After 3 long years of hoping and waiting, one of my all-time fave bands evs, Rilo Kiley, answered my prayers and started a North American tour on Sept. 6th. Under the Blacklight, the twangy, alt-rock quartet’s 4th release, dropped on August 21st after a long 18 month hiatus during which my girl Jenny toured with the Watson twins (spell it, l-o-v-e!) and cutie male sidekick Blake worked on his side project, The Elected. I was able to catch them live the other night, when they stopped by Webster Hall to headline a show with Grand Ole Party (sidenote-kick ass drummer/vocalist/front-woman Kristen Gundred also plays with Rilo Kiley on this tour) and the adorable Johnathan Rice (you may have recognized him from his days spent opening for/playing with Jenny & the twins). Seeing Rilo play live again reminded me of the reason i started liking them in the first place…they just know how to have fun and jam. Jenny’s onstage wardrobe never disappoints, and Saturday was no exception. She was a vision in silver from head to toe. The highlight of the night came when an impromptu audience sing-along of happy birthday to Blake was coupled with a candle stuck in a donut hole, in which Blake blew out, while wearing a cardboard cone birthday hat that an audience member threw on stage. How endearing. I couldn’t help but be swallowed up. And not to mention, the super-hot stage-hand I drooled over from the upper balcony, who Blake introduced as his younger brother "SnowBall," who caught my attention on more than one occasion as he tuned Blake’s guitar from just off-stage and ran around the stage popping huge, glitter-filled balloons that were bopped around the crowd and occasionally made their way to the stage. I can’t help it, I’m a dork and I swooned. Bottom line- i could watch Rilo Kiley live everynight and not get bored. They’re so real, and they rule. My only wish is that there were more bands as awesome.
Did anyone go? What did you guys think?
p.s. i’m an idiot and i forgot to take pictures, if anyone went and took some, let me know and i’ll post ’em!
