“This Time Machine back to 2005 is going really well!” Rilo Kiley’s lead guitarist, Blake Sennett, joked with the audience during September 8th’s Summerstage set. After 17 years away from New York, the indie band was finally back with a major reunion tour.
In its first tour in over 15 years, Rilo Kiley sold out SummerStage’s 5,000-person Rumsey Field. Initially formed in Los Angeles in 1998, the band released four albums and quickly became one of the era’s indie darlings. Almost as quickly, however, the band broke up – with guitarist Blake Sennett saying in 2011 they were “driven apart by ‘deception, disloyalty and greed’. Now back together in middle age after reconciling some of their differences, the band brings a major dose of nostalgia tinged with heartache for one’s early 20s – a time that could be angsty, but also filled with promise.
That sense of an earlier, moodier, and freer period in one’s life was on display across the band’s set. The show’s lighting was evocative of a basement club, not a 5,000-person stage, with lighting constantly tinged in moody blues, and backlighting that showed more of the band’s silhouette than their faces. At one point, frontwoman Jenny Lewis even channeled early aughts punk videography, with SummerStage’s video feed switching to a camcorder she brought around the stage, focusing on each member of the band with extreme closeups, low shots, and diagonal angles. 2001 MTV would have loved airing this footage from 2025.
Despite the overwhelming sense of nostalgia, the band isn’t resting on its laurels, nor is this tour just about making a quick buck. Jenny Lewis’ voice has held up and even developed since her solo work and her collaborations with multiple other bands, and Sennett’s guitar licks remain strong, bringing indie and rock riffs that emphasize but don’t overwhelm Lewis’ vocals.
Throughout the set, Rilo Kiley was both yearning and explosive. The majority of time on stage was consistent, laying down tracks that had consistency but were not musically overwhelming. In these moments, the band evoked angst, yearning, and desire with Lewis’s vocals driving emotionally deep themes, without being showy. For these points, the band is solid, consistent, and aside from being emotionally explicit, their sound feels almost safe compared to more modern tracks. However, then, without fail, they switch it up. The band explodes out of their safe and yearning mode to a punk-esque emotional desperation. Lewis switches from solid vocals to belting, while Sennett on guitar channels massive solos, and Jason Boesel kicks his drum set into overdrive. The pattern repeats throughout the set, as you think that the next song will give you a breather, but then end up being shaken to your core as the band’s next musical explosion breaks through your emotional defenses.
Rilo Kiley’s reunion tour continues through October, and if you’ve ever listened to the band, I would recommend you check it out!
→ Continue reading at NYS Music
