I’M THE QUEEN OF ROCK AND ROLL (Part 3 of 3)
A Beginner’s Guide to Carrie Brownstein’s Stage Moves
When she’s on stage, Carrie Brownstein is a force of pure, kinetic energy. This Instagram time lapse, filmed during the encore of a 2015 Sleater-Kinney show, tells you all you need to know about Brownstein’s stage presence. Brownstein herself commented on the video: “someone needs to chill AKA me.”
Carrie, if you’re reading this: never, ever chill.
For the unfamiliar, there’s a lot going on in that time lapse (or in any given live video of the band). Luckily, I’ve spent countless hours watching live footage of Sleater-Kinney and put together a field guide to ten of Brownstein’s preferred stage moves.
Fancy Footwork most often appears during performances of “Start Together” and “The End of You.” Sometimes Brownstein’s Fancy Feet take her from one side of the stage to the other, while other times they’ll keep her dancing in place. Either way, this move is smooth as hell.
The Lean is simple: Brownstein leans her head on Tucker’s shoulder during performances of “Dig Me Out.” I initially thought this move appeared after the band’s 2015 reunion, but recently found this picture from 1996 that appears to show The Lean in action.
A rock ‘n’ roll classic. Brownstein’s love for The Windmill has earned her comparisons to the Who’s Pete Townshend, and for good reason: Brownstein is known to bring this one out for just about any Sleater-Kinney song on a regular basis, often multiple times in a row.
The High Kick could be considered the signature Brownstein move. She high-kicks her way through just about any Sleater-Kinney song, and she does it with style. During this performance of “A New Wave,” she high-kicks three times in seven seconds.
This is a move that appears to have started after Sleater-Kinney went on hiatus in 2006. During the hiatus, Brownstein and Weiss formed the fantastic (but short-lived) Wild Flag with Mary Timony and Rebecca Cole. During certain performances of their song “Racehorse,” Brownstein started standing on top of Weiss’ kick drum. Now back with a reunited Sleater-Kinney, Brownstein brings this stage move out during performances of “Let’s Call It Love,” “What’s Mine Is Yours,” and sometimes during “Entertain.”
This move not only demonstrates Brownstein’s unwavering on-stage confidence but also the implicit trust between her and Weiss: one wrong move and everything - quite literally - comes crashing down. Although Brownstein has never fallen off the kit, that possibility of danger certainly heightens the experience.
As far as I can tell, this is another move that originated with Wild Flag, where it wasn’t uncommon for Brownstein and Timony to both end up on the floor by the end of any given song. Nowadays, Brownstein usually reserves this one for performances of “Words and Guitar.”
Brownstein has a knack for holding her guitar vertically in the air mid-performance. There’s a lot of variations of this, including the above example during the end of “Jumpers.”
This is a simple one: sometimes, Brownstein will point at Tucker and/or Weiss, at the audience, or at herself.
You’re most likely to see The March during the bridge of “Entertain” or during “Let’s Call It Love,” but Brownstein’s been known to briefly bring this one out for other songs as well. The March is pretty self-explanatory: when the mood calls for it, Brownstein marches in place or across the stage, often holding up her guitar.
Knocking Over the Mic Stand
This move made its first appearance in 2015, and is my personal favorite because of how quickly it’s evolved in such a short amount of time. After the second and third verses of “Entertain,” Brownstein often knocks over the mic stand. Each time, a loyal roadie sets the stand up again during the chorus, sometimes barely in time for the next verse. At a show last December, the stand actually broke when it hit the ground. Brownstein ditched her guitar and grabbed the mic without the stand to sing the next verse. A few shows later, Brownstein took it one step further by leaving the stage completely to stand on top of the barricade and perform on top of the crowd. After a quick mic drop, Brownstein hopped back on stage, grabbed her guitar, and started shredding away without missing a beat.
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