I first saw alt-country outfit Rilo Kiley back in 2005, when they were touring More Adventurous. They were good fun, I enjoyed the show but it wasn't exactly amazing. I've not heard their new disc, “Under The Backlight” yet, but their move towards straightforward indie-pop hasn’t exactly been received well by their long-established fan base (although it has been getting decent reviews in the mainstream press). As a result, it came as a bit of a shock to me that Monday's show at the Islington Academy was one of the best I've seen all year.
I can definitely see how the new material may sound cheesy on record; the lyrical excellence of their earlier work has given way to a focus on catchy melodies and basslines, but combined with Jenny Lewis' natural redheaded awesomeness and a tight-as-fuck band it worked fantastically live. Adding two new members was a great call; the extra keyboards, flourishes of brass and backing vocals added so much and let's face it, they were pretty damn attractive too. The funk-inspired basslines and preponderance of wah-wah peddles assuaged my concerns about the sub-par lyrics of the new songs, and the sound quality was near-flawless; bloody loud but almost perfectly mixed (Jenny's guitar was occasionally too low in the mix, but it's the most minor of quibbles). And they played all my favourite tracks from More Adventurous; Portions For Foxes was naturally brilliant, Does He Love You was as intense as ever but my personal highpoint came when Blake Sennett and the bassist treated us to a delightful rendition of Ripchord on ukulele and mandolin. Insofar that this was a performance by a band that I like but don't love, it's hard to find fault in it and it proved to me that a superb show by a good band is just so much more satisfying than a merely good show by a superb band.
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