Sleater-Kinney review - an all-change powerhouse of a gig

The Guardian 0

Brixton Academy, London
With guitars cranked up to 11, the latest incarnation of the Portland-bred sisterhood are on devastating form in a set that is at once louche, slick and unapologetic

Some bands are just bands. Most of the good ones, however, represent something beyond a unit that plays some tunes. They become an anchor point for a swirl of stances and meanings.

The five women on the stage who make up Sleater-Kinney Mk III – two core members at the front, three touring members at the rear – are surrounded by vertical light rods, just one aspect of a dazzling visual spectacle that ups the game of this fascinating band. In their time together, Sleater-Kinney have themselves acted as lightning rods for all sorts of energies.

This Sleater-Kinney is less a feminist retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and much more wolf