wimpy intro that the band has been playing the past couple of years...you know...the one that can easily be confused with Light Years...very lame...and very happy to see that go.

Was shocked to hear Jeremy for the second night in a row. Not like a "fuck yeah! this rocks!" shock...but just weird that it was played two nights in a row. I don't "hate" Jeremy... it was THE song that got me interested in the band in the first place...but...I can't even relate to that song. It doesn't even sound like a Pearl Jam song to me...so I can't even get all that excited about it.

Wishlist. Yay mirrorball. Woo.

Bleed For Me and Rearviewmirror closed the set. I blushed during Rearviewmirror because Stone was, um, really into his guitar during the song. I definitely felt like there was some violation going on there.

Nothing As It Seems opened the first encore. Of course I was secretly wishing for Hard to Imagine but I never thought I'd hear it again...so I was shocked after Off He Goes and Ed says something about how the next song is saved for "special occasions." Poor Bob...I was so excited I sort of jumped all over him. I couldn't contain myself. I even teared up. Couldn't help it. I kept thinking back to how happy it made me to hear it back in 1998 at the Knoxville show...and then the fact it really is my favorite PJ song...I had to stop thinking about it because I would've needed to blow my nose if I continued that route...

Beautiful version of Hard to Imagine...by the way.

After Grievance...Ed pointed out a sign that said "Let Stone Sing" (which is a lame copy-cat from our chant at State College, BY THE WAY). So a "Let Stone Sing" chant started and Ed really stayed on the topic. "He shall never sing!" "Stone Gossard can sing anytime he wants..." Yeah, he's a puss! That's the problem! Anyway...the whole, "Actually what I've always wanted to do is dance. Tonight I'm going to perform later after the show for an hour! Fuck it! Kickass!" And then he started SHAKING HIS ASS AND DANCING ALL OVER THE STAGE!

This was HANDS DOWN the funniest, awesomest, gayest thing I've EVER seen Stone do. If I missed this dance, I would have never been able to forgive myself. I'm just glad my two fellow members in the GossardFanClub were there to witness this booty action as well. I can still think about this, two days later, and laugh out loud about it.

State...Smile...Rockin'. This show kicked ass! Fuck yeah London and Stone's ass!!!
 
 

09.14.05
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