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indie-snob>+!#
Rilo Kiley @ the abbey (1-26-04)
With tilly & the wall, jake bellows |
 Rilo Kiley with the Tillies and Jake Bellows singing "With Arms Outstretched" (sorry for the bad picture, but at least it's the right show!). And, I'm the kid in the very front right under Blake with the brown hair. Rilo Kiley has been one of the bands I've been longing to see for such a long time, that each of the THREE times they've come since I first listened to Take Offs and Landings has been another slice at the wrist. I had even e-mailed Blake once to just play a friggin' all ages show in Chicago to make me happy (in kinder words). He did write back, but all it said was "it's an 18 and over show if that helps." Help it did not, Blake, but an idea it did give me. Hey, I'm sixteen, I'm six feet tall, have facial hair and am lean enough to pass for an eighteen year old… so what was to stop me? Well, the bouncers, obviously, so, I brought my dad. But there was no way I was going to miss the finest LA via Omaha pop outfit to call Saddle Creek home. Maybe it was the adrenaline of sneaking into a venue underage, maybe it was my sheer love for all three of the artists performing, or maybe it was the out of print Tilly & the Wall EP I finally picked up, but either way, I was floating. I got in, bought my Tilly merchandise from Denver Dalley (the tall skinny red-head of Desaparecidos/Statistics), and found myself standing front row for two of my favorite bands. Jake Bellows, of the Omaha space rock band Neva Dinova, went on first. There was no doubt he was terribly drunk. He had hard enough a time standing up for his full twenty minutes or so, but his between-song banter was, to say the least, ridiculous. "I'm with a bunch of pretty kids… I'd have anal sex with all of them… except maybe Blake. Not cos he's not hot or nothing, he just doesn't wipe too good down there." Thanks Jake. That is not to say, though, that Mr. Bellows does not write some of the loveliest melodies. When I saw Neva Dinova with Cursive ages ago, I was nearly blown away. Each sound was perfectly developed, and although the effects are stripped down when Jake performs solo, his voice is still crisp and the songs still soft and elegant. His song structures and tone resembles more of a Jeff Tweedy approach rather than one more traditional to Saddle Creek, perhaps making him a bit more folk and experimental-prone that we'd otherwise see. And, if you haven't, pick up his split with Bright Eyes because it's truly amazing. Grade: B+ Tilly & the Wall is easily Omaha's best-kept secret. And, as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to keep it that way. Indie-Snob fans, you saw my love for Radiohead disintegrate a little with my Top of 2003 list, but watch it fall to the ground: Tilly & the Wall is my new favorite band. Back when I could only hear their debut EP, Woo, on their website (oh the pleasures of out-of-print releases), I'd listen to it constantly. I got the limited edition 7-inch on clear green vinyl for Christmas with the fantastic "Sad Sad Song", "In Two Glasses of Wine" and "The Ice Storm, Big Gust, And You" (easily the best 7-inch of 2003). Facts are: by now, I'm obsessed. Maybe some of you out there have heard of Park Ave, a band to feature the early work of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and Clark Baechel (The Faint) who shared a split with the Wrens some years back on Saddle Creek. Essentially, Tilly & the Wall is a similar set-up. There are three girls (Neely and Kianna on percussion and vocals, Jamie taps (yes, the majority of percussion in Tilly is done through tap dancing), Neely and Jamie both of Park Ave.) and two guys, Derek on guitar and vocals and Nick on piano. They sing about late-nights, love, friendship, things that come off so well without seeming trite or confusing. Tilly & the Wall is just an adorable band; even their name comes from the children's book Tillie and the Wall by Leo Leonni, about a little mouse who wants to get to the other side of a wall. (By the way, it's an excellent book, my friend bought them for me for my birthday!) The band came out stomping and clapping and singing: "T---I---L-L-Y… OH FUCK! T---I---L-L-Y, GODDAMN!" and I thought: "oh great, what a perfect show to bring my dad to." But they went through the evening and played a marvelous set. They introduced four new songs, all of which appeared on the album. Songs from Woo were scarce, which upset