The Kills have been one of my favorite bands for the past two or three years. I've been intermittently obsessed with No Wow, it's one of the few albums out there that I can easily return to at any time and still love to listen to. They released a new album, Blood Pressures in April and have, of course, been touring behind it.
I had planned to see them in Nashville, TN during Memorial Day weekend to take advantage of the longer weekend. I flipped back and forth on whether to attend until the Wednesday before the concert, when I decided to go. I sat down during my lunch break to purchase the ticket only to realize I had left my wallet at home. I logged on immediately when I got home to complete the purchase only for the tickets to have sold out between lunch-time 6:00 PM.
When it was announced around June that they were expanding their tour, including a date in nearby Columbus, Ohio, I bought my ticket almost immediately, no way was I missing out again.
The concert happened last weekend and it was (mostly) spectacular. Of course, there was an opening band, Bury Strangers. They started off well enough, fairly basic hard rock, lots of reverb and feedback. They quickly resorted to every rock star cliche in the book, 1) play with your teeth, behind your head? Check. 2) "Meaningful" glance out at the audience while playing an actually melodic lick? Check. 3) Destruction of equipment? CHECK! They...weren't good, but thankfully, that is not who I was there to see.
The Kills came on to great fanfare, now here is a band that doesn't need gimmicks. I had been looking forward to seeing what Alison Mosshart, the band's vocalist, would wear since she is an amazing style star, but she was pretty basic in all black. Oh well.
Their set started poorly, though by no fault of their own. For the first half of "No Wow," her microphone was turned so low, you could barely hear the vocals. It took the sound guy almost half the song to realize, "Hey, maybe we should turn her microphone up."
The rest of the show was amazing. They definitely have the rock star stage presence down, but it doesn't feel cliched or forced (the opening back should have been taking notes).
They performed a mix of songs from all of their albums, including "Future Starts Slow," "Pots & Pans" and "URA Fever." They had an actually meaningful and poignant moment with the audience performing "The Last Goodbye." I really, really hope that the opening band was paying attention.
Great concert, well worth the wait. If you ever have the chance to see them, don't miss it for anything!
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