Jenny Lewis, Whispertown2000, and Jonathan Wilson
September 18, 2008
The Granada, Lawrence, Kansas
By NICOLE REINERTSON
Click the photo to view our slide show of last night's show at the Granada, with Jenny Lewis, Jonathan Wilson, and Whispertown 2000.
Last night in Lawrence, Jenny Lewis and friends made sweet rock-n-roll love so hard that I’m still walking funny this morning. Lewis, best known as lead singer of Rilo Kiley and lesser-known as a backup singer for The Postal Service, showed the Granada solo side. Lewis is touring in support of her new album, Acid Tongue, due out next Tuesday.
Jonathan Wilson began the evening before a relatively empty bar. I don’t know if it was the music or the fact that everyone (even the fatties) were shivering from the blasting air conditioning, but a small group of us made our way to the stage, where we swayed to Wilson’s throwback guitar riffs.
Whispertown2000, from Los Angeles, probably not used to the Kansas fresh air, claimed to be hopped up on Claritin-D. Acetaminophen disclaimer and all: this band rocked the shit out of the Granada. Everyone seemed to wake up. Band members from Wilson’s and Lewis’ bands joined the stage.
The rest of Jenny Lewis’ band mates strolled onto the stage after I watched the girls in the front row try to steal the set lists BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED. Two suggestions: First, don’t touch the shit on stage. It’s not yours and your dress is ugly. Second, why do you want to look at the set list BEFORE the show? Don’t you know anything about rock-n-roll, dumbass? Moving on, I should note that guitarist Johnathan Rice, famous in his own right for his role as Roy Orbison in Walk the Line as well as for having four solo albums out, joined drummer Barbara Gruska in backing up all three of the night's bands.
Miss Lewis (as Rice referred to her several times backstage, funny since the two are allegedly dating) quietly took her seat at a piano and opened with "Jack Kills Mom" then "Pretty Bird," two tracks from Acid Tongue. The only dialogue for the entire show came from Lewis dedicating "Rise Up With Fists!!," from her first album, Rabbit Fur Coat, saying, “This song is for….Sarah Palin.” Lyrics include: It’s hard to believe your prophets/When they’re asking you to change things/But with their suspect lives we look the other way.
I think I know who Lewis will be voting for.
Between playing the piano and guitar and dancing and singing, Lewis took up a lot of the stage. During "Acid Tongue" and other slower songs from the new album, Lewis and the screaming bartender in the back were the only two people in the room making noise. The audience was completely enraptured by her presence (minus the bartender). Lewis just smiles while singing expecting as much from the bar scene.
Backstage, Lewis and her band, relaxed on a couch and drank Tecate. I told them I was going to be reviewing the show and asked if anyone had anything they wanted to comment on. Johnathan Rice looked at everyone then at the stage and replied, “Uh…I think we said everything we needed to up there.” Indeed.
SET LIST:
Jack Kills Mom
Pretty Bird
The Charging Sky
Rise Up With Fists!!
Black Sand
Bad Man’s World
Carpetbaggers
You Are What You Love
Melt Your Heart
Acid Tongue
Sing A Song For Them
Medly
ENCORE:
Godspeed
See Fernando
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I have been listening to Jenny Lewis (in one form or another) for over 5 years. Plus, she’s so hot.
Random Detail: Jenny really IS as sweet and genuine as she seems, Johnathan Rice even more so.
By The Way: Fuck you, girl with the terrible backpack and hair worse than mine. Relax and have fun, have a beer, chill bro.
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This is a pretty poorly written review. Pitch is usually pretty good, but usually too bitchy. So it's a surprise to me to have to complain that lines like "The audience was completely enraptured by her presence (minus the bartender" are soooooooo happy & supportive & over the top that tehy sound like commentators complaining about the review Pitch normally runs.
"And, I doubt "jenni louis" is your name."
That's some detective work, there. Good work correcting the spelling of "medley" as well. You're what the MS Word paper clip would be like if he were a total dick.
By the way: Oh, boo hoo, some self-involved "journalist" doesn't like my hair. And fuck you, shit and dumbass in an article? How professional. No wonder you work at a free paper.
If you had shut up at least ONCE through the entire show, that might have been nice. I wasn't paying to listen to you and your girlfriend talk constantly. Plus, you ENCOURAGED those girls to try to steal the set list. And, you're just mad at that girl in the dress you didn't like because she wouldn't let you take her place at the edge of the stage. You lied, too, when you pushed your way to the front. "Oh, I'll only be there thirty seconds and then you can rush the stage." Yeah, talking through the entire show later, can you see why we didn't want to cooperate with you?
And to jenni louis, other people's reviews don't have to be accurate if they're not anonymous? And, I doubt "jenni louis" is your name.
hey mr. fact-check, why don't you write your own review (WITH YOUR NAME ON IT) if you think you have something productive to say?
Sad that you don't have anything better to do on a friday night.
Professional reviewers talk through the entire set and interfere with other people's ability to listen to the music, right? There was "dialogue" other than her dedication of "Rise Up with Fists!!" to Sarah Palin, but I guess you missed it with all of your incessant chattering.
And since you don't seem to know the proper names of the songs, it's "Jack Killed Mom," not "Jack Kills Mom," and the actual name of the medley (which when spelled correctly has a second "e" before the "y") is "The Next Messiah." But you're such a big fan that you probably knew that already, right?
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