Jessica Misener

The Kills' show on Friday night at Terminal 5 started off with a few hiccups: spoken word poet BP Fallon sandwiched himself in as a bizarre opening act following Cold Cave; the drum machine launched into the backbeats of "Sour Cherry" a tad too early; at one point Jamie Hince had to reprimand a fellow in the audience for shoving a girl in his attempt to push closer to the stage. But throughout the rest of the tightly coiled, blistering set, Alison Mosshart and Hince demonstrated a newfound polish to their typically brash stage melee. Their usual sexual tension seemed pared down--perhaps due to Kate Moss peering down from the VIP balcony?--as Mosshart, who's recently eschewed her onstage chain smoking, settled for prowling about her own side of the stage, ripping through tracks like "Future Starts Slow" and "No Wow" as Hince's vintage guitars wailed away with their signature gritty fury. The presence of a 3-person gospel choir singing backup on "Satellite" still seems a disjointed foil for Mosshart and Hince's minimalist garage bravado, but when Mosshart took the stage solo for an aching performance of the new ballad "The Last Goodbye," we were reminded how far the Kills have come in spiraling their raw blues-rock into something fuller, heavier and more graceful. - jm