LIVE: Rilo Kiley

Why does October seem to be the month to take your music on the road? Couldn't we spread the tours out a little bit more over the course of the year? That way, I could make it to more of your shows. Instead, you guys all decide to tour at the same time. Fall hits and all of a sudden there are like 3 shows a week in Detroit that I could justify going to if only I didn't have any sense of financial responsibility whatsoever. There's no way my checking account could agree with that. Instead, I'm left to pick and choose which shows I'd like to see the best and pat the others on the tush and tell them, "Sorry. Maybe next time."

The first show we decided to hit this month was Rilo Kiley, since we've been listening to their latest album, More Adventurous, like, nonstop. When Dana's not listening to it, I am. And when I'm not, she is. So there's no getting away from it and quite frankly, I don't really want to yet. It's that good.

It was a pretty sweet show with decent opening acts. Now It's Overhead was not very good. Really moody stuff. It was alright, but I just wasn't feeling it and it seemed sort of manufactured. I pictured the lead singer in the bus behind the club laughing and having a good time with his bandmates and tour buddies and then coming in the club, slapping on a gloomy face and turning up the angst right before coming on stage to do his set. It made him seem like a complete tool. That thought ruined their whole performance for me in my mind. Luckily, I was still reeling from Tilly & the Wall's way cool garbage can stomping, tapping and clapping.Even though I thought the novelty of having a tap dancer instead of a drummer might wear off, it never did b/c it's just too freaking fun. You gotta see it, seriously.

Rilo Kiley took the stage and it didn't take long before I heard someone yell "Salute Your Shorts!!!" (Blake Sennett, the guitarist, used to be on Nickelodeon's show of the same name). Had to laugh at that. Been a long time since I've seen that show, but I used to watch it as a kid. The guy looked familiar but I still couldn't picture him on Salute Your Shorts. The only two dudes I could remember were that fat kid who makes the fart sound during the opening song ("...and when I think about you, it makes me wanna FART!") and the red-headed kid with the mullet.

Anyway, Rilo's set was really good. They pretty much played all of their good stuff, new and old. Even had a small string section on the side of the stage that accompanied them on a couple songs. They were really tight as a band and as for entertainment value, Jenny Lewis did a pretty solid job of commanding the audience's attention. Her cowgirl boots and pottymouth probably had something to do with that.

I found about thirty photos from the show the next day on RiloKiley.net, in the gallery section (Oct.2, Detroit, MI). That's cool, man. Downloaded those and now I've got some pretty good pictures to remember the show by. Plus, where my camera would have been tying up one of my free hands instead I was able to have one arm around my girl and the other hand keeping my Rolling Rock close as I enjoyed the show, all the while not being mistaken for a member of the independent rock papparazzi. Thanks, whoever that was that was snapping photos for me! You should come to the next show I go to!

Speaking of the next show, I'm riding a natural high just thinking about it right now, since it's a mere 6 hours away. I'll keep you in suspense for a day or two and then tell you about that one, too...

In the meantime, tune in to Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight (Oct.6th) and check out musical guests...who else? Rilo Kiley. That's right. "Check your local listings."