By Christopher David<\/p>\n
Some bands have style. The best <\/i>bands have style, actually, but the best bands also have swagger: that wink and nod that tells you that you\u2019re in their world now, in the presence of something exciting, organic, and maybe even a little dangerous. When you add great songs to that deadly combination of style and swagger, you have something wholly unique, and there are precious few bands out there in the world who can lay claim to that perfect storm. The Kills are one of them.<\/p>\n
Since the release of their first album (2003\u2019s Keep On Your Mean Side<\/i>) and consistently through their most recent outing (2011\u2019s Blood Pressures<\/i>), The Kills have cultivated a musical aesthetic based upon pummeling percussion loops, guitarist\/vocalist Jamie Hince\u2019s effect-drenched guitar assault, and vocalist\/guitarist Alison Mosshart\u2019s lithe, commanding presence, her voice able to flip from a manic growl to breathless vulnerability often in the same lyric.<\/p>\n
Hince and Mosshart have been busy with other projects (Hince\u2019s art shows, Mosshart\u2019s double-duty as vocalist for The Dead Weather), so there\u2019s no new Kills\u2019 record as yet, which gave the duo the chance to comfortably explore their back catalog to the delight of a sold-out crowd on Sunday night at the Metro. Effortlessly owning the stage together, Hince and Mosshart spun musical spiderwebs out of simple but elegant guitar riffs and slinky electronic beats. Their songs are the sound of lightning breaking out <\/i>of the bottle, of lovers who can\u2019t decide if they want to fight or fuck. Indeed, there\u2019s something almost sexual about a Kills\u2019 show, a palpable, primal tension that pours out of the songs and the players.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s setlist saw a wide range of material, from a scorching \u201cMonkey 23\u201d to live classic \u201cNo Wow,\u201d which surely threatened to tear a hole in the Metro stage as Mosshart stomped the floor in time with Hince\u2019s crushing, staccato guitar. The duo (now supplemented by live percussion as well) steal cues from shoegaze, blues, punk, and everything in between, and brand-new tunes \u201cDoing it to Death\u201d and \u201cImpossible Tracks\u201d were no exception, providing a promising look at what the duo\u2019s fifth album has in store. Mosshart donned her guitar for \u201cBlack Balloon\u201d and a savage version of \u201cTape Song,\u201d two highlights from 2008\u2019s Midnight Boom<\/i>, and the finale saw a hushed crowd lulled into submission by \u201cThe Last Goodbye\u201d before getting blasted with \u201cFried My Little Brains,\u201d Mean Side<\/i>\u2019s first single.<\/p>\n
Over the course of four records, The Kills have shown themselves to be firmly in control of their identity, having staked out a sound that is unmistakable and all its own but somehow always remains fresh. And when they hit a stage, there is no question that you\u2019re in the presence of something exciting, organic, and a little dangerous. As truly great rock n\u2019 roll should be.<\/p>\n
The Kills \u2013 Metro, Chicago, IL, August 2, 2015 (setlist)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
1. U.R.A. Fever<\/p>\n
2. The Heart is a Beating Drum<\/p>\n
3. Kissy Kissy<\/p>\n
4. DNA<\/p>\n
5. Satellite<\/p>\n
6. Impossible Tracks<\/p>\n
7. Black Balloon<\/p>\n
8. Tape Song<\/p>\n
9. No Wow<\/p>\n
10. Baby Says<\/p>\n
11. Doing It to Death<\/p>\n
12. Monkey 23<\/p>\n
13. The Last Goodbye<\/p>\n
14. Fried My Little Brains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Christopher David Some bands have style. The best bands have style, actually, but the best bands also have swagger: that wink and nod that tells you that you\u2019re in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,39,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-music-news","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}