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Rilo Kiley
The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
Filter Grade: 93%
by Rebecca Armendariz | 01.01.2007

Swirling amidst the pink-padded angsty twang rock of Rilo Kiley is short-skirt sweetheart and vision in yellow Jenny Lewis. With her as always is her court of smart-looking bandmates, and together, their sound shook the distinguished columns of the Wiltern and electrified the crowd with the liveliness of their typically saccharine indie pop.

Opening with “It’s a Hit” off their latest album, More Adventurous, the band made a case for authenticity by using two trumpets for the brass hook. As the set progressed, a few other things were evident: one, Drummer Jason Boesel only gets a chance to really break away from the hummed-down recorded versions of the tracks during a live set; two, Jenny Lewis has the best legs LA’s ever seen; and three, the instruments serve only to enhance, not backup, Lewis’s sultry croon.

“I Never” featured Lewis at the piano, howling above the level typically reserved for doo-wop. Her innocent façade dissolves with every song about love, and the pain felt through her experience comes through on the course of each held note. Even Lewis’s harmonica playing on “More Adventurous” shattered the delicacy heard on the album and added grit to the live version.

Guitarist Blake Sennett (yeah, that guy from “Salute Your Shorts” not to mention his solo effort The Elected)’s album tracks are sometimes easy to skip over – his voice is whispery and lacks passion. It’s possible that the Wiltern’s grand stage allowed his vocals to confidently shake and resonate over the crowd, and he and Lewis sharing the sweaty microphone only added to the emotion put forth in songs like “So Long.”

Lewis might as well have provided the marshmallows for “With Arms Outstretched.” The crowd swelled in a campfire, Kumbaya –style sing-along, hands waving in the air and unashamedly keeping the beat. Even the crew came onstage to increase the amount of beaming faces in the house by sharing a microphone and adding to the rise of voices in unison.

The finale, “Does He Love You,” saw Lewis’s anger immerse as an irritated, bitter blister and pop when she filled the line “And your husband will never leave you/He will never leave you for me” with all the resentment welled in her bang-sheltered eyes. The band had the chance to properly rock out as fingers flashed across the frets and drum sticks flailed.

“Gosh, it’s good to be home,” Lewis had sweetly said when the show began. Given the amount of hip-shaking and mouthed lyrics rippling through the crowd, Los Angeles was clearly glad to have them back.