Opening night of MusicfestNW at The Crystal. The Kills setting/getting things off. Party.
Alright. Panic Whistle? Check. Bail Money? Check. Disinterested stare displaying the inner sereneity that is my true self? Fucking Check. Let’s do MFNW 2011.
Alison “VV” Mosshart takes the stage with a killer hair dye job. Pink. Ankle high boots with a heel. Black pants and animal print long sleeve that she rocks frequently. Jamie “Hotel” Hince looking rock star. God, I love this band. Fronting the kickoff of MusicfestNW 2011 is a sick bonus.
Set List:
No Wow
Future Starts Slow
Heart Is A Beating Drum
Kissy Kissy
U.R.A Fever
DNA
Satellite
Tape Song
Baby Says
One Silver Dollar (Marilyn Monroe cover)
You Don’t Own The Road
Sour Cherry
—
Last Goodbye
Pull A U
Pots And Pans
Fried My Little Brains
Before “No Wow” VV intros that “Portland, we are going to sweat together”. Balmy night.
The Kills for me always existed in this space of potentially being rock star shit. I mean hot. And tonight they delivered on all that. All of it. No holdbacks.
From the opening loop of “No Wow” Alison Mosshart was all in. Feral cat style with her trademark brew of suggested dark intentions and implied sexual violence. Working the crowd near and far. Leaning in to the pit and exaggerated head swings for the balcony with pink hair flying. Rock. Star. Shit.
Every song seemingly was re-thought from the shows we’ve seen previously. Subtle but there if you dork out on this crap. The sustained opening feedback wail to “Tape Song”. “Kissy Kissy” a revelation with VV working the side stage and both of them working their guitars with downward strokes. Bringing out the aggression. Falling to her knees center stage for DNA that transitioned into the lightbox strobed “Satellite” with the reggae incorporated into a loud sound that was heavier than the recorded.
Shit shit shit.
The pit going wild for the closing “Fried My Little Brains”. After “Pots And Pans” ended with Hotel slamming his mic onto the stage and VV singing background letting the crowd bleed in. All of it was heat.
Alison Mosshart is and will continue to be one of the most interesting and killer live performers in rock. I don’t give a shit about her gender. She’s a fucking rock star. Brings it hard almost every time. Shames some of the shoe gaze shit we endure. Hotel can be trash to class with a nasty hook. The whole show? I dunno. Just a dumbass blogger. But I think I’m seeing a band graduate to bigger venues.
Sick opening.
The Kills rocked that shit to the foundations.
