Homer's Travels: Music: Rilo Kiley At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Music: Rilo Kiley At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

Monday night the wife and I headed down to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, home of "My Favorite Bead Show", "Vintage Fashion Expo", and "Santa Monica Antiques Show & Sale" to see Rilo Kiley in concert. We arrived about 15 minutes before the doors opened. All tickets were general admission and the line to get in was already pretty long. The sad thing was that we were old enough to be the parents of about 90% of the people in line. I felt completely out of place. It didn't help that about 75% were female, so being a 40-ish male made me a distinct minority.

The doors opened at 7:00 pm and they separated the line into men and woman. This was due to the surprisingly stringent security at the door. They had everyone empty their pockets and everyone was frisked as we went through the door. This helped me get in the door quickly since the men's line was only a third the size of the women's. As I waited for the wife to get through security I checked out the T-Shirt selection. I was underwhelmed so I decided to pass on a shirt this time. I walked into the auditorium and saw that the floor was empty - no chairs - and the only seats were stadium seating in the rear of the venue. I went back out to the lobby and found the wife and we scoped out some seats located over one of the entry tunnels. These seats had extra padding on the seats and had an unobstructed view of the stage. They turned out to be great seats. The wife and I shared a piece of chocolate cake while we waited for the show to start.

The lights dim and ... a warm up band came on stage. I had looked to see if there was going to be a warm up band and I couldn't find anything so I was a little surprised. I also was disappointed as I was hoping to get home at a reasonable hour and a warm up band meant that I would not meet my bedtime - I'm old and I need my sleep damn it! The band was Grand Ole Party. There first song was interesting but their sound seemed a little repetitive to me. The one thing that made them somewhat unique is the the lead singer is the drummer and the drummer is female. Other then that - they were just OK.

The lights came up and they started moving stuff around the stage. One of the people setting stuff up was in a short - I mean short - dress and it seemed odd. Then she picked up a guitar - AARRGG another warm up band. This time it was The Bird And The Bee. I had mixed feelings about their music. It had some interesting sounds but it didn't quite grab me. I did like them more than the wife.

The warm up bands finally finished around 9:20 pm. The lights came up and they started setting up for Rilo Kiley. It seemed like a long time to get set up. They came on stage at 10:00 pm and rocked the house. They played a mix of their new album "Under the Blacklight" and their older stuff. I enjoyed the music. I often listen to Rilo Kiley as I compose Homer's Travels posts and I knew every song they played. I don't think their new album is as good as "Take Offs and Landings" or "More Adventurous" but it's still pretty good. They also played a couple songs from some of their solo efforts. All in all, I liked Rilo Kiley's performance. The only disappointment was the encore. The songs played during the encore were not that great. Oh well.

The lights came up at 11:45 pm and we made our way to our car and struggled to get out of the parking lot - lots of obnoxious drivers - but once we got on the streets we made good time. I managed to get home and in bed by 1:00 am giving me a whopping 4 hours and 20 minutes of sleep today. I feel a little like a zombie but I'll survive. Next up, Eagles with The Dixie Chicks this Sunday.

4 comments:

  1. There's *always* a warm up band!

    My evening yesterday was very similar to yours. I saw the New Pornographers, got home about the same time you did, and also got about 4 hours of sleep. I feel your pain!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I knew that but I was misguided by our GoGo's concert that had no warm up band. You shouldn't have any problem with the 4 hours of sleep being young and all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I quite like The Bird & The Bees album all, of course, based on the son F*cking Boyfriend. Hilarious and catchy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JaG: I have to tell the truth and say the only Bird & The Bee songs I've ever heard are what they played at the concert. I really don't have enough info to pass judgment on their music. Their stuff at the concert seemed catchy though. Maybe I'll check them out.

    ReplyDelete