me a little (my favorite is "Shake Shake" and was dying to hear it live), but honestly, I could have cared less. The Tillies (as they're affectionately referred to as) make the best of pop music. It's not meant to be ironic, it's not meant to be elitist, but it's fun. And it should be. There are few bands who are able to make pop music something new and exciting these days, and honestly, I don't see ANY other band alive doing what the Tillies have done. Not only that, but it could be that they, along with Conor and a fellow record industry crony, may have revolutionized the way we buy music. Their label, Team Love (a "sister label" to Saddle Creek) puts all their releases free up for download the day of their release, so you know what you're buying. Look, I wouldn't have devoted this much space if I didn't feel they were the best thing going. During their show, I was all smiles. After I sang along to "The Ice Storm, Big Gust, And You," the band burst into an amazing cover of "Hey Ya!" as the audience was told to shake it like a polaroid picture (and may I say that Derek was absolutely hysterical shouting "hey ya"). They closed with the songs that is now known as "Nights of the Living Dead" and as the band shouts: "I wanna fuck it up / and I feel so alive", I knew that the evening was perfect (even my dad thought so). Set-list at the bottom. Grade: A+ Okay, so after Tilly & the Wall, I knew that Blake and Jenny of Rilo Kiley were going to have a hard time following up alone tonight since they ventured on the exclusively acoustic tour (which really was more Blake acoustic and Jenny on electric something). Jenny came out, looking much more human than I expected in big boots and a jumper, reminding me more of a trucker than the indie rock temptress I had pictured her as. It's not to say she isn't beautiful, but somehow, I pictured someone much more aloof. I suppose I shouldn't have, since all the people I've talked to who have met Jenny at the grocery store in Omaha or wherever say that she's a lovely person, but I think sometimes I just make the bands I love out to be so much larger than life. They opened with Jenny playing "Bulletproof", one of the more succinct tracks off their debut LP. Through the night, though, the band played a decent mix off of their two full-lengths (nothing from the Initial Friend EP, however) along with three new songs and two covers. It was nice to hear the band doing such a variety of material. What was even nicer was that Jenny and Blake would switch off doing vocals throughout the set, both of which had lovely voices. While I have, in the past, tended to look over the songs Blake sang a bit more, I really appreciated his voice this night some how. The tour was introduced as a place to play the more stripped down, acoustic songs off their forthcoming album, named after the stellar "More Adventurous," a heart-wrenching (but lively) acoustic number Jenny sings about finding love. In a similar spirit is "I Never," where Jenny Lewis proves herself to be as capable as any other country or blues diva as she repeats lines in a soft, whispery, terribly sexy voice over a simple keyboard part. In the more traditional rock spirit of RK was "Absence of God" that still comes off ten times more powerful than anything they've done before. It was easy for me to see that they have definitely matured as a band and as songwriters. Not only that, but I truly felt special hearing the new material. Soon, Blake and Jenny invited the Tilly kids up along with Jake Bellows to sing "With Arms Outstretched", easily the most anthematic song off The Execution of All Things and one of the easier tracks to begin a love affair with the band. Everyone in the crowd was singing along, and even though I thought the performance was a little weak, it was one of those treasured moments in a show. For the encore, Blake sang a more hushed, folk-inspired version of "Spectacular Views," which was a bit disappointing. After all, "it's so fucking beautiful" wasn't screamed, and therefore, the level of excitement was definitely diminished. Nonetheless, Rilo Kiley is amazing. And even though everyone said the rock version was twenty times better and I could not have envisioned a better show (except maybe Rilo Kiley playing more than eleven songs). Grade: A Tilly & the Wall's setlist: Rilo Kiley's setlist (or very similar to, i think "Somebody Else's Clothes" was also played): Related Reviews:
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