w/ Gary Wilson, The Movies

[notes]

By all acounts, this was a great show, somewhat of a watershed for the band. I don't know what that means, but it sounds good. I think this was pretty much right after the band returned home after recording Execution in Nebraska. They brought back producer Mike Mogis who played some slide guitar with the band at the show. The set list provided a couple surprises, including Blake's rarely played tune "August", and a cover of a Neutral Milk Hotel song called "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea", which as far as I know had not been played by the band before, nor has since.

[flyer]

[review]

from laweekly.com (note the sic.. show was June 28, not 29)

GARY WILSON, RILO KILEY, THE MOVIES at the Knitting Factory, June 29

If elevator music could be punk, it might sound like Rilo Kiley, and that's no backhanded compliment. The Los Angeles band owned tonight's crowd with its spunky mix of guitar heroics, '60s horn bleats and twee keyboards topped off with winner's-circle bonhomie. Guitarist/co­front man Blake Sennett could have called everyone's mom a whore, and they still would've cheered him, while vocalist Jenny Lewis was having way too much fun for a professional. The plucky pixie balanced her bright-eyed 'n' bushy-tailed exuberance with acid parlor wit: "This next one is a cover . . . of a Depeche Mode song, just kidding. Actually, it's a Spin Doctors song . . . just kidding."

While the Movies didn't offer the same level of showmanship, their droney bass-driven bliss-out definitely got under people's skin. There was a palpable sense of something different on the horizon -- mid-'80s art-funk? pop-prog? So that's what they mean by "power trio."

A common misperception is that Gary Wilson is a music-industry victim. In truth, he willingly disappeared, J.D. Salinger­like, after bursting onto the scene in 1977 with a limited poor-quality vinyl pressing of You Think You Really Know Me, and its recent reissue has brought the idiosyncratic performer to answer the call of his clamoring cult fan base. "I cannot believe he is not the headliner," a disgusted college-radio program director sputtered. During his set, the crowd's expressions were a mixture of amusement and uncertainty as a stage extra periodically came out to dash Wilson with flour while the singer writhed on the floor, serenading a pair of mannequins. But Wilson's performance-art weirdness is in striking juxtaposition with the glammy riot of his retro-contempo sound, a seductive mélange of '70s bar-band rock and Roxy Music disco thump, courtesy of a slammin' bass/drums section and interweaving noodle-poodle from three keyboardists, one of whom resembled the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. Wilson oughtta get a lifetime-achievement award for his psychosexual head-fuck of a cabaret, but it was all a bit inpenetrable, and the 50-something enigma uttered not one word of acknowledgment to the audience. After an encore, one neophyte-convert fairly summed up the lingering vibe: "Spoo-keee." (Andrew Lentz)

[another review]

i can find some words... it was effin amazing! ALWAYS! AUGUST! DON'T
DECONSTRUCT (with just Jenny on keyboard and Phillip on trumpet!) SO
happy to hear Always!! sad to not hear Chemical Stress though. they
played a cover that i have no idea what it was but it was good. Jenny
said beforehand "this is a Depeche Mode cover" and then the audience
cheered like crazy, and then she said "just joking. this is a Spin
Doctors cover" to which i think the audience booed actually hehe, but
then she said "just joking" again. hehe. they played 3 new songs. one
was Execuation of All Things. its late i cant think too hard.

and btw. they had Science vs. Romance 7" singles onsale for $3 with
the b-side being a song called About the Moon, which i've never heard
before and i dont think they've ever played it live... the bad news
is i dont have a record player!! grrrr.... but kinda cool.

~jason

[another one]

phillip does indeed rock. first song was just him and jenny onstage
so when the curtains opened first you see him center and then it
get's to jenny on her keyboard. they play through. song ends. she
goes to keyboard and hits the first note to always we all scream band
walks out takes their places. blake hands jenny the little casio and
goes to put his guitar on. jenny reaches down to her stuff and get's
a gift wrapped something (same size as the keyboard) and gives it to
blake. so i think jenny got him one to make up for the one she
broke.

other impressions of last night?

at one point blake said. "we never play this song live" me and my
friends are all sending teenage love song vibes at the stage. but it
was 'august' still good.

the cover i was told by another guy i was with was of 'neutral milk
hotel'. i don't konw the song name though.

i really really was wanting to hear chemical stress also. one group
was shouting out for it. so i didn't have to but they didn't play
it.

was it just me or was phillip wearing boxers when he came out the 2nd
time and was jumping around? and how about the guy in the bunny suit
and his friend. (in the crowd) i never got close enough to see what
animal his outfit was. but blake talked a bit saying that he wanted
to give his drink card to someone cause "i don't drink that much" and
that when he get's on stage he'll just KNOW who to give it to. and
it was the two guys in the furry outfits. they had to be burning
up.

k that's all i can remember sorry it's so long but figured east coast
fans would like to hear some of the details i could dig up.

-merc_hdip

[another]

well i had fun for the most part. kspc made my night by saving
saving me the large amount of 8 dollars. props to those sketchers.

the rilo set... i enjoyed, but agree with a few of you cats, not
enough new stuff... patience is a virtue i suppose, so when the
album comes it will be all the more sweet. the cover was beautiful,
but of all the songs to cover... why that one? that song is already
beautiful... rk has the power to take a mediocre song and make it
incredibly close to perfect, which makes the list of songs to cover
endless, there are so many songs out there starving for love and
adoration... use your powers for good and feed a starving song guys!
in the aeroplane over the sea is well fed.

i dig the new shirts... but miss the color variety of the old ones.
blue sucks.

the bunny guy (and sidekick)... uhh... congratulations on getting
noticed, talked about and free drinks.

that is all.

--jonna