Concert Review: Rilo Kiley, The Palladium, Dallas TX, Oct. 6, 2007

My recent obsession with Rilo Kiley and their lead singer Jenny Lewis has been well documented on these pages (see Girls that Ache, and the Under the Blacklight review), so, when I noted their tour for Blacklight was taking them through Dallas, I laid down my money and began the countdown.

After local bands Grand Ole’ Party and The Bird and the Bee worked their way through well-received sets, Rilo Kiley took the stage at 10:15. The Palladium was full, if not packed, for the optimum crowd density on a General Admission show. The look of the band and the stage was immediately reminiscent of the artwork and themes from new album Under the Blacklight, with the guys in suits or black pants and white shirts and Jenny Lewis in a sequined cocktail waitress get-up out of a B-level girly bar. Likewise, the backdrop was a tinsel curtain with an icky senior-prom-circa-1984-feel. The entire effect, matching the recent mix of songs, was fake glitz, covering up tawdry secrets backed by broken hearts of solid gold.

They lead off with the fitting, It’s a Hit from the More Adventurous album, the first of five songs from their fame-making CD, before moving quickly into Close Call from Under the Blacklight. These two disks (they pulled another five songs from Blacklight) formed the backbone of the show, but long-time fans (which, gauging from the roars for the older numbers, were in the majority) were rewarded with a sturdy version The Execution of All Things and crowd fav sing-a-long With Arms Outstretched, both from their sophomore album The Execution of All Things. Along the way they also played one song each from Jenny and Blake’s side projects (introduced as “covers”), with Jenny’s Rise Up with Fists!!! from Rabbit Fur Coat one of the best of the evening.

The band, made up of Blake Sennett on (occasionally lead) vocals and blistering lead guitar; Jenny Lewis on lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, Hammond Organ, Synthesizer, cowbell, and some xylophone-type things; Pierre de Reeder on bass guitar, piano, and vocals; and Jason Boessel on drums, were joined on some of the more recent songs by a couple female percussionists and backing vocalists. The players moved on and off the stage and from instrument to instrument as needs dictated, with only Blake on Ukulele and Pierre on Mandarin during an excellent version of Ripchord. But it was Jenny that held the crowd, and the show, in her hands. She moved slowly from instrument to instrument (usually to a chorus of proposals to marriage and other, less appropriate, commitments), basking in the crowd’s love. It’s her voice, moving comfortably from the highs of show highlight “I Never” to the sultry alto of “15”, that’s the moneymaker for this band. Her full-bodied song never let-up and never wavered through the 15 selections.

The show ended with Give a Little Love (the second song of a two-song encore. I would have appreciated a couple more songs there), the final song off Under the Blacklight. Lewis dedicated the song to her friend in the room (ostensibly Sennett with whom she’s had a well-documented, tumultuous relationship): a fitting ending to a rocking, bluesy, and (occasionally) country night of music. A great show in a great venue. B+