The Kills lay it down in Chicago

May 9, 2009, at the Metro

By Lindsey Anderson
Published: May 11th, 2009 | 9:15pm

“I’m gonna stab your kissy, kissy mouth … it’s been a long time coming,” purred the Kills’ front woman Alison Mosshart Saturday night, while Jamie Hince hammered out a blistering, minimal guitar lick halfway through a sold-out show at Chicago’s Metro.

The Kills, who have been making headlines lately for everything except their band — Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton recently wrote about Hince’s blossoming love affair with Kate Moss and his supposed fan beat-down on stage a few weeks ago, while Mosshart’s new collaboration with White Stripe/Raconteur Jack White, the Dead Weather, is all over music Web sites — actually do have news of their own. Garage-rock’s sexiest duo just re-released 2003’s Keep On Your Mean Side (Domino), now featuring a handful of bonus tracks, which the two pulled a few gems from, including the throbbing “Kissy, Kissy.”

Taking the stage quite late after ear-bleeding goth noisemakers the Horrors, Mosshart and Hince sauntered back and forth across the bare space like a pair courting each other. The duo, and their songs, dripped with sex appeal, from the drum machine’s staccato heartbeat rhythm to the bare-yet-singeing guitar arrangements, the pair played a spicy set, stacked with favorites.

While Keep On Your Mean Side’s re-release might be the primary reason for the tour, the Kills stuck mainly to material from 2008’s Midnight Boom (Domino), including much-loved tracks “Tape Song,” “U.R.A. Fever,” and “Last Day of Magic.”

Hince, whose frantic guitar-playing twitch makes him move like a kicking madman on stage, burned through a momentum-building “No Wow,” and one of the night’s quieter, more serene moments came when the Kills covered Patsy Cline’s big hit, “Crazy.”

The Kills can’t be rewarded for crowd interaction, though, as there was barely a word exchanged between the two and the packed Metro house. They stuck mostly to their music, which easily stole the gold star, but a little clichéd “Hey, Chicago” or other hokey-pokey jargon would have been welcomed. But maybe not — maybe that’s what their rocknroll persona is all about.

One thing’s for sure: Let’s hope Mosshart and Hince don’t vanish in tabloid fever. With Mosshart focusing on her new project and Hince riding Kate Moss’ coattails, it’d be a shame to see the two put their work together on the back burner. After all, rocknroll needs sex like sex needs rocknroll, and the Kills do it as good as two lovers lost in the dark..

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page
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