The Kills are out on the God Games Tour supporting their newest album of the same name. They stopped at Union Transfrer in Philadelphia and brought pop punk band The Paranoyds along for the ride.
It was a cold a rainy night in Philly when the tour came through. I arrived about 15 minutes before the doors and the line was already crossing onto the next block. Once inside, you walked right into the merch area that was filled with eager fans. Since this show had quite a late start , 9 PM the fans trickled in, grabbed their drinks and eventually filled up the venue to just about capacity.
The Paranoyds hit the stage and electrified the audience. I was not familiar with them prior to the show and fell in love with their set. They have a punk vibe but also reminded me of the Go-Go's from the early 1980's. They took turns with vocals and did quite a bit of harmony. Their stage presence was also enticing as they bounced around and played off of one another. Quite a few audience members danced and jumped throughout their set. They performed for about 45 minutes really revving the fans up for The Kills.
The Paranoyds
The Kills recently released God Games which is their first new music since 2016. They performed 9 out of the 12 songs on the album during their set. They performed 19 songs in total and electrified the audience from beginning to end. The Kills are vocalist and guitarist Alison Mosshart and guitarist Jamie Hince. This tour is quite stripped down as they are playing as a duo and did not bring along a backing band. So the songs with had one or two guitars backing Alison's powerful voice.
I had been looking to this concert for quite some time. I had never seen The Kills perform before but I had seen Alison many years ago when she had teamed up with Jack White for the band The Dead Weather. I was just as mesmerized by her performance on this night as I was then. She truly is a gifted performer. Jamie is amazing as well. Just him and his guitar filled the entire venue with the most unique guitar sounds. The music was so powerful you did not realize that there wasn't a band backing him. The Kills have a unique grunge sound that has never been replicated by another band.
The Kills played their hearts out and left their souls on the stage. They have a few more dates this year in the States than they had to Europe for the spring and summer. All tour dates can be found at thekills.tv.
The Kills
