Live Review: The Breeders @ Corner Hotel – 08.12.2018

What an absolute honour it was to share a night with The Breeders. The Corner Hotel was full to the brim with dedicated fans of all ages, although I think I was the youngest in the crowd. Honestly, I feel like I don’t even need to write a review about this gig. They are music royalty and everything they did on stage was so effortless and oh so cool.

To watch women who have been in the music industry for so long, and who are the leads in their own band, overwhelmed me with pleasure. The humbleness of Kelley and Kim resonated throughout the venue.

As I was watching The Breeders, I wrote down a note explaining Kim’s voice: natural, cool, wispy, hypnotising. It was the type of voice that could be perfect for so many genres and varieties of music. At one point it was calming and soft, and the next song she could be belting out an ultimate rock ballad with ease.

Before the band played Howl at the Summit, from their 2018 album ‘All Nerve’, they invited some friends on stage, including, “Aussie trash,” as Kelley sarcastically claimed, Courtney Barnett. It was an outstanding view of long-serving musicians alongside the blossoming Courtney.

The performance on Saturday night was dreamy. Even so, that I found myself drifting to an array of places in my head. No, no. I don’t mean that I was bored and wandering aimlessly, I mean that they performed the type of music that I could imagine myself listening to in so many situations: at the beach, road tripping in the car, even just sitting in my room, along with of course dancing along at the Corner. A perfect example of this was when they played No Aloha, off their 1993 album ‘Last Splash’. Relaxing, yet a song that would excite when played with friends, and then a commotion of heavy rock melody just to top it off. Tick, tick and tick.

What makes this band extra special and amusing, are the twin sisters. To start off we have the impeccable harmonies sung between the two, and add in the hilarity and quirkiness of their jokes between songs, it is so clear why the crowd was so in love with them. A memorable moment of the night was when they explained that the song Drivin’ on 9, was recorded with a violin, but unfortunately, their violinist was not touring with them. What on earth would they do? Of course… Kelley came to the rescue and would perform the violin instrumental with her voice.

The Breeders are true professionals, and effortlessly provide a divine performance, while acting like it’s so not a big deal at how excellent they are. I left the night wishing I was best friends with Kelley and Kim, and envied how much fun they had on stage. It was no surprise as to why the Corner Hotel was sold out that night.