When photographer Jenny Jiménez and I checked in at the Crystal Ballroom box office on the evening of Saturday, August 12, we were handed a one-sheet of photography restrictions, a typical caveat of shooting at big shows, but one that was noteworthy for the personalized tone running throughout. Along with the expected request to refrain from using flash on the encores, the band members were obviously (and understandably) concerned about maintaining a sense of controlled chaos during their swan-song performance. "Welcome to the final Sleater-Kinney show... as you can imagine, emotions are running high," it began. The document went on to request that photographers give the band a couple of songs to ease into the set (shooting was restricted to songs three, four, five, and the flash-free encores), and to avoid confrontations with one another. Under other circumstances, such acute attention to detail might seem unusually controlling; on a night that would end with such a historic and highly anticipated performance, it made all the sense in the world.
Playful Sub Pop punks the Thermals opened things by delivering a short, sharp set that although adequately executed, felt more like a nervous, place-holding moment than a warm-up to the main event. They were followed by a solo appearance from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, a longtime friend and supporter of the band who played a handful of hushed, folksy ballads. He also respectfully eulogized S-K, saying, "You know how you wish you could have seen the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix or the Who with Keith Moon? Well, I am very fortunate and extremely grateful to live in a time when I can see Sleater-Kinney play live.
"Truly," Vedder declared, "there is no place else I'd rather be on the planet than here."
Just before the band took the stage, drummer Janet Weiss joined Vedder on a duet of the romantic 1920s standard, "Tonight You Belong to Me" (though much of the crowd undoubtedly recognized it as the duet sung by Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin in The Jerk). The moment was made even sweeter by Vedder's gently strummed ukulele accompaniment.
As countless critics will note, from the instant they kicked off their set (with "The Fox," the distorted earthquake that opens 2005's The Woods), it was evident that the sold-out crowd was watching S-K go out at the top of their game. A highly graceful live act for many years, the trio didn't waver from their expected grade of quality, exuding all the explosive energy for which they are revered, and remaining impressively focused as they dove into a two-hour, 27-song set that weighed heavily on The Woods, and, somewhat disappointingly for this fan, produced few surprises (I would have paid good money to hear them revisit their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son"). Oddly absent were cathartic manifesto "Call the Doctor" and crowd-pleasing sing-along "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" (which the band had played the previous night), but leaving those songs out didn't diminish the set as a whole, which included old favorite "Stay Where You Are" and recent masterpiece "Let's Call It Love."
As the inevitable time for encores approached, the emotions did in fact begin to run high, with joint frontwomen Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker expressing love for each other and Weiss, and Brownstein eventually declaring, "This band has saved my life so many times, and I'm so grateful to have been a part of it."
The perfectly chosen closing number? "One More Hour," with the appropriately poignant refrain, "In one more hour, I will be gone." The afterparty reportedly was a joyous, dance-driven affair, with plenty of family and friends in attendance, including several participants from Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls (the camp had held a showcase earlier that evening). Well done, Sleater-Kinney: You will obviously be missed by many.
There's no segue out of that review, so I'll just get right down to my recommended shows for this week, both of which are on Friday, August 18. For those seeking humorous refuge and indisputably entertaining rock, you'll want to be at the Sunset to witness the splendor of Norse mythologist Thor. If you plan accordingly, you'll also have time before that show to catch Four Counts Dirty. That precociously talented, Guns N' Roses–loving band of Auburn-based teens will be opening for Thee Emergency and Iceage Cobra at the High Dive. 
