Rilo Kiley

Drinking beer while responsible adults are commuting to work is one of life’s sweetest pleasures. It makes getting through the rest of the day difficult, so I rarely indulge.

But knocking ‘em back in The Twin City Tavern as the sun came up Wednesday morning was worth the subsequent drowsiness. The smart California band Rilo Kiley performed an acoustic gig as part of a radio station's "Kegs & Eggs" promotion. Unlike The Shout Out Louds, who pouted through a brief performance at the Hurricane several months ago, Rilo Kiley played a spirited thirty-minute set. They led off with their glorious hit Portions For Foxes, and a cover of Pete Townshend’s Let My Love Open the Door elicited a rousing singalong. Rilo Kiley is the opening act on Coldplay's current tour; unsuspecting concertgoers will be charmed as Rilo Kiley provides seat-seeking music.

I could barely glimpse the band from the back of the crowded room. But smiling with KU Med nurses, shuttle drivers and other night shift workers was preferable to staring slack-jawed at a band, even one with a vocalist as glamorous as former child actress Jenny Lewis.

My contentedness explains this bleary, beer-soaked photograph of the event.