Small Figures on a Vast Expanse

Last night was Rilo Kiley at Webster Hall. As RK shows go, this one was pretty damn disappointing. I thought they were sleepwalking through it for a while. The band was passionless until the seventh song, “The Moneymaker,” which seemed like the first song they actually wanted to play. It was followed by four more exciting ones in a row. I thought they'd hit the pocket and would stay there, but there’s something about their new music, I think, that bogged them down onstage. The band seemed to still be working out the deeper arrangements, and couldn’t get loose at all.

Some of the songs, like “Dreamworld,” actually bored me. (But it bores me on the new record, too.) "Paint's Peeling" is one of my favorites; unfortunately, last night it got lacklustered it into a Scheib job. They performed one of Jenny’s solo songs from Rabbit Fur Coat, but why did they choose “Rise Up with Fists,” a song with such smart and funny lyrical interplay between the lead and background vocals, only to neglect the support vocals altogether? It was half-assed.

With each successive time I've seen them, Rilo Kiley has become more technically sound and less... fun.

The highlights surely included the acoustic version of “With Arms Outstretched” and (as always) “I Never.” "Wires and Waves," was nice to hear; I have it on a bunch of RK boots, but couldn't remember ever personally hearing them do it live.

Here's the setlist: It's a Hit, Close Call, Portions for Foxes, Paint’s Peeling, Breaking Up, Dreamworld, The Moneymaker, Wires and Waves, Ripchord, With Arms Outstretched, A Man/Me/Then Jim, "Blacklight Loop">Silver Lining, I Never, Smoke Detector, Rise Up w/ Fists!!, Greetings in Braille, Spectacular Views. [Encore: Give a Little Love, Does He Love You?].

[posted with ecto]

On iTunes right now: Twin killers by Deerhoof

Comments

[Heath]

Jenny Lewis and RK plague my sleep. For the past two nights I have been unable to get the song "15" out of my head. I have enforced a house-wide ban on the following songs:
15
Dejalo
I Never
Happy
Her voice is perhaps the coolest currently in music, but it sticks to the insides of my skull like tar on my palms when I see if there's anyone hiding under my wife's car.

[Tommy Himself]

Heath --

Pissed that they didn't play "15," "Dejalo," and (the most Rilo-Kilaic sounding new song) "The Angels Hung Around."

And "Always."

Hiding under the car,
Tommy