—Portions for Foxes
Rilo Kiley - “Portions for Foxes”
Remember when Jenny Lewis was the indie girl that all hipster chicks aspired to be?
Rilo Kiley was the first concert I ever went to. Sneaking out under the guise of hanging out with one of my best guy friends (my parents were very Asian and very strict), I loved Rilo Kiley and couldn’t think of a better show to be my first. After a terrible set by a band with a very drunk lead singer who could not do anything but grumble and produce more beer seemingly out of thin air, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down took to the stage to open for Rilo Kiley. Thao ended up being the first act that I ever featured here on Ladies and an artist now very near and dear to my heart.
After what seemed like forever of waiting, Rilo Kiley took the stage. Jenny commented on how the Palladium’s stage was one of the most well ventilated stages that she had ever played on (us Texans do really love our air conditioning). Halfway through their set, Blake, in between strums on his guitar, put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and smoked it for a bit before Jenny made him put it out, solidifying himself as the biggest badass dude in my high school self’s mind. Their encore was this song, their most popular song and the song that honestly should have been huge. It’s got an absolutely massive sound, and it’s sad that other than Grey’s Anatomy, the mainstream never quite caught on.
I think that ended up being one of the last shows they ever played. It’s no surprise that they’ve broken up officially; they’ve been broken for a while and their last album was never quite the same as they were before. It’s a real shame; they were all better musicians with each other than without.
