Le Tigre

It's inevitable, really. There's always "that song," the secret song a friend plays for you and you can't get enough of it. You now have a new favourite band, and you imagine thousands of people screaming and dancing along with you to "that song." When the band first comes to your town, it's you and a bunch of other unusually comfortable fringe dwellers. The band are warm and generous and play a whole bunch of new songs and they talk about all their lyrics and make a real connection, and you leave the show on a total high, so inspired that you stay up half the night thinking about it. Cut to a couple of years later, and the band — okay, it's Le Tigre — has sold out a venue twice the size. They open with a cover of the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited" done electro-punk style, and once again they're decked out in snazzy new matching outfits. Other than that and two new songs, however, it's pretty much the exact same set you've seen before, only this time there's a total absence of dialogue that made the previous show so special. The crowd isn't as freaky anymore, even though they're all obviously down with the cause, know how to have fun with feminism, and don't wince when they hear Destiny's Child-influenced gender identity anthems introduced as, "this is a song about butch visibility!" Former riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna may still be the eye of Le Tigre, but former shy girl JD Samson is coming out as the new crowd favourite. It's inspirational to see a band like this reach so many new people who flip out to "Deceptacon" and "Hot Topic," yet the trio that once seemed like your best friends are now a rock band who know it's impossible to be intimate with 1,000 people. You would never say that you went to their concert and didn't feel anything, but something other than secrecy has been lost.