Rilo Kiley show

Rilo Kiley

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting (really only a month) it was time to see Rilo Kiley at the Grove in Anaheim.

I haven’t been out on a school/work night that late for a while, but the bags under my eyes are worth it. Nothing that caffeine can’t fix.

I would have had a full night’s rest of they had cut out the first opening act, It’s a Grand Ole Party. Let me say, they were neither grand nor anything close to a party. The lead singer played drums ala Meg White (not a compliment) and sang- with a headset. She had a good voice, but it was awkwardly uncomfortable to watch her drum poorly while singing and making faces like she’s having a stroke. I escaped to the lobby to drink an $8 Newcastle with my Mom and peoplewatch.

I discovered a few things. One, the resurgence in leggings has opened the door to their evil siblings, stretch pants and bike shorts. These should only be worn under something, and that something is not an oversized belt and t-shirt. Another, I think this spandex influx also brought back the rat-tail hair thing??? (whatever you call it when you have one strand of hair sprouted out the back of your head) I need to invest in a spy camera, preferably one that attaches to my glasses so I can take pictures of these things without getting caught.
I even saw a girl dressed up early in her Halloween costume as my fave British popwreck, Amy Winehouse. Seriously, is this a “thing” now, this “look”??? The black mess on your head with sideswept bangs, skinny jeans, and ballet slippers? What kind of fuckery is this? Too bad she didn’t go all out with the batwing eyeliner. What a cop out.

Lastly, my Mom was the coolest person over 30 there. I’d much prefer people to say about me “Is that girl hanging out with her Mom?” than “Are those bike shorts?”

After the second band started we went inside for some mellow guy and girl duo, they were ok, but strangely resembled a younger version of the Anna Gasteyer/Will Ferrel SNL duo “The Culps” who sang loungey and upbeat ditties with an organ and tambourine. http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=423
When they finally finished it was twenty minutes or more of painfully waiting for RK.
When the eternal wait was over, the lights dimmed, we all started “Woo-hoo”ing and out walks- A Dolly Parton impersonator.
So it was funny, but mildly irritating. After 5 songs it was no longer funny and extremely irritating, more irritating than the tall guy standing in front of me. The audience turned on her halfway into her second song.

This picture is purposely blurry, because you don't want to see what she really looked like.

Maybe Rilo Kiley found her in Vegas after their Saturday night show and decided to bring her on the tour as a gag? No thank you. The band finally entered during her heartfelt rendition of “I Will Always Love You” or whatever it’s called and the girl behind me said “What? Whitney Houston?” More about her later.

So they finally played. And it was amazing. They made me happy by including songs from More Adventurous, The Execution of All Things, AND Takeoffs and Landings, not just their latest release Under The Blacklight. But I was certain my faves from Rilo Kiley, the old old one, would not show up, and I was right. Guess that just shows I’m old school.

The stage was outfitted with lots of pretty sparkly things- the backdrop, Jenny’s dress, and big balloons full of confetti.

The lineup included the four members, a trumpet/keyboard player, and the girl from the opening band on a pair of conga drums. Really? Did we need her and her bowl haircut and Clockwork Orange spider eyeliner? A superfluous member. She must be someone’s sister from the band, because you don’t really hire a conga/tambourine player because you need them. You just hand them something to make them feel special. “Stand in the back and play this every other song.”
Aside from the annoying extra band members, they were really on their game. Jenny sounded amazing, of course. I really have a girl crush http://www.urbanup.com/838641 on her, and couldn’t understand why the guys in the audience weren’t jumping on stage and throwing themselves at her feet or proposing marriage. Because if I was a guy I would have.
So I was mellow, doing my little sway/head bounce indie dance moves, when rude girl behind me (remember her?) slams me from behind, jumping up and down and yelling “Dance! Come on! Dance! Let’s do it! Come on, they want you to!” and emitting various woos and aaahs. One cold stare over my left shoulder hit her right in the face and she absolutely froze mid jump, stepped back a little and stood quiet the rest of the night. It must have been my smoky dark eyemakeup or perhaps the nostril flair that emitted a “don’t piss me off” vibe? I don’t know. Ha.
Other annoying people- at one point during a mellow love song two drunk couples started a local meeting of the Middle-aged Makeout Club. My Mom actually pointed them out to me, two people away from us, and said “And you thought I would embarrass you?”
I also avoided embarrassment by somehow not seeing my equally Rilo Kiley-obsessed ex, who may or may not have been there. If he had, I suspect he saw me and turned to run. If he saw my Mom who he know hates him he definitely ran away. In any case, every tall-ish shaggy haired guy in a glasses, a sweater and Converse caused me to shudder until I realized it was not him. And there were a shitload of those. for further reference please see http://www.yourscenesucks.com/

All in all, it was an amazing show and I went home with a sore throat from singing. Whatever to the nay-sayers who don’t like the new album. Here are more pictures. Sorry they kind of suck in the way that pictures from the audience with stage lighting and the backs of peoples heads always look.