Chicago still loves the Breeders

August 13, 2009, at the Double Door

By Genevieve Diesing
Published: August 15th, 2009 | 7:30pm

“You loved me before,” Kim Deal of the Breeders cooed into the mic at the Double Door. “Do you love me now?” This question was both the defining query of evening and the chorus to one of the group’s more notable songs. The several-times reincarnated band is known for influencing Kurt Cobain, hitting the mainstream with the chart-topping single “Cannonball” in the early ’90s, and more than a decade later — still remaining true to its personality. Whether or not Chicago fans mirrored that loyalty was initially uncertain. The event, which was originally scheduled for the higher-profile venue the Metro, was downsized to the Double Door at the last minute due to low ticket sales.

But the Double Door’s enormous attendance seemed to suggest otherwise. Fans flooded the venue and elbowed their way up front to get a glimpse of a group that was born in the grunge era and has re-emerged swinging. Sure, there have been lineup changes, backup singer and guitarist Kelley Deal’s heroin bust, and a general downward slope in album sales — but the Breeders still have many fans for the same reason they blew up in the 20^th century: classically catchy rock that’s tough yet pretty. And even with gaping stretches between albums that could have induced fan-amnesia for plenty of talented bands, the Breeders manage to remain relevant and frontwoman Kim Deal manages to stay more of a badass than ever.

“I can’t fit in these, you whores!” she joked as she held up small T-shirts fans had thrown onstage in tribute. Deal looked, as one adoring lesbian put it, like “More of a hot butch than I’ve ever seen her,” with short unstyled hair and a loose T-shirt.

With raucous power guitars and Kim Deal’s sugary sweet voice, the Breeders did justice to a long-spanning body of work. Resurrecting hits from their most successful album, 1993’s Last Splash (4AD), the band earned ecstatic applause for songs like “Divine Hammer” and “Cannonball” (though it was slightly sped up), and Kelley Deal broke out the violin for the country-tinged “Drivin’ on 9.” Heavily sampling from the 2002 release Title TK (4AD), the crowd’s consistently warm response proved it had a place in its heart for songs the critics didn’t. New and even critically-approved tracks from the Breeder’s most recent release, their self-released 2009 four-song EP Fate to Fatal, were no exception.

The Breeders have a lot in common with Kim Deal’s other, not-so-unknown band, the Pixies: both share wicked bass lines, simplistic but sharp song structures, and the ability to inspire music-induced frenzy in their fans. This was certainly the case at the Double Door show, as concertgoers vied and pushed relentlessly for coveted front perimeter spots.

The venue may have been downsized, but true Breeders fans’ zeal remained ever strong. They loved you before, Kim, and it’s still true — they love you now.

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For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page

The Breeders MySpace page

4AD Records