Thanks to a mislaid driving license, I did not as planned spend my Saturday evening in Milwaukee watching baseball, but instead saw Rilo Kiley on the Chicago leg of their current US tour. Despite many trips to the US over the last 5 years, this was the first time I've seen a gig in the US since...erm...Sting...a long time ago.
The venue was the Riviera Theater in Uptown; not a neighbourhood I'd been to before, and I liked it. Having picked up my ticket for $23.50 on the door, I knew I had a couple of hours to kill before Rilo Kiley came on stage. So rather than listen to a support act I'd never heard of and drink over-priced Miller, I headed to the nearest sports bar. Now maybe I was tired, but I swear it was a good 10-15 minutes before I realised I was in a gay sports bar (the I Love Tight Ends t-shirt being worn by one of the barmen should have been a dead giveaway). The beer was good, the food was fine, and it was one of the friendliest places I've drunk in for a while.
As for the gig itself; I was in a pretty good spot, towards the back of the lower level of the main floor, but in the middle. I did feel old - most of the crowd were early-mid 20's, and loud - it really was an adoring crowd. I realised that in spite of More Adventurous being one of my favourite albums of the last few years, I was surrounded by people who knew way more of the lyrics - and from the moment the band opened with It's a Hit, they sang them loudly. The set was a very good mix of old and new; whilst the real crowd pleasers came from the last album, Under the Blacklight is a real grower, and some of the new songs worked really well live. They were a lot louder, a lot less acoustic, than I'd expected - and maybe did justify the Fleetwood Mac comparisons made in Spin magazine this month. Jenny Lewis is a really charismatic (and gorgeous) front woman, but it was very apparant that - in spite of the geeky waistcoat and bow-tie - Blake Sennett is at least as much the creative force in the band.
The highlight for me was inevitably Portions for Foxes - which they sensibly got out of the way very early in the set - although Silver Lining came very close, and is very much one of my tracks of the year.
Setlist (thanks to Sound on the Sound - strictly speaking this is the set list from Seattle last week, but it looks identical):
It’s A Hit
Close Call
Portions for Foxes
Paint’s Peeling
Breaking Up
Dreamworld
Money Maker
Wires and Waves
Rip Chord
With Arms Outstretched
Silver Lining
I Never
Smoke Detector
15
Rise Up with Fists
Spectacular Views
Encore:
Give A Little Love
Does He Love You?
