rilo kiley
Rilo Kiley + Neva Dinova + Midlake
May 7, 2005 - Numbers
Houston, TX

story & photos by Ritchie Champagne

photo by ritchie champagne

One might mistake Numbers as a Goth club with its painted black exterior and its imaginative interior decorating scheme: all black. Despite the occasional lyric dealing with death, Rilo Kiley is anything but Goth. Their mix of rock, pop, country, and folk makes for a fresh sound, and the kids (as well as a couple of *ahem* older folks) joyously devour it. From the moment the band hits the stage to the moment they leave, the crowd sings along, grins ear to ear, and yells appreciative remarks throughout the show. The group of prom-skipping girls punctuated the gaps between songs with regular team shouts of “Hi, Blake!” in honor of guitarist Blake Sennett who took to referring to them as “his people.”

Hitting the stage with the usual intro lifted from the Takeoffs And Landings song Plane Crash In C, the band segued quickly into the lead off track from More Adventurous, It’s A Hit. “Any chimp can play human for a day, using his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform, and run for office on election day, and fancy himself a real decision maker…” Singer Jenny Lewis’ indirect dig at the President (prior to the election, her keyboard sported a Kerry/Edwards sticker) segued into Hail To Whatever You Found In The Sunlight That Surrounds You, from their sophomore CD, The Execution Of All Things. The live version of this song devolves into an extended jam with everyone cutting loose.
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