I went to the s-k/lookers/pastells show, here in Portland last night,
April 4, 1998.

It was a really good show. I was really pleased with the Pastells. My
boyfriend describes them as a Stereolab & Sonic Youth mix. I guess
that's about right. They had some really catchy, poppy songs though.
They weren't as electronic as Stereolab. They just played good music.
The lead guitar guy sort of reminded me of the Built to Spill lead.
They were good, although the vocals didn't come through too clearly.

The Lookers actually played first. The crowd was pretty quiet. Most of
their songs make me want to dance. It didn't seem ppl were dancing
much. Sarah has a way with the crowd. I like their demeanor. They
seem to be having fun, they talk a bit, and joke a bit. I *really* like
The Lookers. I bought their _In Clover_ CD last night. It's good. I
had seen them play at The Maul's final show; and liked them there too.
Go see them if you have a chance. They just play good pop songs. I got
a set list (I'll write the full name of the song, if I know it. I have
a feeling some of the titles on the setlist are abbrviated.) -- here's
the songs they played: Light & Stand Back; Summer;d & r (not sure what
that stands for); Dance; Murphy Bed; Mutual; My Pal; Idol; and The Liar

Sleater-Kinney were really good. (Again, how many ways can I say
they're good? :). The "Joey" had a different middle again. Carrie
didn't do the words she was doing on the East Coast (I know a place to
go/where the lights.....). She did something else. I think it's great
that she does that. All of us who sing along (I don't sing aloud, like
SOME PEOPLE), get thrown off by that. I love it. I was glad they did
"Not What You Want". Although that's not completely rare (actually they
did it in Cambridge & I've seen it live before), but it's not an "every
show" song. They also did "Anonymous", which isn't played all the time
either. Other than that, though, it was a pretty typical set, complete
with W&G ending.

The vocals were really shitty during S-K also. Corin's voice came
through a bit better than Sarah Doughers & the Pastells singers. It
still needed some volume, though.

I'm not going to go off on the moshing contingent at the show, as I've
done on previous reviews. I'll just say I hate moshing. They moved me
from my position, 3 ppl from the stage, to about 8-10 ppl from the
stage. That pissed me off. I was impressed with Janet once again,
though. Similar to the September 1997 show at La Luna, she crouched
down and tried to tell a specific person to stop moshing. The guy was
ignoring her, so she got on the mic and said "hey you, with the black
shirt and glasses, we'd like you to leave." He looked like he was going
to leave, but I swear I saw him later during the show. Also Corin
(maybe Carrie?) said we'd like you to work on your dancing. Then Carrie
added, moshing is old, it's been done before (or words to that effect).
There were ppl in the audience that had buttons that said "Stop
Moshing". I wish the band could have seen them. I want one.

The set was (not in order): Heart Factory; Joey; Tapping; By the Time
You're 25; Dig Me Out; One More Hour, Not What You Want; Anonymous; Turn
It On; Little Babies; W&G; and 2 other new songs. Encores: Call the
Doctor & Be Yr Mama.

They did have more of the new spiffy shirts, with the cat. They only
had the dark blue ones, though.

I meant up with Asher during this show (thanks to his Pat Benatar
t-shirt). He was very sweet. We had meant before, but didn't spend
much time together. He came to my house afterwards. We had a couple
drinks and stayed up way too late. We went to some record stores
today. We had a good time. btw: Asher, I thought the April Fools was
great. :)

--janice