Show: The Kills
Date: September 10, 2011
Venue: The Wiltern
City: Los Angeles, CA
THE KILLS
Photo by Nicolas Bates
Written by Katie J. Norris
Glittering with the illusion of stars, a dark blue light begins to grow on the leopard print backdrop as we hear the first punk rock guitar note. A spotlight reveals VV and her neon pink hair. The second spotlight shines on a focused, well-dressed Hotel, as he plucks away at perfect notes on one of the smoothest electrics guitar ever heard. As eccentric, raw and underground as their song structure and their style may be, they are very well rehearsed and perform as professionally as any other major artist. VV stuck to the mic for the first few songs as Hotel jammed away on his guitar and triggered their pre-recorded tracks. It was impressive to see that, performing live, this band of only two was able to sound like a full band. They also physically worked the stage like a balancing act, respectively remaining stoic for affect, and then appearing as if they were absolutely losing control for those “freedom moments.” The latter was especially true for VV, with her wild hair.
As their set picked up momentum, the subdued background lights popped into brighter, non-primary colors to visually electrify some of the hits. The Kills played “U R A Fever,” “Satellite,” “Future Starts Slow,” “Black Balloon,” “Sour Cherry” and “Heart is a Beating Drum,” among others.
VV proceeded to solo her guitar skills, beef up some of the tunes with live piano, and juggle the pre-recorded tracks like a demon dj, all while that Jem and the Holograms-inspired hair created its own personality.
The sold out venue—which seemed to be comprised of 80% of Silver Lake—was a wall of cheers after every song. Amateur, hazardous swing dancing had begun in any free floor space that could be found, and those that got crammed in rows were too busy singing along to care about claustrophobia. The show closed with “Last Goodbye,” which circled us back to the dark blue, non-descript constellation backdrop as we got a dose of bittersweet emotions with the slow, piano ballad. The duo was demanded to return to the stage for two encores. It was nothing short of a fantastic show with all the rewards. Dare I say, they killed it.