The Kills live at Heaven, 31 March 2011

The Kills, VW and Hotel, boast an absolutely arresting presence, exuding pure rock’n’roll attitude from every pore the moment they hit the stage.

“No Wow” kick starts the night, its filthy drum loop and guitar riff alongside Ms Mossheart’s edgy vocal builds the tension, before that scratchy abrasive guitar kicks in and gives the audience their release.  There’s a great dynamic between Alison and Jamie and they play to each other well.  Alison the brooding siren, writhing around the mic and looming over the stage monitors is the perfect contrast to Jamie’s direct no-frills glare.  They are there to entertain and get the audience rocking which they do to great effect with their expected big tracks, before Jamie announced to a very warmed up – in fact red hot – audience that “We’re gonna play you some new songs” to widespread cheers.  Understated by comparison to their previous albums, the tracks are very well received.

That drum machine & sequencer provide the rhythmic backbone of their music does not detract from the show one iota.  With guitar in one hand, Jamie manipulates the electronics with the other and the times he triggers the wrong loop by mistake with a casual apology, just adds to the dirty rawness of their show.  With such driving intensity throughout its no wonder I missed some supermodel apparently watching from the back.

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