The Kills sold out a date at 9:30 Club, and so did what many bands would like to do when they have an empty tour date on their schedule: They added another show!

This additional show, however, came first on the calendar, and so The Kills effectively showed up for a recent warm-up date to their main event at 9:30 Club. The Kills’ Alison Mosshart thanked the crowd for coming out on a cold night with short notice, which was “very punk” of us.

That said, the bustling house was quite full at 9:30 Club on Feb. 28 with perhaps just enough space to move across the room without being smashed in between people. This sense of space lent itself particularly well to the hard-driving band, and The Kills took every opportunity to fill the air with glorious sound as they rampaged through the night.

The Kills are on tour in support of God Games, their sixth studio album, released late last year via Domino. And so they dedicated half of their 20-song setlist to the new record, which was totally okay with the burgeoning crowd as the new songs are quite good. The crowd and the music met in a space that called for occasional rocking out as well as chilling out.

Case in point for the latter: In the middle of the show, The Kills performed “Wasterpiece” from God Games, a song lyrically about a failure to launch.

Watch the official music video for “Wasterpiece” by The Kills on YouTube:

In the first quarter of the concert, The Kills introduced the audience to several of the more blistering songs of the album. For “103,” Alison sang without an instrument, pitching herself across the stage with her microphone and throwing her wave of blonde hair forward to cover her face. The wiry Alison remained a blur of motion through “New York,” one of the lead singles from God Games as she sang with bluesy expression.

I was curious about the placement of a Mellotron in the middle of that stage, and The Kills finally satisfied my curiosity when Alison took to it for “Baby Says” from Blood Pressures (2011), their fourth record. During the song, Alison moved to the Mellotron and weaved its sounds into the instrumental breaks of the number. I often find the music of The Kills to have a psychedelic character, and the Mellotron certainly did its part to add psych textures to “Baby Says.”

Nearing the midpoint of the concert, The Kills hit a true highlight with “Tape Song” from Midnight Boom (2008), the band’s third studio album. Alison picked up her guitar and blew the audience away as she sassed: “Honey, it ain’t gonna stick to you.” At the end of the song, guitarist Jamie Hince dropped to his knees and thrashed out the last refrain.

Watch The Kills perform “Tape Song” for From the Basement on YouTube:

Looking and swaggering like a classic rock god, Jamie kept to stage left, churning out impossibly giant guitar riffs with grace and authority. He seemed to be in a happy place all night, and he smiled wryly at the audience as he met our gaze with a satisfied steeliness. He was so damn *cool.*

Alison took to a third instrument for songs like “Kingdom Come” from God Games, which called for a bit of synth. And so she produced a Akai MPK mini, over which she swayed as she sang. As The Kills geared up to play “Kingdom Come,” Jamie rang a screech of feedback from his guitar. “That’s what you’re going to get. This guitar is called the Cream Screamer, and this is what it does,” he quipped.

Those wonderfully screeching guitars are a hallmark of The Kills, and their show was certainly a great demonstration of their power. While the guitars’ resonance surely delivered their share of thunder, the duo was able to produce incredible tranquility with their guitars as well. The Kills’ unique capacity to ensnare and hold captive your ears has served them well in the past 20 years, and they remain at the top of their game with the God Games Tour.

Here are some photos of The Kills performing at 9:30 Club on Feb. 28, 2024. Photos by Mickey McCarter.