Rilo Kiley @ Greek, 6/18

My first visit to the Greek this year was with a friend who's having some rough relationship times; thankfully, Rilo Kiley cheered her up -- so much, in fact, that after playing through a typically heartwrenching breakup song (which I imagined would drive her to hysterics) she looked at me and said "that's my new favorite song."

Of course, that's because the moral is that Jenny Lewis is singing about enjoying her newfound freedom -- something my friend has understandably not been able to do quite yet -- but it's also because it was damn good. Though both Jenny and Blake are among the nicest rock stars I've ever met (check out my Spin.com interviews with them here) I've never been a fan of theirs on record. But live, there's so much charisma; Jenny looks completely at home being a rock star and Blake her #2, and the songs sound so much more rich and powerful. It doesn't hurt that the not-full-at-all audience made up for the lack of purchased tickets by singing at the top of their 15-year-old lungs: this is obviously a band that's become sort of cult heroes, and this next generation of music lovers could do much worse.