Everyone’s going to rave about last night’s Rilo Kiley show at Toad’s Place. And, yes, it was a tight, choreographed set from a band who’s currently considered to be at the top of its game. Apparently the combination of opening for Coldplay and their highly successful Under the Black Light CD has changed the band from an earnest, eager to please indie outfit to a polished, scripted package who gets on stage to deliver exactly what the fans want to an adoring crowd.

I saw Rilo Kiley on the More Adventurous tour at the Norva in 2005. Now that was the band to see! Jenny Lewis’ voice was warbly, but sweet, putting every ounce of her being into charming the audience. Blake Sennett’s guitar playing was stellar and they all looked like they were having the time of their life, which I’ll bet they were. The band played their hearts out and seemed genuinely thrilled at the attention from the audience. They took nothing for granted.

Last night’s band was definitely much tighter and better with their instruments than they were in 2005. If Jenny hasn’t had vocal training since then, she’s put her years of touring into developing a much more assured and powerful voice. The beautiful, sweet warble is gone. And so is her charm. The lead singer is now a pure performer...all her lines rehearsed, all her parts polished to the nth degree and completely in control of herself, the band and the audience. She knows the crowd is there to worship her and she expects nothing less. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the original Jenny Lewis was a hundred times more appealing.

And, just for the record, the highlight of the evening for me was the song Dreamworld sung by the immensely talented but completely overshadowed Blake Sennett, with Lewis on backing vocals. For a few minutes, she was just another member of the band instead of the I-am-indie-goddess girl and I could drift back and remember how much more of a true indie goddess she was when she wasn’t so cocky.

Posted by Karen Newton in
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