The Final Sleater-Kinney Show

Sat, Aug 12, Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR:
Setlist:
The Fox/The End of You/Wilderness/Jumpers/One Beat/Step Aside/The Hot Rock/Rollercoaster/All Hands On The Bad One/Night Light/What's Mine is Yours/Stay Where You Are/Modern Girl/Let's call It Love/Entertain/Sympathy/Words and Guitar

Encore 1:
Milkshake 'n' Honey/You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun/Not What You Want/Steep Air/God is a Number/Oh!/Dig Me Out

Encore 2:
Good Things/Turn it On/One More Hour

Remember how I said the DC show was an amazing experience? Forget all that, I doubt that any band will ever top the final two S-K shows Fri & Sat in Portland for me. I walked out of both shows exhausted, drenched in sweat and feeling utterly glad I flew cross country to be there - and superthanks to Nicole G for hooking me up with the tickets. How many people can say they got to see their favorite band go out at the height of their powers with a pre-announced last show (barring the always-possible reunion, that is)? Following a few band I-love-you's, S-K said goodbye with a nearly-choked-up rendition of "One More Hour," a group hug and a bow to the crowd. Much like their NYC performance, both nights were filmed, so hopefully there will be some kind of future dvd release.

Eddie Vedder - not my favorite performer by any means but always seemingly a good guy - was a surprise guest opener on Sat night and, among other nice sentiments, summed up the general vibe when said that while people often wish they could've seen the Sex Pistols, Hendrix, the Who w/ Keith Moon, etc. he felt fortunate to live in a time when he could see Sleater-Kinney. Here's a portion of the ukelele duet he sang with Janet Weiss, the standard "You Belong to Me" (as heard in The Jerk!)




Fortunately, however, Carrie Brownstein seems to already have her next career move lined up, as evidenced by this clip of her interviewing Saddam Hussein - who looks suspiciously like Fred Armisen here, although personally to me it looks more like Colin Ferrell:



OK here's one more YouTube clip I found so far, a bit of "Words & Guitar" from Friday night's show: