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ACL review: The Kills
Here’s a little tip: Texas, even in the fall, is pretty hot.
No great revelation I know, but it’s one London duo the Kills were unaware of heading into their early afternoon set Sunday and they weren’t shy about sharing their discomfort with the still-appreciative crowd.
Dressed in black (hello?) singer/guitarist Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince (guitar/vocals) started the day off with the tantalizing slink of “U.R.A. Fever,” from the band’s latest album, “Midnight Boom.”
Started in 2002 as a menacing garage blooz/doom pop outfit backed by a well-stocked sampler, the Kills have added glints of sunshine into their studio output in the years since. But in the Lonestar sun that good cheer was gone Sunday, with the duo’s guitars tangling like serpents against the clatter and bang on the sampler.
“We’ve never played a show in the sun before,” Mosshart said early on. “This was a terrible idea,” Hince lamented later.
Clearly this is music not made for sunlight, but at least all that angst and discomfort got manifested into the music and helped songs that are really pretty rudimentary gain a more dangerous edge.
“The bottoms of my feet are burning. So are the tops,” Mosshart laughingly shared after the relative calm of “Sour Cherry” as the sun warmed to somewhere in the mid 80s.
It was fun to humor them this time, but what would they have done in the hot dustbowl of ACL 2005? Stay in the smoky clubs, you two.
But thanks for trying.
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Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: ACL 2008: Sunday, ACL Festival
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By Mark
September 30, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
The Kills were by far the worst performance of ACL. Rather than stand in a shadow at the back of the stage maybe you could, I don’t know….Take off your black wool jacket? Never heard their music before ACL and I don’t have any intentions to listen to anymore. Two thumbs down!