Score one more for the heatwave. Metro trains running less frequently, air conditioners failing under the pressure, and now, the cruelest cut of all: Sleater-Kinney fans denied on the D.C. stop of their (Please Don’t Call It A) Farewell Tour.
Arriving at a show to find a fire truck parked by the front door and firemen looking sternly into an open manhole can never be a good sign. (A manhole cover that, we’ve heard, housed the “Black Stompy Smoke Monster” from Lost.) This was the scene that greeted us as we walked up to the 9:30 Club’s doors last night. Reportedly, there had been a fire inside the manhole some time earlier in the evening, which caused a thick cloud of smelly black smoke to pipe out of the grates in front of the club’s entrance. Rumor has it that the initial fire began around the time that Corin Tucker was doing her vocal warmups inside. I’m not saying there’s any connection, just… well, the girl has some pipes, you know? Just before 9 p.m., the door staff were instructed by the fire department to clear the area around the door. Those in line to get in were re-routed to the backstage entrance in the alley, and later to the Backbar entrance.
This, we hoped, would be the end of it. Inside, The Rogers Sisters were doing their part to overload the already taxed electrical systems. This was a band quite obviously still basking in the glow of having been chosen to be the openers on S-K’s (No Really, It’s Just An Indefinite) Hiatus Tour. Those who decided to show up only for the main act missed an excellent warm-up.
And, as it turned out, they missed the only highlight of the evening, because not long after The Rogers Sisters left the stage, a 9:30 representative came out and greeted the excited crowd. It seemed at first like he might be there to do the big rock band introduction, but it didn’t seem right, it was too early. Sure enough, the announcement came that the Fire Marshall had decided to shut down the show. It seemed the transformer that powered the club, the likely source of the fire, was at serious risk of blowing completely. Rather than risk the potential of a much more serious fire or a total loss of power with a club packed to the gills, everything had to be shut down. A lot of long faces began filing out of the club according to the staff’s instructions.
