Second Chance

I found out a couple of nights ago that the Kills will be coming back to the Commodore Ballroom here in Vancouver on September 5th, almost four months to the day after they last played here. As shitty as my experience at their show was in May, I’ll definitely be putting down money to see them again.

Along with Feist, the Kills were one of the most disappointing shows I’d ever seen: the crowd sucked, and my friend and I were far from the action, stuck behind tall people almost the entire time. Of course, I can’t blame the band for any of that, but I can blame the band for its lackluster song-choices. Considering how many great songs the Kills have, they could hardly have selected a worse playlist. Granted, they played a few of their best songs including “Kissy Kissy,” “Pull a U,” “Fried My Little Brains” and “No Wow,” but considering that almost every song on the Kills' first and second albums are knockouts, their set left a lot for fans of their earlier, bluesier material to desire. I left the Kills’ show thankful I didn’t fly from Nova Scotia to Montreal to see them in 2008.

So, why am I willing to give the Kills live a second chance? Because even though they didn’t play my favourite tunes, they played their tunes well. Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart definitely brought the energy; anyone anywhere in the venue could have seen that. Furthermore, I just know that being as close to the Kills as possible next time - being able to see the performers perform - will make a huge difference. Plus, there’s always hope for a better set list; maybe the Kills always change it up, and I just caught them on a bad night.