Sun 15 Jun – The Kills

I've got to be honest, my Sunday did not get off to a good start. After a two hour drive up to Oxford from London, I suddenly realised that I'd left the tickets for the gig on my desk back home. Five minutes intermittent cursing and swearing my own stupidity ensued, in between bouts of laughter from Su.

Luckily there were still tickets available at the door, so I was still able to go to a gig that I'd been looking forward to for several weeks.

Inside, the venue looked a little pokey, a stage and a bar bordered an area slightly larger than my flat. This turned out to be an advantage however, as we got a great view of the stage, and the small nature of the venue meant that there weren't too many people fighting for space at the bar.

Coming in just before 9, we missed the supporting band, which I regret in retrospect, as their last track sounded quite intriguing (if anyone knows who they were, please give me a shout). Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince (aka The Kills) made it on stage just after 9, to a chorus of cheers and clapping from the crowd. Without too much in the way of frills, they launched straight into their first track (u r a fever); and played pretty much solidly for the next hour; coming back on at the end of the set for an encore. I don't have the entire set list, but it included the following:

u r a fever
Pull a U
Alphabet Pony
Fried My Little Brains
Cheap And Cheerful
Kissy Kissy
Wait
Tape Song
Last Day Of Magic
Hook And Line
Sour Cherry
Gypsy Death & You

At this point it is difficult to get across just how good these two are live. This was simply one of the best gigs I've been to in a long time. Jamie is a truly awesome guitarist, and Alison's voice is every bit as good live as it is on their albums. Aside from their skill as musicians, they both really do put everything they have into every single song they play; on top of this, they both look as if they're genuinely enjoying themselves. Even a brief moment of "technical difficulties" resulted in nothing more than a wry smile from Jamie, and a brief laugh from Alison.

In short, I hope they play near London again soon, I'll be going to see them again when they do.

Oh, before I forget.. the obligatory YouTube videos I always stick up on these things..

Cheap And Cheerful live on Jools Holland



Cats Claw, random live footage.



The Good Ones, studio footage.



Hope you enjoyed this, as always.

Jon