Given the mixed reviews toward's Rilo Kiley's newest album "Under The Blacklight" and my own laziness of giving the new album a proper listen before the show, I really went into their show last Tuesday fairly open-minded. And the result? It was a fantastic show. With a glittery stage backdrop and Blake and the boys wearing dress shirt and slacks, it felt sort of like the prom. Except the band didn't suck. Added to the lineup, were two girls on horns and background vox. Lead vocalist Jenny Lewis threw aside the June Carter-ish wardrobe of her country-pop solo project touring show for a disco-y halter top and matching hot pants ensemble. A shout-out of 'I love you' from a female audience member to guitarist Blake Sennett prompted a humourous reponse from him along the lines of him that 'it just wouldn't work out', and Blake added a few more quips here and there. Performing mostly from the new album and their last one "More Adventurous", there was a lot of musical variety from the country pop of "Silver Lining", to the 'best song Fleetwood Mac never wrote' of "Dreamworld", to the raunch and roll of "Money Maker", to the disco-y "Breakin' Up", and the soul-influenced "15", to older favourites like the delirious power-pop of "Portions of Foxes", the horn-friendly "It's A Hit", and the audience singalong on "Does He Love You?"(for which if I'd actually known the lyrics, would have been 10 times better than it already was). What was most refreshing about the music was the total lack of irony. Rilo Kiley performed with a genuine love of the musical influences for which their songs touched upon, for the most part adding their own pop sensibilities to those different musical genres.
Jenny's beau Jonathan Rice(with some new length to this hair) and his band performed prior to Rilo Kiley - I missed first openers Grand Ole Party. His resonating voice is the most distinguishing quality of his music but the country-rock melodies and instrumentation performed by his three-piece backing band weren't bad either. If I weren't so excited to see Jenny and Rilo Kiley I'd might have been more in the mood for Jonathan's set but in the end it was just ok. The duet between him and Jenny was fantastic and prompted a glorious response from the audience.
Check out some of my photos from the show below. More photos over at Flickr.
MySpace: Rilo Kiley
YouTube: Rilo Kiley - "Silver Lining" (music video)
YouTube: Rilo Kiley - "Dream World" (live on Jimmy Kimmel Live show - Sept 5, 2007)
MySpace: Jonathan Rice
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